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Original poster

Teething - is this normal??

25 replies

StripyMouse · 08/09/2002 17:21

Hi - I could do with a bit of advice/reassurance from some of you more experienced mums out there. My 16 month old dd has had a rough time recently with "nigglyness" - difficulty sleeping, runny nappies, dribbly etc. whilst teething. She has four on the top and three on the bottom - have been waiting for the fourth bottom one to come through for ages and with her symptoms I have been watching out for it with no avail. I have just noticed that one of her back molars has come through on the top.

Am I being thick or is really normal? I am surprised to see it come through before the one in front of it, esp. as she only has three on the bottom. Is there anything more effective than calgel for her? I have found that this is licked off too fast and I don?t think it is helping in the slightest (have tried frozen carrots etc. - no use)
Any comments and other teething experiences will be gratefully read!!

OP posts:

Mog · 08/09/2002 17:41

Stripymouse,
I've had exactly the same problem with my 15 month old dd. She had no problem with her front teeth but as the rear ones are coming in she has been miserable. The last bout went on for a week and since I was concerned it was something else like an ear infection I took her to the doctor. The doctor was brillant and reassured me that teething can last this long at a time. He prescribed Ibuprofen syrup which was wonderful and much better than Calpol (not sure if you can get this over the counter). Dd is also not showing many teeth through but I believe just the movement of the teeth under the gums can cause them pain. Hope this helps-I know how horrible it is to watch helplessly on.

Willow2 · 08/09/2002 19:21

Stripymouse - pre-molars - the first chunky teeth that come through at the back - gave me the worst sleepless nights with my son so far, in fact worse than when his molars came through (he's 2 1/2). A friend of mine is going through the same with her daughter now - and she doesn't have all her front teeth either. That's the daughter, not my friend. You can give Calpol or Neurofen (or both I believe) if you dd is really having a horrible time of it. I have heard that as adults, we wouldn't be able to cope with the pain and would need injections - but how you can quantify that I'm not sure!

musica · 08/09/2002 19:24

My ds (14 months) has the first of his back teeth coming through - we swear by calgel I'm afraid! Actually I feel a bit of a mean mother, because ds has been really whingy the last week or two, and I thought he was just being annoying, but then I spotted the tooth and realised he was actually really brave! So I had to give him lots of special hugs to make up!

Janeway · 08/09/2002 19:54

StripyMouse - the women at ds's nursery swear by homeopathic teething powders (and it's not a new age sort of place!) - Boots do some, they say these are good but there is another range that they think are better.

I'll have to check out the name tomorrow (and get back to you). I'm intending to get some myself - ds has sprung his first 2 teeth within the last week and bongela just gets lapped up before it can do anything.

Sympathy to your wee one

Chinchilla · 08/09/2002 20:52

My ds went right off his food for 4 days when two of his premolars came through. It was worrying, but we got through it and he is back to stuffing his face with a vengeance!

I actually believed that the books were gospel re which teeth came through in which order. How stupid was I?!

And yes, IME, the movement of teeth can cause pain weeks before the teeth actually appear. It is really confusing, and I have lost count of the times that I thought that ds was being even more of a whiner than usual, only to have a tooth appear overnight. Poor child

Sonnie · 08/09/2002 21:20

StripyMouse

My DS has had this problem for a week now, much worse than before, not so much dribbling but more awful nappies and bad temper (he is 18 months). Althouhgh his teeth have come through in the 'book-like' order now, they certainly didn't before but have somehow rectified themselves so don't worry. The calgel does not work as well now, although it did before. I have actually resorted to the actual capol on really bad nites.

Anyway, I way we have overcome this is by giving him very cold drinks (almost iced) and lots of TLC: rather than lots of drugs!

Our bad nites have meant he has come into bed with us (I know the ulimate no no, - at least he understand that we know he is in pain).

Just be patent with her, I find if my DS knows we are trying to help he is lot more recepetive - especially around bedtime: rather than working against us to prove how much discomfort he is in.

Hope this helps :-)

Willow2 · 08/09/2002 22:33

If you think about it, the pain must be worse before the teeth appear because of the build up of pressure. Once they've broken through this must relieve a bit.

leander · 09/09/2002 09:49

StripyMouse,
My auntie introduced me to tething powders and swears by them,I think they're called Aston+Parsons.

whitfield · 09/09/2002 14:56

StripyMouse - Yes I must admit the Ashton Powders have come in handy with my 13mth old son. I managed to get mine form the pharmacy in Tesco's.

sjs · 09/09/2002 15:45

Snap StripyMouse. My dd also had 4 teeth on top and 3 teeth on the bottom. Then came 4 molars followed by (finally...) the 4th bottom tooth. We called her the alien, and actually I reckoned it wasn't coming at all, because dh only has 3 teeth on the bottom (4th one never came in!). But MIL swore he had 4 baby teeth... Anyway, finally dd's 4th bottom one came and very beautiful it is too
We have just gone through a weekend of grumpiness due to the eye teeth (or is that i teeth??) coming in. Dd loves Teetha (the homeopathic powder). She opens her mouth like a little bird and licks the paper afterwards! We call it baby cocaine And this weekend we've been using Calpol when she has been really fed up. These ones are definitely the worst so far

susanmt · 09/09/2002 16:53

Just to clarify about the Ibuprofen syrup - you can buy it over the counter as Nurofen. It is usually recommended by doctors for teething pain as it si an anti-inflammatory as well as a pain killer and takes down some of the swelling round the tooth, which is causing the build up of pressure and therefore the pain. It also helps to releive fever just like Calpol, although you have to give a smaller dose and it's only every 6 hours rather than every 4. HTH!

MalmoMum · 10/09/2002 08:26

I found myself changing my attitude to giving drugs for teething pain when I had a problem with an impacted wisdom tooth that went on for 3-4 months. Ds was just starting teething when my thing started to rumble. It was a month after my tooth was taken out that his first tooth finally cut.

In the early days, I didn't want to give him drugs for this everyday occurence and gave him the teething powders. These worked as a distraction for a little bit, is the best I could say about them. My symptons were a swollen ridge of gum at the back of my mouth that hurt when you put pressure on it and gently throbbed the rest of the time, not unlike teething. I was waiting for a date to have it taken out.

About a month in and ds was getting my every sympathy that tooth pain is no breeze and very tiresome. The background pain made me grumpy and irritable and I didn't want to be like that around my new child.

Anyhow, it got to the stage when we were both getting narky, we shared the calgel and each got a dose of pain killer, nurofen for me, calpol for him. Half an hour later, both of us would be feeling much sweeter. It's a regime that didn't last forever, ds's tooth pain ebbed and flowed.

When I had chronic tooth ache I needed to manage the pain. As I gave birth one child using gas and air and managed with nothing at all for the second, I'm def not one that uses drugs for everything! I do feel there is appropriate use and tooth pain should not be under estimated.

Jasper · 10/09/2002 09:51

Malmomum, I am smiling at the thought of you and baby teething at the same time although I bet it was not funny.
Did you try rubbing teething gel over your sore gum around your wisdom tooth? If so did it help?

Janeway · 10/09/2002 19:16

Leander - thanks - Aston & Parsons it is, spoke again to the women at nursery (the ones who deal with the 18-36mnth olds) and they concur - one of them has also used the powders for pain with impacted wisdom teeth with great success.

Tried them on ds over last two days and the griping and stinky nappies have abated - he's back to his old amenable self.

mears · 11/09/2002 00:36

Am I the only mum who has never had a problem with babies teething? I have had 4. My GP says that the only thing you get from teething is teeth. He believes that too many actual ailments are put down to teething when the baby is probably coincidentally off colour. Any opinions ?

Tinker · 11/09/2002 00:40

Oh mears, my daughter definitely used to get 'ill' from teething. Temperature, needed to sleep, really sore bum. Like a fever really. And I'm a pretty 'hard' mum - send her to school when she's a bit off-colour.

jasper · 11/09/2002 00:48

mears that is very much the party line amongst the worthies of the dental profession but they don't shout about it because they think the public hates them enough already

SueDonim · 11/09/2002 06:37

Mears, I've waited so long for someone to say exactly what you have said! I also have four children and the only teething problem any of them had was with DS1's last molar. They never had red cheeks, temps or anything like that. Mostly I didn't even know they had teeth until a spoon clanked on them or similar.

However, I might be getting my come-uppance as my 6yr old complains about her new teeth coming in at the back and also my 23yr old moaned a lot about his wisdom teeth!

robinw · 11/09/2002 07:43

message withdrawn

Mog · 11/09/2002 08:47

Mears, My dd had no problem with her front teeth but the side ones caused her a lot of pain. As I said in an earlier post I took her to the doctor in case it was something else and he gave her a full check-up and confirmed it was teeth-the fact she screamed when he tried to put a spatula in her mouth was a give away. Not everyone is the same and not all children's mouths and teething pain will be the same (bit like childbirth really). Glad I haven't got your doctor.

Ems · 11/09/2002 09:29

Mears, we never had any problems with ds1, they come through no problem from 10 months onwards.

But ds2, we all experienced every single tooth coming through, I'm not joking!!

And I would say that ds2 is the toughie.

robinw · 11/09/2002 21:53

message withdrawn

MalmoMum · 11/09/2002 22:19

Jasper, we did really share the teething gel. What I liked was realising that it did make a difference. It made the horrible pain go away. The best effect was that with a tablet, by the time the gum number had worn off the other one had started.

Mears, your children sound great! I just want people to consider that this is not a battle of wil´ls. Drugs bad, other things to do:bad.

NanaJ · 24/06/2003 08:04

My grandson is cutting his first teeth and has been a very unhappy child, especially as he started at about three months. We have had colic, tears, generally miserable and very disturbed sleep. Having been given some Ashton and Parsons powders to try he is a different child. Happy, laughing and above all - sleeping.

louli · 26/09/2003 10:53

I know that babies get horrible nappies while they are teething but DS has been having them for three weeks now without a break. He did get a tooth (his first) 1.5 weeks ago but nothing since. Getting quite concerned now - has anyone else had this?

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