The teething myth

[Rainbowchampagne]

My 4.5 month old seems to have had a personality transplant. She’s gone from being a very chilled baby that rarely cries (only when tired or hungry or on a growth/development spurt) to now screaming and crying hysterically for hours on end.

I feel like a bad mum because I have no idea why, but my instinct isn’t telling me to be worried about it. When she is screaming/crying hysterically she can be distracted briefly by playing, or walking round with her etc and in the moments she’s her normal happy self. When she isn’t having this bursts, she’s chilled out again.

She has no physical symptoms of anything, no temp, no runny nose, mouth looks fine, no caught hairs, no rash, nappies are normal, poo is normal at normal times.

My MIL has said she’s teething from about 2 months old because she’s very dribbly and pulls her ear. I think she’s just a dribbly baby and she pulls her ear when tired and has done from the moment she found it.

But now I’m thinking maybe she is teething and just has no symptoms? The only symptom she has is she has become really clingy to me. Doesn’t like it when I leave the room even when she’s with DH. Only wants to nap on me etc etc

Is there anything I could be missing?

How do her gums feel?

@Prokupatuscrakedatus The bottom gums feel hard

Top ones feel slightly softer - posted too soon!

I remember the first set of teeth seemed to take ages

Salvia production increases at 2 months which is why babies suddenly become dribbly.

I'd say teething then, too. it can take ages and for a natural process it can be quite uncomfortable.

How long has she been pulling her ear for? That can also be a sign of an ear infection.

Sounds like teething to me. Try some teething gel and see what happens.

@Lockdownseperation yes as soon as it came in she’s been such a dribbly baby

@MissRabbitIsExhausted she starting pulling on them as soon as she found them. It’s when she’s tired. Would she not have other symptoms and a temp if it was an infection?

@LittleBearPad @Prokupatuscrakedatus I’ll give it a go! She puts everything in her mouth to chew (which they do at her ages anyway) but it does seem like it’s providing relief

If she has been doing it for a while or most likely isn't, but dd used to pull her ears when she was tried, and once had an ear infection where the only difference was she cried lots and struggled to settle. We were surprised when the doctor found that's what was wrong as we had thought the ear pulling was just because she was tired.

Maybe try some teething gels or powders and see if it makes any difference.

My ds got his 1st teeth at 8 weeks old. And it felt like he was teething from the minute he was born. Same symptoms

Teething pain is only a thing in the 4-5 days before the tooth cuts through. It’s a myth that they can have months of pain beforehand. Dribbling, chewing and putting things in their mouth are normal developmental stages that happen at 2-4 months, completely independently of teething. Though some babies cut a tooth at 4 months or younger, the average is 6 months and it can be later.

In my experience parents sometimes blame any bit of tiredness/grumpiness/behaviour change on teething. Keep an eye on her and make sure she’s not ill (ear infections can cause pain in the mouth/jaw area too). If she’s physically ok then she might be just going through a needy phase.

There is a spell around 4 ish months that's really hard. It tends to be related to development and not teething. It's about them learning to roll and just do other things. It's hard, but you just ride it out and find things that do work.

I thought it was teething with my first as well. Until she actually started teething at 6 months (which was so much more hellishly worse!). 2nd one also had a weird phase. Then at 6 months, teeth popped through after several easy chilled weeks, so I'm pretty sure earlier phase was unrelated to teething either.

I think 4.5 months is prime time for a developmental leap too, download the wonder weeks app to track when her grumpy phases will be, you'll be surprised how accurate it is

It could be that she is going through a development leap. Check out ‘wonder weeks’ app and it will tell you if it’s the case and what you can expect

@HarrietM87 agreed, it’s what everyone keeps telling me but you know when they are tired, grumpy etc so I just smile and nod!

@mindutopia @TeddyBeans @avidteadrinker this very well could be the case but this particular time is challenging her more maybe?