teething- can anyone explain?

[knittingmama]

My DD is 9 mos old, and has one top tooth, with one on the way. It seems to be just about there, but hasn't made it through yet. She isn't bothered during the day but at night she wakes after a good 4 - 5 hours of sleep and screams for an hour before I can calm her and get her back to sleep. I gave her Calpol one night, and it seemed to help! But I hate the idea of giving Calpol all the time.

My question is- does anyone know what part of teething actually hurts? Is it the tooth cutting through the gums, or is it before that? Am I right in thinking this is teething pain in the middle of the night? I'm trying to decide if I should just give her Calpol when she wakes up to avoid the screaming.

For future reference rub gauze along the gums every day. It helps to toughen up the gums so it doesn't hurt so much when the tooth cuts through. Also try teething gel, but some of them have restrictions on how often you can use them.

If you gave Calpol and she settled, i think you can safely assume that she was in pain and the Calpol helped. Unlike Medised, there is no sedative effect in Calpol (Paracetemol)

My DS is a reliable sleeper, so when he has woken in the nihgt, then unless I can settle him back quickly, orht e cause of his waking is obvious, then I do tend to give him Calpol or baby Nurofen, and more often than not it does the trick.

As to the timing of the pain, IME it really varies. Sometimes DS has been unsettled and a tooth has appeared the next day. Other times he has been bright red in the face, drooling like mad and really miserable and there's been nothing to see at all.

My personal view is that i would rather give the occasional unecessary dose of something, than leave my son in pain, just because he can't tell me what's wrong.

But that's only my view and I've probably only had to make that judgement call about 3 times ( he's 13 months) so I'm not too worried about giving him too much medicine.

It's just that I've felt terrible when he's been upset for hours and I've done nothing, nad lo and behold a tooth appears the next day - i end up feeling really guilty that he was in pain!!

I think it might be the tooth cutting through that hurts the most, although I think the teeth move around under the gum 1st, which can also be uncomfortable. My friend's DS had teeth under his gum for a few months, that were making him really grouchy, but they weren't actually cutting through! Teething powders are better than teething gels, as babies tend to just lick the gell off. I use Nelsons teething powder with my DD and she's been pretty good with it. HTH.

If I had another lo I would give more calpol tbh. I resisted so much in the early days and now I know if I had given DD a small dose of Calpol then she would have been much more settled. She is 15m now and has nearly all her molars (but no canines ) and I don't hesitate if I think she is in pain. They don't have to have a temperature to feel the pain. That was my error - I would only feel happy giving it if she was hot.

HTH

Oh come now - if you had a really bad headache would you want someone to refuse to give you a painkiller because you'd had one a day or so ago? Sorry that sound horribly judgemental but teething does hurt.

DD has been teething on and off since she was 16 weeks, it got really bad at 10 months and since then we have had it almost continually. She now only has two more teeth to go - big bloody molars have appeared and everything and my considered opinion and that of my HV and my GP is give her the drugs.

We prefer infant nurofen - it's quicker acting and antiinflammatory (which is important as the gums swell during teething and paracetamol doesn't counter this). We intersperse it with Calpol every two days so she doesn't get overloaded but quite honestly she's had it for up to seven days at a time and had medicine every day. (minimal doses not the daily limit btw) and also teething gel. There's homeopathic ones which work.

Also get a fingerstall teether - looks like a thimble with nodules on - you get them free in the 9 month (?) Bounty bag I believe, whop teething gel on and let them have a good chew on your finger. or a frozen flannel is good too.

DD also loves frozen melon when it all gets too much - v messy but numbs the gums a treat.

The good news it does have an end - normally by two they have all their teeth and then they start throwing tantrums for some other reason . The little darlings

am I allowed to say... ashton and parsons powders?!

Miraculous and worked better for DS than calpol!

You old hippie Tech

(he's right though)

I think you've answered your own question - if she settled better then it was probably pain of some kind - maybe the tooth directly or teething seemed to upset DS's tummy sometimes, all that drool, and I think maybe gave him tummy pain too.

We like ashtons and parsons too - although IME they work better in the day (I think part of the effect is the pleasurable distraction of licking the powder off which they are understandably less excited about at night!)

Also Anbesol works well - if you've never used it before it's the stuff you use for mouth ulcers and is a mild ocal anesthetic (and antiseptic). It's fine to use for babies and works instantly so can be better than calpol which will take a little while to get into the system. It's also good if they hurt their lip on their new tooth as it helps it heal.

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