Is teething really THIS bad?

[MintGreenLife]

DS has just turned 10 months. His bottom two teeth came through a couple of months ago with no fuss, but his top teeth are a completely different story!

I realised last Sunday one had cut through, and on Saturday night we had 3hr battle getting him down at bedtime. This has carried on every night since - he’s always been fed or rocked to sleep and put down asleep, and he’s been really difficult to get to sleep, and then when putting him down he’s been waking up instantly and screaming. The last two nights he’s ended up sleeping in his pram.

Yesterday he had a temperature in the evening of 38.4, was verrrry grumpy and had one red cheek and wanting to bite down on everything. Got him in his cot but he was waking up every half an hour, so by midnight tried the pram, which wasn’t much better, but at least I could push it back and forth from our bed when he did wake. We had three hour long wakeups in the night.

Today his temp is 37.8. Still very grumpy. Off his food. Currently napping in his pram.

He’s generally moaning a lot, doesn’t really want to eat, very tired (probably from such disturbed sleep!) off his food and just not himself.

Does this definitely sound like teething? He seems to be really struggling with it this time around. Am treating the temp with calpol and giving teething powder. Any other tips?! And how long will this go on for 😭

Ditch the teething powders, they're basically just sugar. Give nurofen not calpol, and get a topical numbing gel like anbesol.

If he still has a temp take him to the doctor, teething shouldn't cause a fever.

Also, bare in mind that there is often some form of sleep regression around 8-10 months and at that point in time lots of people find that their previous methods of getting their babies to sleep no longer work, and nap frequency sometimes needs to change.

He could also just be ill with a virus AND teething. Whatever the problem is, it will almost certainly improve soon.

If the other teeth didn't cause him much trouble I'd say it's more likely that he has a dose of something, 38.4 would be too high for teething IMO. Just keep doing what you're doing in terms of fluids, Calpol/ibuprofen to keep him comfortable and if you're worried contact the GP.

I totally agree with the PP, around this age they get lots of bugs so it is likely to be that combined with teething

ibuprofen is vastly superior to paracetamol for teething

Thanks everyone, we have some baby ibuprofen so will try that instead. NHS website says temp up to 38 for teething, so thought it wasn’t too far over to still be possibly caused by teething, but perhaps it’s a virus too 😕

The 5 month sleep regression hit us hard and resulted in us having to sleep in shifts while DS slept on one of us, as we just couldn’t put him down in his cot. After 2 months of this we tried putting him down awake instead and that did the trick, but I stopped doing it after a few weeks as I couldn’t hack that there was often crying at bed time. So I think if the sleep issues continue we will try that again, but will obviously wait until he’s feeling better! At the moment he’s only getting about 7hrs sleep at night, and I’m probably managing 3-4hrs, so it’s no wonder he’s grumpy…and me too 😭

Ear infection? Sounds like he's reluctant to lie down which would suggest ears not teeth.

Absolutely agree on Nurofen for teething. It lasts longer. 6-8 hours instead of 4-6 hours.

Numbing teething gel before his meals and milk so he'll have less pain and be more likely to eat.

Good luck. Teething was hell for my DD.

It can be pretty brutal on them, no matter what the internet says - my son got 8 teeth in two months; just one after another relentlessly. We didn't sleep during this entire time - at the end he got covid and slept for like a week, then BAM! 8 month sleep regression.

I would say watch his temperature to make sure it doesn't get too high; other than that just grin and bear it for a few days. It could be a bit of sleep regression as well, but again, this will pass eventually.

when mine had their last ones it was horrible. they had all sorts of illnesses the gp couldnt understand.

It’s horrible for them 😭 temp was 37.3 6 hrs after the last calpol dose, so much better. Fingers crossed that’s it for the temperature. Got some teething gel and will use ibuprofen tonight instead of calpol 🤞🏼

After fever of 38.4 is an infection not teething. Nurofen is better than calpol for teething, anbesol liquid is also good, the only thing which will
help in the teething powder is the sugar.

Calpol only lasts 4hrs ish so I’d expect the temp to be right back up after that. I always find Neurofen works faster and lasts longer for pain and temps.

teething gel and powers are only affective for the 10 seconds a child tastes the sugar and is distracted. Or if there was nothing really wrong with them to begin with. They are NOT pain easers.

Even if it’s ‘just teething’ you need to treat the pain and temp.

But I’d suspect it’s actually an ear infection or similar.

I am treating the pain and temp as mentioned in my posts. He’s much better this afternoon and temp is back down (not going up after doses worn off). Have given ibuprofen just before bed to be on the safe side though.