Teething - how do you know?

[Madallie]

DD almost 1yo has had bright red cheeks the last few days. Like she has bright red light bulbs in there. She's been pulling at her ears on and off and at different parts of the day (usually evening) will be biting at her hands. She has the top and bottom front 4 teeth which she had for a good few months.

She's still very happy and playful in the day so it does not seem to bother her too much. However she has woken up in the night a few times in last couple of weeks. Once she was just half awake/half asleep for about 2hours moaning but not crying. Have been giving Calpol before bed then last night she was moaning away on and off for a while. Gave Calpol at about midnight and after a little while she did go back to sleep and she slept til 7.30am.

This morning again her cheeks are quite red (not as red as yesterday).

I can't see any teeth coming through but could this be teething?

It sounds like teething to me. Will she let you see her gums? Try to see if there's a red, swollen bit. Has she been dribbling more? I bet she looks like this !

There are lots of preparations to help her with the pain. I still use a liquid you dab on which does the trick for DS who also wakes in the night when he's cutting a tooth. Anbesol I think it's called.

Equally it could be slapped cheek syndrome AKA parvovirus. It is around at the mo and many children are only very mildly ill with it. Main symptom - bright red cheeks !