great sleeper turned into evil twin!

[manna]

my 7mnth old is teething. He has 3 or 4 teeth, all quite suddenly. The days are not too bad, although last week he seemed to exist on air and milk The last 3 nights, however, have been dreadful! He has an evil twin, who starts waking on the hour, every hour from 10.30pm onwards! His nice twin always gets himself back to sleep, is a fab clb, sleeps 7 - 7, never even squeaks when he wakes, just waits to be got up! Bliss! Last night, at 2.30am I finally gave him calpol and he settled until 6.30am. My questions are:

It IS teething, isn't it?
How long will it last?
I'm comforting him as necessary - it won't set up 'bad' habits, will it? He goes back to sleep quite easily when one of us goes in.
How can I help him?
There was a thread about colds / lack of sleep in babies a few months ago. People mentioned a magic drug (better than calpol) to ensure a good nights sleep for their babies at times like this. Does anyone remember it or have any suggestions?

come on guys - I'm desperate for help before tonight!

Probably teething.
Give him Calpol!! Or, better for teething, is baby nurofen, as it takes down the swellling in the gums.
Don't be afraid of giving him something for the pain. Some folk are a bit wary but as long as you stick to the doses then there should be no problem and its awful when they are sore. I doubt it would sset up bad habits if he is usually so good with his routine. I think as the calpol helped last night I would give iot to him as soon as he wakes (or even before he goes to bed).
My dh is a GP and his advice on giving painkillers is 2 doses through the day, one dose at bedtime and save one for through the night in case you need it!
I would comfort him as much as he needs if he is sore, but as you will know I'm not a GF fan. However, my dd was a good sleeper except when teething, and the comforting never became a problem as she just stopped waking up when the pain went away.
Sorry, a bit garbled! Hope ir helps
Susan xx

WOW I DID IT!
Just like we were saying on another thread, if a GF mum asks for advice you dont have to be a GF mum to help - I would never have done this before but I did!

thanks susanmt - I did actually do as your dh suggested today, and am saving doses of calpol for bedtime:# Do you think I could add a little whisky to the mixture? only joking, I need the whisky for myself.

I always appreciate any advice - gf or not, after all, gf is only about routines, and babies need a lot more input than that to turn them into happy, healthy children!

Feel a bit sad, though, I had to cancel a girls night out at The Atlantic Bar tonight with my old raving buddies from 15 years ago! Rather than reliving the summer of love and aciiiid! it will be calpol for ds, calpol and whisky for me (!) and early nights all round - wish me luck!

How did it go manna? Any better?

oh, no, it's like he's in his own 'let's wake up early now' routine! He's never done it before, but ever since a couple of days of teething pain last week he's been waking in the night. It's gone from 3.30 to 4.30 to 5.30 to 6am this am so I'm hoping he'll push it along to 7 in a couple of days. I didn't realise babies could change so quickly - he's always been such a great sleeper and not a peep out of him when he did wake, just thumb in and wait to be got by us! Still, now I know he's not in pain I might well ignore him tonight.... (see how long I last, that is!)

Seriously, I need to get him back to sleeping through. Does anyone know why kids suddenly do this? what I can do to help him get back? I can't believe I have to go back to that horrid time around 10 / 12 weeks when he was growing out of this the FIRST time round!!