Sleep and Teething

[gigi556]

Help! My 20 week old seems to be teething. Tons and tons of drool, wants to chew EVERYTHING and has become pretty fussy the last couple of days. Last night we had a nightmarish night of sleep (if you can call it that) and tonight he's already woken up within an hour of going down absolutely screaming. DP just gave him a dummy (which we don't usually use at night) and he's gone back off. I know some people say teething should affect sleep, but I can't see what else his problem could be unless he's overtired as I've been trying to slowly move bedtime later in anticipation of the time change on Sunday.

What did/do you do with teething at night? My HV came to the house today to talk about weaning and suggested Anbesol. I went out straight away and applied before bed. Now I've read online it's not recommended :( Is it appropriate to give Calpol? It seems like you can't give Calpol for teething pain everyday and this teething stuff is supposed to last for 2 years! What's a mama to do?

I definitely give Calpol and Ibuprofen (alternating).

Many babies are "fast teethers" and are only in pain for 2-3 days when their teeth are cutting through the gums. In this case, a good option is to give medicine both during the day (every 6 or 8 hours) and at night.

Unfortunately, DD is a slow teether so I only give her Ibuprofen when she wakes up and cries during the night. Her last tooth took nearly 10 days to cut through and she woke up a couple of times during that period (she tries really hard to stay asleep - she hates waking up during the night). Apparently, quite a few babies eventually get used to teething - several mothers in my NCT group stopped having problems once their DCs got 3-4 teeth. DD is on tooth 7 at 9 months and still doesn't handle it well so I give her Calpol or Ibuprofen without hesitation.

Why isn’t anbesol recommended?

It seems like you can't give Calpol for teething pain everyday

Can you actually feel the point of the tooth with your finger? It's cutting through when pain relief is usually needed.

I'm pretty sure it says on the Calpol/Ibuprofen bottle not to use for more than 3 (4?) consecutive days unless advised to by the doctor. While I, personally, I would stretch this if I wasn't giving the max daily dose, I wouldn't give for more than 7 days.

This is the danger of giving Calpol/Ibuprofen 'just incase'. If you can't actually feel a tooth then it might not be teething.

Having said that, baby might be poorly rather than teething. Certainly give it a day or two of pain killers, to see if it makes any difference. If not, then you know to not bother.

@crazycatlady5 the anbesol not being recommended was just something I saw on google so I guess a throw away comment. The HV suggested it and I spoke to the chemist first about using it as you have to get it from behind the counter.

I've just changed nappy, given anbesol, calpol and a breastfeed so hopefully that's somehow helped! He's back to sleep... for now!

@FATEdestiny I don't think I can feel any teeth.... So maybe it's not actually his teeth that's upsetting him in the night...

I'm going through this exact same thing Gigi. The drool, the urgency almost to chew things and the past three nights have been really tough - like waking every hour. How was your night last night?

@Bayoubaby was better. Less fussy but frequent waking and DS seems to have become a bit more regular lately... We had a dirty diaper at like 5am. Luckily I slept through this particular wake up and DP sorted it

Did you get anbesol oil not the gel.

We use anbesol liquid, Calpol and ibuprofen. In my experience the cutting through often isn’t the painful bit but the few days beforehand.

There have been weeks when DD2 has Calpol and/or ibuprofen every day for a week because of teething. Then months without any. She still only has six teeth, so I’m sure another surge will happen soon. DD1 on the other hand probably only ever had any medication for teething half a dozen times as she just didn’t seem bothered by it.

Teeth don't seem to be bothering him now, thank goodness. But he does still seem to be waking frequently again 😩😩😩 I guess it's just another phase...

@Changerofname987654321 yes, we got the liquid rather than the gel. HV said it was better as it didn't end up all over their mouth.