Is He Teething? What to Do...

boy do i know what you are going through. I have a two year old son who was pretty cranky. usually a sign of teething is drooling and trying to chew on fingers, and such. what I used was Hylands teething tablets. get the ones that instantly disolve under the tongue. I used 2-3 tablets. you can usually get them in walgreens, walmart, target, practically any grocery store in the baby department. they were a life saver for me. and just remember, they grow up fast, just try to enjoy the non-fussy times. good luck.

C.
yuma, az (mother of a 2 year old and 16 year old.)

Hey S.
I was going to recommend the above Humphreys teething tablets and they also have the colic tablets/ They are 100% free of side affects and work sooooo good. I remember the first night when my 1 year old started taking them they are such a reliever. t

Hey S., I used over the counter teething tablets totally homeopthic, theres cammamile, anis ect. and they melt as soon as they touch the tongue. It was like a miracle cause my son just had fits. Cammomile calms them while the other ingredients fight pain. My son use to gnaw on slim jims when teething he could never bite through but I was eating one when he was little and he reached for it, and wouldnt give it back. Its funny what sooths them. He also chewed on a soft toothbrush, which was great cause I would put is gum paste on it and he loved it. Dont ever use anbesol.Good luck. My son is my first and now he is almost 3, and I have blocked out the sleepless nights and my husband and I racing around in the middle of the night when he was sick or fussy. You will survive.

When our daughter started teething that early my sister in law gave us something called teething tablets - they are made by hylands and are homeopathic. They are a godsend...I definately recommend them to anyone... You can get them at most places like walgreens or safeway. Good luck!

Hi S.,

I have a 4-year-old daughter and a 5 1/2 month old son. We have had our share of sleep problems, so I sympathize with you! I would probably chalk this up to plain old fussiness. I know both my kids were fussy (especially in the evening) from 6 weeks to around 3 months, and it seemed nothing would calm them. It started decreasing gradually from there, and they got on a more normal schedule eventually.

Also, my son only napped for an hour at a time (4 1-hour naps a day, usually, which made for a strange schedule) up until around 4-5 months. (My daughter totally resisted naps) Now my son's doing 2 longer naps a day. As long as you know he is not ill, I think both the fussiness and sleeping are developmental and will change with time, so hang in there!

I'd recommend reading up on sleep if you haven't already, and trying to start setting the patterns you want, whether it's family bed or baby-in-the-crib or whatever. Books you might try are The Baby Whisperer; Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child; and The No-Cry Sleep Solution. That would give you a range of approaches so you can see what's right for you. (You may have already read these...) Since we had a very rough sleep road with our first, we have been really trying with our son to set good sleep patterns, and so far it's going better.

Good luck! Having just been through the newborn/early infanthood stage, I really think that when they are that young, a lot of things happen that are hard for us to figure out and that it all works out eventually... :-)But it seems like once one thing is fixed, another issue arises. My son has recently decided that he wants to get up at 9:00 pm, about 3 hours after going to bed. :-(

K.

It could be teeth but it also sounds like maybe reflux (basically heartburn). Have you ever talked to your Dr. about that? Does he get fussy after he eats? Reflux is painful and can be emphasized when laying down flat and usually pretty soon after they eat. When you said he arches his back and screams, reflux definately pops in my head. If it is reflux, he can be put on baby Zantac and he will be a whoole new happy baby. Good luck!

My son (4 months next week) does the same thing. Even when eating he arches his back. It is said to be reflux. I haven't gotten the Zantac yet, my doc told me to try putting cereal in his bottle. It helps for a lot of people but I really don't see a change. Keep him sitting up for 30 min after eating (this does help). Have him sleep at an angle. I walk around with him in a carrier and this is when he seems most comfortable.
Let me know if you find anything better to soothe him.
K.

Hi S.
It sounds like your baby has a little colic maybe also teething. With colic for a tummie ache. I used a old method my grandmother gave me years ago. Get alittle bit of baking soda and make it into a paste. Put a little of it on you hand smooth it on where the belly button is, all around it. It's suppose to take out the colic and help you baby sleep. It help my kids, maybe it will help yours. With teething I went to a health food store and bought humfreys for babies. It is a teething table that melts in there mouth. (Its for babies and it is natural) Good Luck
a helping hand
M.

Hi S.,

I am so sorry it took me so long to get back to you. It sounds to me that your instincts are right. He is probably teething, this can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, it just depends on the baby. When my kids went through this my peidiatrician recommended rotating motrin and tylenol, every 4 hours on the bad days, I wouldn't do this everyday, b/c those things are h*** o* the kidneys, but Motrin is a savior and not as bad as the tylenol. Also, you might want to try some of that baby teething gel, that you put on their gums and it makes the gums numb, along with some of those ice teething rings.
A little motrin before bed will help with the sleeping at night as well.

Let me know if there is more that I can do for you,
G.

is he drooling id he is he more then likely teething....my daughter was teething at 3 months old she just cried all day long and nothing would calm her down i tried everything and nothing worked she didnt even want to eat so i finally went to the store later that night bought her some orajel and put it on her gums......and she was out the rest of the night.......didnt know they could get there teeth that early but that was it

Try Gripe Water. It is a natural dietary supplement. It works like a charm for colic, hiccups and teething. I use Baby's Bliss. You can go to their website to find a local retailer. www.blissbymom.com Good luck.

Hi S.,

We are having the same problem with our 3 month old. I went to a co-pediatrician a few weeks ago, who claimed it was colic and gas that will go away after the colic priod ends; however, my husband got so frustrated with her this week, we went AGAIN to our own ped. My pediatrician didn't even suggest teething as the culprit but rather possible excessive acidity that seers the esophogus and causes the baby to be fussy, drool, spit up, etc. The medicine is $173 and we're trying to get insurance to cover. The symptoms you describe are so similar to ours, I wonder if one of our ideas solves the other's problem. My babysitters all comment how unusual the arching and struggling and non-napping is for an infant and I feel terrible watching her in pain. Its harder for me to be running my office, knowing she's like that for the sitter, than being there watching it happen. Have you tried giving him teething meds to see if he's just an earlybird?

Hi S.,
I was feeling the same way you are about a year and a half ago. My son started acting the same way that you are describing and I would try anything and everything to calm him down. I ended up taking him to my pediatrician and we decided to put him on Zantac syrup for acid reflux. He was a totally different baby!! I followed up with a GI doctor at Phx Childrens and he checked him over and agreed that was the problem. At the age of 1 we started slowly lowering the dose until he was getting it at all and he's been fine. He's 2 now and has no more problems with it. We went thru the same thing with my daughter who is now 8. But the doctors kept treating it as colic and that wasn't the problem. The first year my daughter was just miserable. She cried 24/7. She didn't sleep thru the night until she was 3. Now I look back and feel bad knowing that it was something that we could have treated. I hope this is helpful to you. Good luck with your new baby!

Tylenol helps if your Dr thinks it's ok. My son (2nd child) is also just over 3 mos. He is drooly and fussy too, and has the same issues with sleep. Not much you can do but rub his gums to heal the teething pain (he loves his teething toys). Keep in mind that for most kids, when they start teething it might take a month or 2 for the tooth to actually cut through and you will see a short period of relief for them before the next one comes in. Not sleeping for a long nap or longer periods through the night usually means that they aren't getting enough to eat. I just started my son on cereal, only a couple of weeks earlier than most people suggest(he has been strictly breast fed up to this point). I had to do the same thing with my daughter and it worked wonders. The work at getting them to actually eat the cereal is the hardest part, it takes a lot of tries for them to practice controlling their tongue thrust and swallow.

We use a Baltic Amber necklace on our daughter and it has helped her teething pain tremendously. Apparently in Europe it is very common to use these types of necklaces instead of medicinal treatments. I got mine at www.latvianamberstore.com

Updated

We use a Baltic Amber necklace on our daughter and it has helped her teething pain tremendously. Apparently in Europe it is very common to use these types of necklaces instead of medicinal treatments. I got mine at www.latvianamberstore.com

Does he throw-up a lot? My first son was that way and he had reflux, but the first sign was definately the puking. Another symptom is the arching of the back because it's painful. A friend of mine had her son sleep in his carseat because it's like sitting up which is less likely the acid will come back up as if lying down. If you go onto zantac.com there is a symptom checklist you can fill out to see if that might be it. If you check a few of them you might want to go to the pediatrician and put him on Zantac. Have you tried the baby orajel to rub on his gums to see if that helps?