Can Teething Be This Bad????

I have an eleven month old daughter and she cut her first two teeth at the same time, than a week later she cut six more all at once!

For her the pain doesn't seem so bad. I give her tylenol, humphry's and a cold rag. That does the trick. It's the sleeping that's crazy. She wakes up at 7:00, naps from 9-12, naps from 2-4:30 and is in bed by 6:00. Sometimes she never wakes up from her 3:00 nap, just sleeps right through the night.

Teething is a crazy, scary thing. It is so different from baby to baby too. Just keep asking questions!

Good luck and have fun (or try to stay sane!)

Yes, teething can be that bad. I'm sorry! My son (who is now 2yrs) would "teeth" (crabby, drooling etc.) for a month, then seem to take a week or two break and then start again, then finally get a tooth. I really like Hyland's Teething tablets (you can get them at Walmart) they aren't as h*** o* the system as Tyenol, I would save the Tylenol for when he got really bad. Good luck!

I'm almost afraid to answer this. Every kid teeths at their own pace. My neighbor's kid got her teeth really quickly, my daughter took months. She started getting her teeth at about the same time your son did. Her first two came in at 10 months, the top two at 12 months, and then it got weird. She got 8 teeth in at one time. It took months. We did not give her tylenol everyday, only on the days she seemed in pain, and on those days every 4 hours, even at night. This would last for a few days then the pain would back off some. Talk with your doctor about the tylenol. Don't worry about the teething, her dentist said it was fine when we discussed it, every kid is different. Try cucumber slices (peeled) we found them very soothing.

Yes, teething can be that bad. My first had a terrible time teething waking every 45 min to 1 hour each night for 10days to 2 weeks. My second is having a tough time now too. You've received a lot of good advice for relieving the discomfort. A word of caution though with Hylands Teething Tablets. They may say "all natural", but they contain a potent drug that acts as a sedative. They are not regulated by the FDA. I never felt comfortable giving them to my kids. Hang in there, this too shall pass. R. (midwife and married SAHM of 2)

Hi D.- All I can say as a mother of 3 is that each child is different. My first would be happy and smiling all of the time and I would look in his mouth and there would be a tooth. My third fussed ALL of the time while he was teething so it seemed like it lasted months. I tried Humphrey's teething tabs and keeping him busy with teething toys. I don't know if it really helped - it may be one of those things that youjust have to live through. Good Luck!!

The homeopathic remedy Humphrey's #3 is available almost everywhere. Walgreens in the baby isle. They make an instant dissolving pellet and a quick melt strip now. The wonderful thing about homeopathic remedies is that you CANNOT dose or give too much. Tylenol and Motrin are both h*** o* the body, one on the liver and the other on the kidneys. Not that we don't use Tylenol ourselves, but it only takes 3000mg of Tylenol for an adult to overdose. When I lived in the UK, I learned that is the reason you cannot purchase a pack of Tylenol (paracetamol) in a box larger that about 15ct.

Since teething is not an short lived situation, it usually takes several days/weeks if many teeth are moving at once, it's a good idea to at least give a non-medicinal option a try. Consider saving that dose of Tylenol/Motrin for those middle of the night pains so everyone can get their much needed rest.

You can even get them from Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/s.html?ie=UTF8&node=3760931&amp...

Another suggestion I read on another blog, was to freeze breastmilk onto a washcloth and let them gnaw on that. I would imagine that formula or rice milk would work also.

Best of luck, teething is short lived in the big picture.
Happy Holidays pain-free days are ahead!

~L.

Hi D.-
Call the Dr., and make sure that it is OK to give this much Tylenol (too much can cause liver damage- at least my son got pale stools when it was used). Yes, it can take this long. Dr. can tell you more. Those teething rings that you put in the freezer are helpful (get two, and rotate). Hope it helps. S.

I wish that's all my son did. My son had a VERY tough time with teething and it took him a VERY long time to get his teeth in. His first tooth took 7 months to come in and his gums were so swollen it looked as though his gums and cheeks were connected. All his teeth were awful like this coming in. As an alternative to tylenol all the time, you can do non medicated things like Hylands teething tablets. (get them from a health food store or health food section of a grocery store) Also, give him Chamomile tea. The Chamomile naturally helps to relieve pain. You can give it to him in a bottle or a sippy cup. Also you can soak a washcloth in the tea and then freeze it then let him teeth on the frozen, tea soaked washcloth. We also mashed pears and froze them then let our son eat them to help numb his mouth.

Hi D.!

I know how you feel and can tell you it does get better! Try giving him Humphrey's. You can get them from the pharmacy counter. They are all natural and really do help to cut the pain down. I have used them with my two little ones and my 3 sisters have all used them with their little ones also. They are a life saver and much safer then given tylenol all the time. Good luck!

M.

Hi D.,

You know, and yuo'll be told often, every kid is different. My oldest sailed through teething as if nothing was happening and my now 17 month old apparently thinks teething is the end of the world. She doesnt sleep well, nap or night, she's extra clingy, she won't eat but will still drink juice, water and milk.... the list goes on. I understand about not wanting to give a lot of tylenol; I only give Keira some before bed at night. The rest of the day I give her Hyland's Teething Tablets and they do help her, with out the worry of giving medicine. You can try those and also try orajel if you haven't yet. If those don't help, or you continue to worry, then a trip to the pediatrician might be a good idea just to rule out anything else. Oh, also, sometimes teething gives them an upset tummy because of all the saliva they swallow, so maybe some Gripe Water will help. Good luck!

With my oldest, I could feel her first tooth just before she turned four months old. Over the next 12 months she got all 20 teeth in! I was so happy when she turned six months old and I could give her motrin. My sister is a dental asst. and she told me motrin works much better than tylenol, but I had to wait until she was six months old to give it. It made a huge difference with her.

It can take awhile for a tooth to come in, sometimes they start to erupt through the gum line and then will slip back below. It is absolutely normal for him to be miserable without the Tylenol, since he is over 6 months you can also offer him infant Motrin (or generic infant ibuprofen). Ibuprofen works better in my experiences because it helps with the swelling of the gum's and makes it easier on the child. My son is almost 18 months and he has been teething constantly for the last year. It took two weeks for one tooth to finally come through and it was awful, he would wake up constantly screaming. He currently has two molars on the bottom coming in and just had two on the top that finally made their way through. Also try putting some teething rings in the freezer and offering them to him during the day, my son loves chewing on them. The drooling is a big thing when they are teething, both of my boys have also had "teething poops" where they get rashy because their poop is so acidic. My mother in law has had the same experience with all of her day care kids over the past 18 years. You could even get a wet washcloth and put it in the freezer, most kids enjoy chewing on them because of the texture and it is not as cold feeling as the teething ring would be frozen (because some children do not like the cold feeling on their already sore gum's). If it gets bad for a few days you can try alternating ibuprofen with the Tylenol, that is completely safe just make sure you use the right dosage for his weight. Your pediatrician should have given you a paper telling you the dosage for age and weight, if not I have one I can let you know off of it. Teething is just a necessary evil we all go through and with time it will pass. By the time they are two they usually have all of their teeth until around 4-6 when they start losing baby teeth. Good luck and hang in there, just give him all the comforting you can.

There's no hard and fast rule on this one. A tooth can seem ready to erupt and then the swelling goes down and then starts up again weeks later. We adopted our son at the age of one - he had 1 tooth and then got 12 in the next 6 months! It was hard to tell if he was miserable due to the teeth, due to the adjustment or both!

We already had a bio daughter, so I'd been through teething before, but every kid is so different. With our son, he had a really hard time. His back gums would look black because they'd get so bruised where the tooth was trying to come out. I don't know if maybe the difficulty was related to the adoption circumstances - that he suddenly was getting all this good food and nutrition and his teeth just went crazy growing in!

I don't like giving too much medication personally - I'd try some of the natural suggestions and also Oragel to numb the gums. My son found comfort gnawing on ice in one of those mesh no-choke baby feeding things. Also try a cold washcloth put in the freezer. Then speak to your doctor at the next check-up just in case. My friend's boy had a weird case in which his teeth wouldn't break through and they actually snipped the gum to facilitate teething, but I think that's very rare.

Congratulations on your adoption and your son! What a crazy ride, huh? :)

You poor thing. It's so scary when your baby is hurting. My son had most of his teeth by the time he was 1 and never batted an eye. He got a fever while cutting 2 of his molars, but that was about it. I thought it would be a breeze with my daughter. She is 16 months old and just cut her 6th tooth (2 in the last two weeks). It has been awful. She has more of a facuet on her face than a nose, and she coughs a lot because of the drainage. She too, is very clingy.

After all that rambling...I just want to say that you aren't alone and it is normal. I would try Motrin though. It helps a little more with the inflamation than the tylenol. It is supposed to work longer than tylenol too. Not sure how accurate that is. When my daughter is really cranky/inconsolable, I alternate tylenol/motrin evey 5 hours for one day. Seem to help.

Good luck.

Take heart D.! Both of my girls were horrible teethers - seemed like it was more torture for them than a natural occurence! We were told that it has to do with the makeup of their gums - some people's are just harder to break through, and so take longer and have more pain. Tylenol is fine for a week straight, but you have to worry about digestive system upset. We relied heavily on infant Orajel which doesn't enter the bloodstream and so doesn't have the risk of long term effects like Tylenol. Also, there are some homeopathic teething tablets that work; the trick is getting them to dissolve. We had more luck with these when the girls were older and could chew with the few teeth they had. One more thing we had luck with was taking baby washcloths, wetting them and freezing them for the girls to chew on. Temporary, but provides a bit of pain relief.
Remember too that there tends to be an increase in stomach acids for some babies and this may be contributing to his discomfort.
Hang in there - you're not alone, and it is normal!! Good luck to you and your family.

There are natural teething remedies you can try that will not be potentially harmful. My concern about Tylenol is that medications have never been studied on children, so how do you really know what a good dose is. Also, with their immune systems developing, until the age of two, it could disrupt its' development. If you are going to try a natural remedy, they sell them at many "good" vitamin/herb shoppes and you might even be able to find a "natural" pharmacist to make you some. Just make sure you stay away from ones that have milk as an ingredient as it will disrupt their GI tract.
There's a place in Asheville NC where you could call and I'm sure they'd send it to you that makes up their own natural teething gel. It's called Nature's Pharmacy and it is owned by two pharmacists who have chosen to go just the natural route. They make up their own remedies.
Hope this helps.

I wouldn't personally give him that much Tylenol, but ask your doctor. I give my daughter hybrids teething tablets, they work instantly and I save the Tylenol for really bad days and usually before bedtime. Teething hurts us all not just the babies. LOL

my oldest son didnt get his teeth til late. the good thing ( for us) is that his teeth were saved wear and tear and he has always had beautiful teeth, hardly any cavities, i think he brags about only one filling in his life but i think it was 2. when all his friends started losing teeth in kinder and first grade he wanted his teeth to fall out so bad.he would tug and pull. he didnt lose his first tooth until 3rd grade. the first day of 3rd grade i asked him about school and he said that the only people with all their teeth were his teacher and he. i think that all kids get theeth and develop at different ages and you shouldnt worry about it. i would make sure you start wiping his teeth after meals with a soft cloth or get one of those things you put on your finger to clean his teeth. it makes it a lot easier to transition to a tooth brush later on. good luck and God bless you for adopting i have two bio sons and 5 adopted ones but we didnt adopt any of those until they were teenagers.

yes, it can be that bad. my son had this with EVERY tooth!!! Some are harder than others particularly canines and molars. Each kid is different, we did not know when my daughter was cutting teeth until she had the tooth....she only complained about her molars.

If you want to do medication -
Tylenol works, Ibuprofen works better, and a combo of the two does wonders. I know many people are against medications, but (I said this in another post) I am against having my children in pain unnecessarily. I don't think the tylenol will hurt him, though you do want do give gingerly. He may take it becasue he likes it (weird, i know). We would try as many non-medical things during the day and medicate at night..sleep helps improve mood and pain tolerance...=-)

Some non-medical ideas - those green mesh sacs at babiesrus or target - fill it with an ice cube or frozen fruit cube and give him that, wet wash cloth put in the freezer, teething cookeis (very messy but effective), let him put cold, hard stuff in his mouth - my son literally eats ice cubes - crunch crunch, but he is happy so I am too.
People swear by those teething things you can get at whole foods, personally, I have two kids..didnt help worth a darn. but, like i said, each kid is differnt...and with that being said, so is each parent and what you can tolerate in terms of fussiness from your child. Some days I had difficulty being sympathetic -he got more medication that day - sounds bad? well, I was much happier and he was happier - sounds like a good deal to me.
Good luck, I know this sounds arbitrary and, well, vague..that is because every day and every situation with a child is different, play it by ear and keep trying stuff until you find something that works.
Good Luck!

Hi D. -

Try Hyland's Teething formula. It's a homeopathic blend that is available at most health food stores - like Whole Foods and Sprouts. It was a wonderful alternative to commercial drug formulas.

Blessings,

M. M. Ernsberger, HHP
Certified Herbalist

Tylenol is (in my researched opinion) very dangerous as it causes liver damage - especially with continual use. Teething is pretty constant once it starts - a very safe and helpful herbal combination called Calmazon works great to relieve pain, inflammation - and helps everyone get needed sleep. It can be rubbed right on the gums or taken with water - dosed by weight so it's safe for everyone. You can check it out on my website: www.shootingstarherbs.amazonherb.net or feel free to contact me with any questions about it.

Yes. Each of my son's teeth took about a month to completely come in. Luckily he has handled them very well, but I have used Humphrey's teething tablets and tylenol. Tylenol seems to do the trick for the most part and everyday is not a problem, but ask your Ped just to make sure. This is a tough part of parenting and we must have patience! I've heard of babies up all night crying because of their teeth and for the most part they are inconsolable. Try cold teething rings or a frozen washcloth. Those may help out too.