Teething

[Ole]

Hi, my 5.5 month old baby is cutting his first tooth and I just wanted to know what other people's experience is. For the last 2 months he has settled very well in the evenings after months of nightmare evenings, but since the tooth started surfacing a couple of nights ago getting him to settle at night has become a trauma again. What worries me is that after the tooth is out and the pain gone he will revert back to his old ways of not wanting to go to sleep, or is the unsettledness just a temporary thing? How do you know that he is not settling because of new bad habits rather than because of teething pain?

Any advice?

Thanks!!

[Fuschia]

I am not sure you can accuse a 5m old of having bad habits. But there is a more to the changwe in sleep patterns at 4m than teething pain, I'm afraid.. it's to do with a change to the brain/sleep patterns/developmental leaps.

Tiny babies under 4m do have a particular ability to sleeeeep which I'm afraid doesn't persist forever...

http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

[curlykaren]

if its teething you will probably also see some or all of the following, red cheeks, more dribble, reluctance to eat, nappy rash, runny tummy, clingyness/moodiness....won't last for ever though and a litttle calpol goes a loooong way, all the best x

[apenn]

Using Calgel or a similar product can help with teething pain. And agree with Fuschia above - sleep habits change a lot. As they become more aware of their surroundings, they seem less eager to settle down. At least, this has also been my experience thus far. As soon as you think you have a routine down - PRESTO - time for a change in habits.

-A