Good sleep habits vs. teething

By LCTBQE Apr 1, 2017

My boo just turned 7 months and a few days ago his first two teeth broke through--they're so cute But we've gone from consistent STTN to *three* night wakings/feedings per night in the last week. I haven't given him any Tylenol or Advil because I'm just not sure whether he needs it--during the day he seems totally fine, same cheerful baby, same good eating/napping habits. His daycare lady thinks he has more teeth coming through (so far we just have the bottom center) but I'm not sure.

So, wondering what you did to navigate teething--did you give preemptive painkillers, re-train after you thought teething was over, never give in to all the night feedings in the first place? I've done some googling and the only consensus I can find is "it sucked but we got through it"--but how??

@shopaholic: I found an old thread of yours, did you end up re-training?

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13 comments

Mrs. Pickle
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts

Apr 1, 2017

I give Motrin for a couple of nights when I think the teeth are about to cut the gums. It does help DD sleep. She wasn't STTN at your LOs age, but she does now and is getting molars. Some nights she wakes and wimpers or cries for a minute or two max before going back to sleep. One night when we didn't realize a tooth was popping through she woke up, stood up, and started screaming. We went in and rocked her and gave her some medicine. She only wakes when teething so I think they have to hurt. don't like her to hurt so that's why I'm pro medicine for teething.
LBee
pomegranate / 3895 posts

Apr 1, 2017

We always ride it out if he has a known sleep disturbance. Once he's better (either illness or teething) thing always seem to go back to normal. I am a big proponent of Advil though - even if he is normal during the day, if it's waking him up in the night and causing different night behavior, I assume pain!

Also, you can't actually page someone on a thread unless they have commented on it so Shopaholic isn't going to get a notification. You can tag her in her old thread and she will, though!
LCTBQE
nectarine / 2461 posts

Apr 1, 2017

@Mrs. Pickle: aw poor lil thing molars sound so much more painful than the little bottom row! I guess because we're new at this I don't quite know how to anticipate that a tooth is coming. But going to try baby Advil tonight--I am not at all reluctant to give medicine, I just was unsure when/how to do it.

@LBee: good logic, thank you for responding. getting the Advil today! we have Tylenol but I read somewhere that Advil is better for teething pain (maybe because it's anti-inflammatory?) And thanks for the hellobee UX tip!
Mrs. Pickle
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts

Apr 1, 2017

@LCTBQE: oh, I didn't think you were. I was just explaining myself. I can't usually tell until one piece of the tooth has cut through the gums. Sometimes I can see the tooth right underneath the gums but it can stay right there for days! It's so hard to know still and DD just cut her 11th tooth! I'll be soooo glad when she's done with teething. I hate it.
oliviaoblivia
pineapple / 12793 posts

Apr 1, 2017

My girls had trouble sleeping at that age despite months of STTN. There is an eight month sleep regression and mine all hit that one a little early. It coincided with cruising for my kids.
Are there any developmentally leaps your LO is going through?
gingerbebe
cantaloupe / 6131 posts

Apr 1, 2017

I'd just try a dose of Advil right at bedtime. The dose lasts 6-8 hours so if your kid wakes up after that point it's an indication they are in pain. If they sleep the rest of the night on a second dose, then you can probably guess it's teething.

I'd also try giving a lovey or something they mouth. My eldest started chewing on his lovey when teething started. My second doesn't take a paci but will chew on a Wubbanub in bed when he's teething and sucking his hands raw.
LCTBQE
nectarine / 2461 posts

Apr 1, 2017

@Mrs. Pickle: haha, sorry if I sounded defensive I'm very quick to tell people that I'm rah-rah western medicine/drugs/vaccinations--adult reaction to being raised by hippies. Anyway, good to know I'm not the only one unsure of when a tooth is actually cutting through.

@oliviaoblivia: yeahhh, I'm dreading the 8-month regression and hoping this is not it... I've heard bad things the only thing really different besides the teething is that he finally started eating solids, although still not a lot quantity-wise. he's hitting all the normal milestones, not crawling or standing yet.

@gingerbebe: thank you, perfect logic, I'm trying Advil tonight. and yes, he sleeps with his Angel Dear giraffe lovey and has been really attached to it for a few months now, but only this week he started gnawing on it. he shoves the entire head into his mouth like it's a cheeseburger, it's so funny. doesn't seem to care about Sophie or any actual teething toys, though.
Nutella
persimmon / 1045 posts

Apr 1, 2017

@LCTBQE: hello! I think the way you describe pre-emptive medicine giving probably describes our solution the best. I mean, it wasn't entirely out of the blue, we could tell he was more grizzly and out of sorts at night compared to a cruisey run prior...and it helped settle his guns while the rest were coming through. Our little man was 7 months when first two popped up, without ceremony...but it was the ones afterwards that were a bit messy as with the first lot of molars. His 2 year old molars arrived silently...I actually thought he didn't have them!! But it's not necessarily a big slippery slope towards endless pain - this must be a whole new world of pain for them so I was pretty happy to administer the baby drugs
SweetiePie
honeydew / 7463 posts

Apr 1, 2017

@LCTBQE: we always did preemptive Motrin if we suspected teething. It worked and if he did wake up after the dosage wore off we did a tiny sesame seed sized dab of orajel, more Motrin and that took him through the night.
Also it's super common for them to be fine during the day and in agony over teeth at night. I forget the reason but there is one.

I never fed him at night after he was sleep trained and sttn, so I'm not sure how that will work for you - but I would stop feeding if it were me since he's been sttn for months now. I can't imagine having to night wean all over again!
For sleep disruptions like teething and developmental regressions it's best to keep things as status quo as possible and to not introduce sleep crutches. It's so hard to not give in! But if it's teething the Motrin should do the trick!
LindsayLou
persimmon / 1322 posts

Apr 1, 2017

My kiddo had a rough stretch of sleep at that age related to developmental milestones (she learned how to crawl at 6 months, standing and cruising by 7 months). We usually just try and ride out any sleep issues if she's not clearly teething/in pain. When my kid wakes up from teething, she screams, so we can tell. But if she's clearly showing signs of teething during the day, we do a dose of Advil at bedtime. In our experience, some teeth are no big deal, and others lead to weeks of sleep issues, crankiness, on and off fevers, and biting everything in sight. My girl is 19 months, and her worst teeth have been canines, followed by the first bottom molar, followed by the top two front teeth.
LCTBQE
nectarine / 2461 posts

Apr 2, 2017

@Nutella: @SweetiePie: @LindsayLou: @gingerbebe: @LBee: @Mrs. Pickle: @oliviaoblivia: thank you so much for the advice, ladies-- I gave him baby Motrin last night at bedtime, and he slept straight through from 7:30pm until 5am! in my perfect world, he sleeps until 6:30am, but given that he has been up 3x a night for the past week, I'll take it def don't think it was a coincidence and I'm going to keep feeling around his little gums (yea he loves that) and stick with the program for another couple days and go from there.

@SweetiePie: I know (I KNOW!) you're right about the sleep crutch thing--I still struggle with that knee-jerk "but my baby needs me" impulse that makes me want to break out a boob even if he just ate an hour ago, and needs vs wants are two different things. your commitment to sleeping at night vs the slippery slope into insanity is seriously an inspiration to me

@LindsayLou: @Nutella: good to know about some teeth being BFDs and some being NBD and wow to cruising at this age!! I can't imagine, my boo isn't even army crawling yet.
LCTBQE
nectarine / 2461 posts

Apr 2, 2017

@Nutella: PS glad to hear from you! I hope you're feeling groovy and doing great over there
SweetiePie
honeydew / 7463 posts

Apr 2, 2017

@LCTBQE: Hey we all struggle with that. The struggle is real haha. To be fair, I didn't BF for long (only a month and even then I mostly pumped and only sometimes nursed) so I can't say that if I nursed I wouldn't have that same instinct because I know it's so comforting to them!
And I should correct myself as I sit her and rememebr - I DID reintroduce night feeding at the 4 month regression. I hadnt fed at night for about 2 weeks, I just put the paci in and patted back to sleep (no formal sleep training or cio). Well he slept one night whole way through 7-7 at a little less than 4 months and I was ELATED. I seriously cried I was so happy my feet didn't touch the floor once. Next night he woke up like 3 times and I was so upset over the curve ball so I fed him. And the next night. And on it went for about a week. He slowly stopped waking as much but was back to 1-2 night feeding. And that is when I night weaned formally and did 12x12 and CIO. So yeah, I did do it and did have to night wean again I just totally forgot because it was so long ago.

Now that he is VERY established with his sleep (he's 2.5) I definitely do rush to him when he wakes up because I know if he did it's because something is wrong and at this age I'm not too worried about sleep crutches.

Any way, no judgement over here, just trying to help a mama out.

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