...but I have to ask: does crying make a baby's gums hurt more?

It seems like at bedtime if I ever let her cry at all, she suddenly starts chewing like crazy. This has been happening for months. Even just a few seconds and she starts chewing.

It would take me another post to explain the multitude of sleep problems we are having but suffice to say there are bad habits abound as the cause and result of bad sleep. I never wanted to sleep train. I don't even really like the idea. But I don't foresee this getting better on its own for a long time. However, if sleep training means pain for dd, it's a no-go.

Edit to add...I don't judge anyone who sleep trained or is planning on it. I get why people do it. But I just didn't think it was for us. After all we live in an apartment.