Hi All,

I just wanted to pick your brains on experiences of teething & the impact on routine. Our LO is nearly 5 months old.

We have a bedtime routine around 6pm LO has kick around naked, then bath or wash, dressed for bed & the fed. He would usually feed to sleep then allow me to transfer him to crib. Sometimes he would briefly wake but settle back to sleep with or without dummy. He had reached a point of sleeping up to 10/11 hours without feed.

So in early December he began teething & this coincided with us going on holiday. It was a fairly disrupted week sleepwise taking hours to settle then waking once or twice a night. This eased of & things improved. Now for the past week we are finding he'll often go off to sleep around 6.30-7pm as usual but then wakes within half hour & it then takes several hours to settle him through feeding, rocking, doing whatever it takes to soothe him really! He then wakes up to 5 times a night & I usually end up feeding or rocking him back to sleep although I think often he just wakes & can't soothe himself because of the pain.

I'm concerned that we end up bringing him into the living room, into our bed to sleep etc all things we tried not to do before. Do others have experience of doing these 'bad habits' and then reverting back to previous routine when teething subsides? Any suggestions on how to manage this period? WE are using ibuprofen, teething gel & granules. Have light projector on cot, soft comforter which he cuddles to sleep etc.

Thanks for reading!

Linds

How is he during the day? I only ask because if he is his normal self in the day then it is highly unlikely that it is his teeth keeping him awake a night. My dd is the same age and spends her days grumbling and biting everything she can get her hands on when the teething is really bad (she has two teeth already) but once the pain relief kicks in she is her normal smiley self until it wears off. At night she goes down as normal aslong as she has had her calpol, and wakes at her normal times (12-1ish and 3.30-4ish) to feed. If I were in your position I would be tempted to try 'controlled crying' to see if it is just a bad habbit he has gotten himself into, he may just have discovered that he likes having mummy cuddle him to sleep. I know some people do not agree with controlled crying - I used to be one of them - but it really does work. My dd refused to nap in the day unless I held her which was causing all sorts of problems. At my mum and baby group one of the women said I should let her 'cry it out' and I was horrified, but when I looked into it it wasnt as cruel as it first sounded. Within a couple of days of using the method below my daughter began taking naps in her carrycot with minimal fuss.
The first thing you need to do is make sure he has some pain relief and all of his needs are catered too, but once you are sure all of his needs have been met then try swaddling him in a blanket (I find that this stops my dd from wacking herself in the face) and laying him down in his cot. If he starts to cry make a shushing sound and stroke his face or pat gently on his tummy. Time how long you are letting him cry for, I never let my dd cry for longer than 2 minutes. If he doesnt stop within the time you are comfortable with pick him up, give him a cuddle and then put him down and repeat the method, leaving him a little longer each time before picking him up. Do not pick him up and hold him for longer than a minute, and do not bounce or rock. What your little one will learn is that mummy isnt going to abandon him, but it is time for sleep. When he wakes in the night try using the shush and stroking his face before picking him up and hopefully he should resettle.
hth x

my son is 5 months too and cut his first 2 teeth over the xmas holidays. hed been having teething trouble on and off for over 2 months! gnawing, drooling, sleeping poorly. he started sleeping 6-7h stretches at night when he was 10 weeks old and hes breastfed and then it stopped and like you we had nights where hed be up 5 or more times. he would usually settle with a dummy or a few sucks on a boob and if that didnt work we let him sleep in our bed. sometimes it took up to an hour to settle him again. now that the teeth are out hes sleeping 7-8h stretches again and despite letting him sleep in our bed on what id say was a pretty regular basis, hes never ever had any trouble settling in his cot (its still in our room but he falls asleep on his own, no crying) so i dont feel like weve created a bad habit.

Hi Ladies,

Thanks for replies.

Glitterbug09 generally speaking he is fine during the day. Occasionally a little grizzly, but can be distracted. The same applies at night if we bring him into living room he will calm down & becomes distracted by toys etc. However we believe it is teeth as he is often found to be grabbing his mouth when distressed, puts everything in his mouth, is dribbly & has red cheeks. I was thinking he is probably happier in day as he has distractions and is less tired in himself. I had thought about controlled crying & would consider doing it if I was satisfied he wasn't in pain. I'm reluctant to do controlled crying if he is. I guess time will tell!

JvL - I am much reassured to hear your LO returned to a more consistent sleeping pattern once teeth were cut!

I guess we just need to keep doing whatever we need to to reassure him & get through this period then deal with any repercussions (if any) afterwards.

Thanks for sharing your experiences ladies

Linds