Thursday, April 21, 2005

Teething

I think Abby's teething, but I don't know for sure. Help!

First, there's the drool. She could seriously solve the drought problem with all of her drool. The drooling started a while ago, but it seems to have gotten worse lately. Second, she constantly has her fingers in her mouth. She's not really sucking them so much as she is chewing them. Like a puppy with a bone. Third, she suddenly has a hard time eating. This just started about a week ago. She'll eat really well in the evenings when she's half-asleep, but it's become a real struggle during the day. She'll take the bottle right away as if she's hungry, but after a few drinks, she starts crying and squirming. She'll get really pissed if I try to give her boob. This is what really makes me think she's teething. Now, it's to the point where she starts crying as soon as I try to put her bib on.

Finally, and this is the worst part, she won't sleep! For a couple of months now, she'd only be up long enough to eat in the middle of the night, usually about 15 minutes. 30 tops, and that wasn't very often. We'd even gotten so that she'd only wake up once in the middle of the night, around 4ish. That just made what we're going through now worse, though, because we got a taste of actual sleep. Real sleep that lasts more than an hour at a time. Since last week, she's been waking up every couple of hours, and it takes her at least an hour to settle down. She still falls asleep while eating, but she wakes up the second I lay her down. I've been giving up and bringing her to bed with us lately. She seems to sleep better there, but she is such a bed hog! She likes to sleep with her arms stretched out on either side of her, but at the same time she likes to be pressed up against me. She somehow manages to scoot herself over closer to me, so her head is in my armpit. Then, she thrashes around because she doesn't have the room to stretch out her arms, so I move closer to the edge. By morning, I'm half in her co-sleeper that is still attached to the bed. At least she'll nurse in bed, so I don't have to get up to feed her once she's in there with us. We both fall back to sleep while she eats, so at least there is some good to having her there. Damon and I would like our bed back, though.

So, does this sound like she's teething? I haven't felt anything yet on her gums, but they say babies can teethe for up to 3 months before actually seeing a tooth. I really hope this doesn't last for 3 months. I am not looking forward to it getting worse once the teeth start to get closer to the surface.

I should point out that she is eating. In fact, she's eating more now than she was a few weeks ago. It's just a struggle to get her to eat. I'm feeding her more often because she'll only eat an ounce or two at a time.

This is what my side of the bed looks like in the morning:

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

A friend of mine had a baby just a few days after you, and she's teething as well. Same symptoms as your (adorable!) little girl. Look for congestion, too--or was it a runny nose? Apparently it messes with their sinuses as well. But yeah, she's been chewing her fingers, our fingers, anything she can get her little hands on. And not really crying much, so apparently she's not in terrible pain or anything. But the drool is definitely nonstop. She's been using that gel stuff, can't remember what it's call, but apparently there are some "tabs" she mentioned that people supposedly swear by; I'd never heard of them and don't know what they're called, but you might want to check those out, too. "Teething tabs" is what you'd ask for, I guess, at a drugstore.

Anonymous said...

Hey Brandi and Damon
some things that I have heard are the baby oragel....also a cold damp washcloth works well....still going to check some more things out..
Talk to you soon! Tara

Anonymous said...

Hey Brandi, Yes, it does sound like teething. You can buy these wonderful teething things at Target that you put in the freezer and or refrig, she will love that. Also like Tara said, oragel works wonderful,and you can take a damp washcloth and put it in freezer so its cold for her. At bedtime give her some baby tylenol, that will help her be able to sleep without waking up with pain. She can have that every 4hrs. The less pain she is in, the happier baby she will be. Baby teeth can go up and down, and last for months before they actually come out, the first ones are the hardest, and the "eye" teeth (the fangs) are the worst. Watch her dipers, because it can also cause diper rash. Hope this helps.
Take care
Susie

Anonymous said...

That's what Madeline experienced when she was getting her first teeth. When she was very obviously in pain I gave her some Tylenol or the Hyland's Teething Tablets. Baby Orajel didn't work for us - it slid right off her little gums! No wonder there are warnings about it being a potential choking hazard ...

I had to giggle at the photo of Abby snoozing because my little shmoo will sleep with her arms out in our bed too :)

Anonymous said...

She is SO cute! Glad to know I am not the only mom with my baby in my bed half the time.