I think she's teething, please help

[luchi]

DD is almost one year old.  We had A LOT of problems with sleep intially as we were complete APers.  She slept with us, was rocked to sleep for bedtime and naps, and I even napped with her.  We did pupd for a couple weeks, saw little progress and gave up.  After a few weeks, we started again, and nights got better, but naps were non existent.  Then I broke my ankle and my mom came down and had her napping immediately.  She even started sleeping through the night most nights.  My mom was here for a month, and towards the end of that month, my mom would put her in her crib and sit by the door for a couple of minutes and dd would turn her head and my mom would leave.  Maya wouldn't even cry when she noticed no one was with her anymore, which was a HUGE step forward.  She would talk to herself and go to sleep.  Then my mom had to leave, so now my mother in law is here.  Maya cries more with her, but will still nap independently, though the duration of her naps has shortened.  The past couple of days, she has been crying HARD and will not go go sleep.  My mother in law ended up rocking her to sleep in the morning and in the afternoon, she slept independently.  This morning, she has not taken a nap.  I even tried, and she was crying hysterically.  I noticed she is cutting four top teeth at the same time, and has been extremely cranky and irritable these past few days.  It's hard to feed her lunch and dinner (breakfast she eats no problem) and is not the happy baby she once was.  Is it because of teething or because her sleep has been upset?  I'm not sure what to do.  We have been giving her tylenol at night, but I don't want her to have medicine every night.  I was praying that when my mom would leave, she would be the same dream to put down for a nap with me, but I'm beginning to have serious doubts.  Is this normal when babies cut teeth, or is something else going on???  Please help me.  I feel like we came so far, and now it's going up in smoke

[Ula]

I actually have a very similar question. My almost 9m old is cutting top teeth, and has been crying a lot more before his naps (last week he had finally succeeded in getting to sleep by himself, with just a bit of jabbering to himself). I'm trying to be consistent, and not nurse him to sleep (which was my crutch before). In the morning for the last two days, he's taken about 20-30 minutes of crying, with my doing PD and giving him support, but then he only sleeps for 30 minutes! I don't think it's overtiredness, as he's going down for his first nap about 2.5 h after he wakes up. I try to put him back to sleep, but usually it just amounts to 20-30 minutes of more crying, and then it's time for food. He's not fussy before his nap, and not fussy after the feeding - that is, until it's time for his next nap. So I haven't been giving him ibuprofen during the day. Is it possible that the shorter naps are due to teething pain? I'll try to give him Advil tomorrow.

and luchi, I know what you mean about giving her medicine every night. We do it too, and my DH thinks I shouldn't. But then if I don't, and DS starts waking up, then I don't know if it's pain or something else. So for now, since I can see the teeth, and the swollen gums, I give him the meds. I've tried the homeopathic stuff, but it doesn't seem to work to calm him down - at least not for the naps.

anyone know what the effect of teething is on naps? any advice?

[luchi]

Today has been awful
She slept really well last night--about twelve hours and woke up at 7 am.  Normally she's tired by around 9:30am and sleeps for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.  Today she just wouldn't nap.  She was was exhausted but refused.  My mother in law sat there while maya cried, and then eventually gave up and brought her downstairs.  At one we decide to see if she'd nap again, and this time Maya cried and my mother in law ended up patting her to sleep.  She fell asleep almost immediately but only slept for 25 minutes.  So now what.  She woke up at 2:10pm.  Do I sneak in a cat nap or give her a bed time of 6:30.  I just don't know what to do.  And she's so cranky and miserable, that I'm in tears.  Is this normal or is something else going on besides the teething?

[becky1969]

Stupid teeth. They can definitely mess up with sleep. I can't speak to all of your questions, but i can definitely tell you that! When my LO is teething (and especially when he got all 4 top teeth at once), he gets extra tired. That means he's ready for a nap 30 minutes earlier than usual. At this age, it can be hard to read sleep cues because they are so busy playing and exploring they may not yawn, rub eyes, or do their usual cues. It sounds like she's overtired by the time you're putting her down. We had the exact same trouble - my typically easy napper became nutty! In our house, that almost always indicates overtiredness, so I started putting him down earlier, and voila! He was napping like a champ again.

I'd definitely try for a catnap tonight, and see how that goes. Also, an earlier bedtime (even though it seems WAY early) would be the best way to go probably. Tomorrow, try an earlier nap time and see if it's any easier.

[linfran]

TEETHING SUCKS!!!!!!!!

Ds is 10mo and we're finally getting a break - by 9mo he had 11.  Teething is horrible - not just the pain but the other stuff - the runny nose, drool, nappy rash, cough - can also upset him.

We have the same problem when he teethes, sleeping and feeding goes out the window a bit.  We just try and keep mealtimes and bedtimes the same but relax the rest of the rtine if it's not working.

At one stage ds got 4 teeth in a week and this seemed to cause an ear infection which made him miserable - we noticed him shaking his head and rubbing his ears a lot.

Good luck, it does pass, I swear.