Is this just temporary, or are we headed for trouble? (long)

For the past few weeks, dd has fussed pretty much every single time we set her down anywhere. This is a tremendous change for her, and we've been assuming that it's because she's teething.

So, since we think it's because she's in pain, we keep her in our arms most of the time to keep her mind off the pain, and if we do put her down and she fusses, we scoop her right back up and cuddle her.

But if this isn't teething...then aren't we encouraging this? She's almost 6 months old - definitely old enough to learn that fussing brings Mommy and Daddy running to her. We don't want to teach that lesson, and we very much want to encourage the kind of "independence" she was exhibiting before this started.

There are no teeth in sight. We're sure she IS teething, but not so sure that that's the cause of this new behavior.

For the record, I believe in picking up babies when they cry, regardless of why we think they're crying. But this is fussing - just kind of groaning & complaining (which may turn into crying if left alone but I never let it get that far.)

Thanks in advance for all opinions!

Jude