More teething questions - but short & sweet, I promise!!

[Judegirl]

Please don't kick me off the boards for talking about teething again!! LOL

1. How closely (in time) might the top two teeth follow the bottom two?

2. Are there babies whose teething causes wakefulness/hyperactivity, but NOT crying or other clear symptoms of distress?

Thanks!
Jude

[Judegirl]

Please don't kick me off the boards for talking about teething again!! LOL

1. How closely (in time) might the top two teeth follow the bottom two?

2. Are there babies whose teething causes wakefulness/hyperactivity, but NOT crying or other clear symptoms of distress?

Thanks!
Jude

[Momof3Labs]

Jude, every baby is different. Babies can also get teeth in any order (the top two don't always follow the bottom two), and can teethe for a long time before the teeth pop through. With some teeth, Colin was clearly uncomfortable and others would just show up one day out of nowhere.

Remember, babies don't read the books, nor do their bodies. Sometimes all you can do is react to what they hand you day to day, and that doesn't make anyone a bad mom!

[deborah_r]

In my playgroup alone, there was so much variation on when the teeth came in and what order. I don't think anyone can say really. I never have been good at identifying swollen gums that some people claim to see before a tooth sprouts. His first tooth we discovered after it had already popped through, we had no idea it was coming!

There were stages we went through where DS was hyper-awake, and I never was sure if it was teething or a new milestone was approaching. When he started crawling, it was unbearable, because he would be wide awake in the middle of the night for hours, just scooting all around in our bed and wanting to play.

This was probably not much help, sorry!

[fauve01]

my baby got her two bottom front teeth at 9 months and just yesterday cut a top front tooth at 13 months. i can see at least one tooth next door almost out, and maybe a third one on the other side too. she's been late to get teeth compared to her playgroup friends--three of them have 14 teeth at 14-15 months old! crazy.

she's been a bit fussier/clingier than usual, but i didn't know if that was the tooth, her allergies that acted up last week with the santa ana winds, the time change, my DH being out of town for a week, switching from two to one nap sometimes, or WHAT. probably a mix of all. she had a couple days last week when she woke and cried out that i went in and picked her up; unusual for her (these days she's a great sleeeper in general and i hardly ever have to go in, but it wasn't always the case). i didn't realize about the tooth or i would have given her some motrin. a couple nights i had given her some pediacare for nighttime cough--i think the allergies gave her a nasal drip that was making her cough (i had the same thing).

anyway, my ped agreed with the PP who said new developmental milestones sometimes cause wakefullness. ped said that the kiddos just can't turn off their minds/bodies to whatever new thing they're learning.

not sure of your history, but have you tried an earlier bedtime? sometimes that really does the trick for night waking.

HTH! just keep telling yourself "this too shall pass." that's helped me a lot! good luck.

Anne + 10-03

[KrisM]

DS got his first tooth on Sept. 29 - a bottom middle. The next came in 2 weeks later. Then, he got the upper eye teeth. Today, he got #5 - the upper middle. The other middle one is visible under the gum. So, 5 teeth in 6 weeks and in the non-traditional order.

He sleeps terribly the few days before and 1 or 2 after a tooth comes through. By terribly, I mean waking every 1.5-2 hours. Then, he goes back to only waking every 3-5 hours (once he went 6!). Unfortunately for us, the teeth have been so close together in time, we only get 2 or 3 good nights in.

Other than terrible sleep, he doesn't seem very bothered by them. We've tried Tylenol at night and it doesn't seem to do anything. I will say, that the bad sleep lasted more nights with the eye teeth than the middle ones. Maybe those were harder on him?

Good luck.

[Judegirl]

No, actually it was very helpful! That's exactly it; I can't tell whether it's teething or a milestone. If it's the latter, she's apparently working on a new developmental skill roughly every 10 minutes, because she's SO wired!

I need to stop obsessing over all of it and just ride it out.

Thanks, everyone. I'm trying to pull myself together.

Best,
Jude