Teething baby arrgh!

[tigwig]

Right I have posted about this before but further reassurance is needed please! My toddler is now 15 months and has had teeth coming through continuously since about 11mths old. He is an absolute wimp with it and I have tried every teething remedy possible but nothing helps him apart from medicine. This has meant I have been giving him either paracetamol/nurofen every night nearly for all this time. I hate doing it and worry I am harming him but without it he is screaming and screaming nearly all night. Could this harm him long term?

[lylabellablueyes]

So long as you're giving him the recommended amount, i very much doubt it's harming him. Check with your doctor to be sure.

have you tried valgel or dentinox as they worked great with mine.

[bednobs]

or you could ask the pharmacist when you next buy some

[tigwig]

I am scared to ask a professional as daft as that sounds because I dont want them to think I'm a bad mum who just doses up her baby! I just dont know what to do for the best. Part of me thinks what harm could 5ml calpol/2.5ml nurofen do then the other part thinks what if he's become addicted to the medicine? I'm such a worrier but thanks for the answers:)

[Sqad]

You have asked this very same question some 2 weeks ago and the answer is just the same...............no big deal.

[tigwig]

I know I have but I need further reassurance because I'm such a worrier! I cant help thinking I could harm his liver or something by giving him medicine everynight. Did you worry about your kids like this when they were little Sqad? Or are you made of stronger stuff than me?!

[Sqad]

LOL....I wouldnt say that I was made of stronger stuff than you.............but no,neither mrs sqad or me were particularly worries, although the kids were pretty good.

Broken legs, swallowed a firework, burns to the hand from an electric fire, another one had Besniers Prurigo.........they all seemed to survive.

[ummmm]

How often do you not give it to him?

As in...are you sure he will still scream all night without it?

[sara3]

just nights? what about day time?

I really think you should talk this through with your health visitor (or whatever they're called now) or practice nurse.

[tigwig]

Sqad are you serious, swallowed a firework?!
I have tried a few nights without anything and he has woken screaming roughly around every half hour which is far from good when you have to work and OH has to get up at 4am! He is hit and miss throughout the day, somedays he will be very grouchy too like yesterday but usually he is distacted and the anbesol I rub on his gums helps him. If he is really bad I do give him a spoonful of med but its the night time he is worse. They have nothing else to think about do they so will notice the pain more. I havent thought of mentioning it to the HV actually but I would imagine she would just say go to the GP!

[ummmm]

Go to the GP for what? HV should offer advice on pain relief for him. This is just a phase....once his teeth are through then the phase is over.

I don't envy you though. I was lucky and my kids didn't suffer...

[tigwig]

My daughter wasnt like this with her teeth either, but he is opposite. I do hope it is over very soon too! At least he is getting them all at once but still another 7 to go :(

[Mamyalynne]

Has he plenty of teething toys to chew on? The type with gel that you freeze are very good.

Also try rubbing some vanilla extract on the gums at bedtime, it helps a lot of babies.
Extract not essence very different.

[askyourgran]

I was about to say just as mamya said ^^ I had plastic type teething rings I kept in the freezer for mine to bite on.

[Mamyalynne]

I must be honest, when my two were bad with teething pain, a drop of brandy rubbed well into their gums did help.

[tigwig]

Yeah he has a few teething rings, in fact he is happy to chomp on anything lol. I think the anbesol is the baby safe equivalent of brandy! Might give him a slug before bed though to see if that helps instead (only joking!)
The problem with all the other remedies is that when he wakes in the night he is so cross I could never get anything else in his mouth hence the reason I give him med before bed. He even smacks his dummy away!

[aims1202]

i doubt it will do any harm but as you have said yourself it could become a habit that he cries until you give him the medicine even if he is not in pain.

[annie0000]

No idea about the medicine, but like you, I never liked giving them it too much. Thankfully we only ever had the odd nights when they wouldn't settle. During the day instead of teething rings, I used to put a clean damp face cloth in a bag in the freezer for a couple of hours until it was cold but pliable rather than solid - take it out the bag and give to them to chew on (the cloth not the bag!) - just keep a few on the go - or let a couple freeze solid then take them out the freezer for a while before you need one. Work much better than the plastic rings.

[k8bailey]

Tigwig I used to suffer headaches daily and took paracetamol and or ibuprofen everyday for over a year, although it didn't do me any harm that I'm aware of, it wasn't good either, I wasn't addicted but I do believe that the pills started to cause some of the headaches - I've read a few things that say that can happen. I weaned myself off the paracetamol and ibuprofen and suffered less headaches. Are you certain that he's waking with teething pains? I'm not saying that he isn't, but it can be hard to tell exactly what the problem is with little ones. I'd talk it over with HV if it were me.


Hope it settles down for you all soon!

[tigwig]

I've heard that too k8bailey, which does worry me. I am presuming it's teething pains he's waking with as he has always got a tooth coming through. But of course he could have learnt this bad sleeping habit now.

[goldilocks24]

You can give the baby 5ml of the nurofen now that he is 15 mths old, this should really help a lot - it helps with my son who is 16 mths - I have found that nothing else works either - especially with the back teeth! and the paracetamol dosen't seems to help at all. Give him 5ml of the nurofen tonight and see if any changes - hope it helps xx