teeth affecting sleep?

My 4 month old DD has never had problems sleeping until about a week ago.
From 6 weeks she slept about 6 or 7 hours on average, would have a feed and
then sleep for another couple of hours, with about 3 naps during the day.
She started teething a few weeks ago and is miserable on and off, but it
didn't seem to affecr her sleep - till now. She still goes to sleep at the
same time at night but is waking every couple of hours. I'll feed her
(should I not?) and she seems hungry, but doesn't feed for long, pulling off
so I imagine it's her mouth that is sore. I don't jump at the first sound,
giving her time to see if she can settle herself again, which she never had
a problem with in the past, but she just gets more and more frustrated. If
it is teeth, is this likely to resolve itself? My friend just said hers
started teething at 4 months and didn't actually get any teeth till 11
months aaarrggh.
DH is saying maybe we should be moving to scheduled feeding as we had other
friends whose kid wouldn't sleep until they did, but she had to supplement,
and I really don't want it affewcting my supply, plus I like the fact thzat
I can use it for comforting her as well.

Other possibilities - we've just swapped from swaddling her to a grobag, but
to test, we tried swaddling her again and she still woke up, plus she was
wiggling out anyway.
Maybe the faeries have just left me a changling?

Please has anyone else come across this?
I need my sleep.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Meredith"
Newsgroups: misc.kids.breastfeeding
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 8:25 PM
Subject: teeth affecting sleep?


My 4 month old DD has never had problems sleeping until about a week ago.
From 6 weeks she slept about 6 or 7 hours on average, would have a feed
and
then sleep for another couple of hours, with about 3 naps during the day.
She started teething a few weeks ago and is miserable on and off, but it
didn't seem to affecr her sleep - till now. She still goes to sleep at
the
same time at night but is waking every couple of hours. I'll feed her
(should I not?) and she seems hungry, but doesn't feed for long, pulling
off
so I imagine it's her mouth that is sore. I don't jump at the first
sound,
giving her time to see if she can settle herself again, which she never
had
a problem with in the past, but she just gets more and more frustrated.
If
it is teeth, is this likely to resolve itself? My friend just said hers
started teething at 4 months and didn't actually get any teeth till 11
months aaarrggh.

Hi Meredith,
I'm betting on teething. Getting started nursing was fine, but when my DS
had to clamp down a bit with his gums to suck harder after letdown, he was
miserable and pulled off. It started right around 12 weeks. During the day
you can try a cold teether for a few minutes before nursing, a tiny bit of
orajel, and/or hyland's tablets and see if she improves. Things were
amazingly better for DS after the orajel. Use orajel sparingly though, only
on the bottom and top gums right in the front of the mouth at first since
that's where most teeth first come in, unless you see other 'gum bumps'.
Too much baby orajel can numb an infant's throat until it's difficult for
them to swallow.

For night time peace and quiet try to give a dose of infant tylenol just
before YOU go to sleep, or at the first feeding after you lay down for the
night. This will give you the longest stretch of happy baby if it's just
teething, around 4 hours. If it's still a problem around 6 months of age,
you can try infant ibuprofen instead...it lasts longer. You can also add a
dot of baby orajel just before starting a nursing session at night too.

You may not actually see any other signs of teething, tho my son started
biting on things a couple of weeks after the night waking started, drooling
didn't start till almost 6 months. Although he was teething at 12 weeks.
DS just got his first two teeth to break through at 7.5 months.

DH is saying maybe we should be moving to scheduled feeding as we had
other
friends whose kid wouldn't sleep until they did, but she had to
supplement,
and I really don't want it affewcting my supply, plus I like the fact
thzat
I can use it for comforting her as well.


Unless you desperately need to, I'd keep feeding on demand. If teething is
hurting that much, DD is probably having to feed more often just to get
enough food. If she's not eating as much in one sitting, and you cut out
the extra feedings, you'll lose supply. Fix the teething pain first, and
the problem may disappear.

Once baby's can escape swaddling it's generally not safe to keep trying to
swaddle. It's a suffocaton hazard because now the baby could wrap the
blanket around their face and suffocate, it's a small risk, but it's there
nonetheless. You shouldn't leave what's essentially a loose blanket in a
sleeping situation with an infant under a year old. (end of soap box )

I'd try treating for the teething for a week and see if life improves before
attempting feeding changes.

And yes, some weeks are better than others, but generally, no it didn't
resolve until those first two teeth poked through, then I got 2 glorious
months of peace, and now at 10 months old, DS has a top tooth breaking
through and I'm back to giving 1 dose of ibuprofen if he wakes at 2am and
can't feed without pulling off repeatedly. Some kiddos just have teething
trouble I was one of those unlucky kids. I checked with my mom to be
sure, but my sister never even seemed to notice teething. She didn't drool
much either. Her DD also didn't have many problems with teething over this
last year. I'm terribly jealous :P

Good luck!
Heather

On 2006-05-06 09:25:34 +0800, "Meredith" said:

My 4 month old DD has never had problems sleeping until about a week
ago. From 6 weeks she slept about 6 or 7 hours on average, would have a
feed and then sleep for another couple of hours, with about 3 naps
during the day.
She started teething a few weeks ago and is miserable on and off, but
it didn't seem to affecr her sleep - till now. She still goes to sleep
at the same time at night but is waking every couple of hours. I'll
feed her (should I not?) and she seems hungry, but doesn't feed for
long, pulling off so I imagine it's her mouth that is sore. I don't
jump at the first sound, giving her time to see if she can settle
herself again, which she never had a problem with in the past, but she
just gets more and more frustrated. If it is teeth, is this likely to
resolve itself? My friend just said hers started teething at 4 months
and didn't actually get any teeth till 11 months aaarrggh.
DH is saying maybe we should be moving to scheduled feeding as we had
other friends whose kid wouldn't sleep until they did, but she had to
supplement, and I really don't want it affewcting my supply, plus I
like the fact thzat I can use it for comforting her as well.

Other possibilities - we've just swapped from swaddling her to a
grobag, but to test, we tried swaddling her again and she still woke
up, plus she was wiggling out anyway.
Maybe the faeries have just left me a changling?

Please has anyone else come across this?
I need my sleep.

Honestly? I disagree... I don't think it would be teething unless you
actually see that there are teeth almost coming through. It is
tremendously normal for babies to start with frequent waking at 4
months. I'd be loathe to give drugs like paracetamol or ibuprofen just
for frequent waking... if there's pain, it is usually obvious.

My theory is that at around 4 months they just become so much more
aware, and find it harder to self settle - they realise they are
separate from you now, and want you to go settle them.

I tried a lot of things, at one stage I was offering the breast at
every 45 min sleep cycle. He wasn't hungry. The dummy worked to get
him back to sleep, so he wasn't hungry. He just needed help to
resettle. Some will tell you he needs to 'learn to self settle',
others say you need to parent him back to sleep until he is ready to do
it himself.

This was the time we had to get rid of the wrapping and went to a
sleeping bag, which helped a little. The dummy was a problem in that
he woke to get it put back in, but then he wouldn't get to sleep in the
first place without it, so catch 22. We kept it.

At 11 months he *still* wakes several times a night, but now that we're
co-sleeping (since 5.5 months when I gave in to my instincts, FINALLY),
we all get back to sleep without getting properly awake.

I am seriously skeptical about teething going on for months. It is
very normal for babies to put things in their mouths (that is where
they test everything because they have more nerves in their mouths than
their hands for now)... that includes chewing on stuff. IMO it's not
teething until you can see the gum swollen with a tooth underneath...
and that only lasts for a few days at most.

HTH!

Jo
--
Woman, Wife, Mother, Midwife

In article ,
"Meredith" wrote:

My 4 month old DD has never had problems sleeping until about a week ago.
From 6 weeks she slept about 6 or 7 hours on average, would have a feed and
then sleep for another couple of hours, with about 3 naps during the day.
She started teething a few weeks ago and is miserable on and off, but it
didn't seem to affecr her sleep - till now. She still goes to sleep at the
same time at night but is waking every couple of hours. I'll feed her
(should I not?) and she seems hungry, but doesn't feed for long, pulling off
so I imagine it's her mouth that is sore.

BTDT. It is teething pain. Not enough to disturb them much during the day,
but enough to bother them at night. Cuddles and the breast, and you could try
baby paracetamol if you know you're in for a bad night.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Meredith writes:
: My 4 month old DD has never had problems sleeping until about a week ago.
: From 6 weeks she slept about 6 or 7 hours on average, would have a feed and
: then sleep for another couple of hours, with about 3 naps during the day.
: She started teething a few weeks ago and is miserable on and off, but it
: didn't seem to affecr her sleep - till now. She still goes to sleep at the
: same time at night but is waking every couple of hours. I'll feed her
: (should I not?) and she seems hungry, but doesn't feed for long, pulling off
: so I imagine it's her mouth that is sore. I don't jump at the first sound,
: giving her time to see if she can settle herself again, which she never had
: a problem with in the past, but she just gets more and more frustrated. If
: it is teeth, is this likely to resolve itself? My friend just said hers
: started teething at 4 months and didn't actually get any teeth till 11
: months aaarrggh.
: DH is saying maybe we should be moving to scheduled feeding as we had other
: friends whose kid wouldn't sleep until they did, but she had to supplement,
: and I really don't want it affewcting my supply, plus I like the fact thzat
: I can use it for comforting her as well.

: Other possibilities - we've just swapped from swaddling her to a grobag, but
: to test, we tried swaddling her again and she still woke up, plus she was
: wiggling out anyway.
: Maybe the faeries have just left me a changling?

: Please has anyone else come across this?
: I need my sleep.

It is common with teething, but it is also common at this age with
increased activity. IME, you can expect it to keep up until 10 - 11
months. :-(.

It sounds like you are getting up to feed the baby. One very useful
possibility if you are willing to try it is co-sleeping. You can
learn to actually sleep through a nursing session, and get more
sleep that way.

I think scheduled feeding is counterproductive.

Larry