Thursday 19 November 2009

Teething Traumas

Yes, the teething gremlins have arrived chez Little Dude.

Technically, they arrived about a month ago, bringing with them great excitement at the first sighting of a tiny white sliver of tooth (bottom middle right if you're interested).  It was quickly followed by its neighbour - and a tear or two was shed about my baby boy growing up.  I was also super impressed that his first two toothypegs had made an appearance with little more than a hefty portion of drool.  Oh how naive I was.

At the risk of sounding smug & making you all hate me - I've been blessed with a really chilled out, happy little baby, who rarely cries, certainly not for more than 5 minutes.  He grumbles if he's hungry, has a full nappy, or gets overtired.  That's about it.  Or at least it was.

Yesterday, he cried for Three. Hours. Solid.  And I don't mean grumbled.  I mean properly, really cried.  Horrible painful screaming, utterly inconsolable. 

Calpol, Bickipegs, gel, teething ring, frozen carrot stick. 

Fail Fail Fail Fail Fail. 

I felt like the worst mummy in the world, there was absolutely nothing I could do but cuddle him, pace around, and cuddle him some more.  I was so not prepared for so much crying!

He finally gave into sleep just after 10pm, and then was up & grouchy on and off during the night.  I chalked up about 2 hours of sleep made out of 20 minute bursts here and there.  I'm sure I did better than that when he was a newborn!

Thankfully, today has been a breath of fresh air by comparison.  My smiley little boy is back.  For now at least.

And oh I have heeded the warning!

Some of my lovely twitter chums were on hand last night with lots of good advice, so now we are fully prepared for the next onslaught.  There's a flannel in the freezer (thank you @violetposy), we have powders & homeopathic deelies at the ready (muchos gracias @suzypink & @Wendymal), a little pot of carrot & cucumber sticks in the fridge (which if nothing else, will make a good snack for mummy when she's tearing her hair out at 2am), and as a last resort (because I prefer not to medicate if I can possibly help it) there's Calpol & Chidren's Ibuprofen (ta muchly @cafebebe & @ilovemonty).  So, hopefully, we can avoid another three hour scream-fest any time soon.  And if not, I shall try to remember the kind words of @porridgebrain & @kellyfairy & @InsomniacMummy - I'm not a rubbish mummy, teething just sucks.  Or words to that effect.

Still, I can't wait till that gummy little mouth is filled with pearly whites & we can move on to whatever's next.

4 comments:

  1. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by leslieanne, little dudes mummy. little dudes mummy said: New Post, Teething Traumas: http://bit.ly/43HmWz [...]

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  2. Oh poor little dude :( and poor you!

    Kai did A LOT of crying in his first few months. I mean a serious, serious amount. Colic plus teething none stop did not a happy fella make. And it never failed to make me feel like crap - you feel so helpless.

    One of the best pearls of wisdom I ever heard about coping with crying babies is this:

    Sometimes it is not your job to STOP the crying, sometimes, once you've done all you can to make them comfortable, all you can do is be there to support them through it. They are in pain, they feel rotten, maybe they need to cry! You don't have to stop the tears, you just have to help him know he's not alone and that he is loved and safe and as he cries them. Does that make sense?

    Hope he feels better really, really soon xxxxx

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  3. That actually makes a lot of sense. And big fat cuddles I can definitely do.
    Thank you xxxxx

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  4. Teething does suck. And we've been struggling as signs of teething have been coming and going for months and months - and still no teeth!!! Almost a year old, and I can now see a couple of white slithers, still under the gum, at the top (still nothing on the bottom), and bizarrely the teething symptoms have stopped even though the teeth haven't come through yet... There is no logic to it!

    All you can do is be there for them. And sounds like you're doing a great job of that.

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