My 14-mo-old who has slept through the night since 4 mos with no problems suddenly is unable to go to sleep/stay asleep both at night and at naptime. She is waking up after 20 min of sleep and did not sleep for more than a 4-hr stretch last night, and even went through a long period last night of waking up every 5 min or less! I gave her infant Tylenol in the middle of the night because she could be teething (had already tried Orajel and didn't help). That helped her to sleep for another 4 hrs, after it finally kicked in 45 min later. Also, at first I was going in and trying to help her but had to start just leaving her in her crib to keep crying herself back to sleep because she seemed to get even more upset if I tried to pick her up, walk with her or rock her. She has many of the symptoms of teething pain (rubs at her nose but doesn't have any nasal conjestion, had a little diarrhea, lack of appetite) but she has several molars in already and has never gone through anything like this before. This all started with a fever that set in on Sunday that went up to 103 and lasted (with relief from Tylenol) until Monday evening. Since then she has no more fever but is always tired yet unable to sleep. She seemed to act fine and played normally for most of yesterday except for only a 20-min nap, but this morning she is very fussy, I think from lack of sleep. My husband doesn't want me to take her to the doctor, saying it is just teething, that she has no fever and they won't be able to do anything. Has anyone else experienced something like this or have advice on how I can help her to get some sleep?
Thank you to all of you who took the time to give helpful and supportive advice! As it happens, almost as soon as I posted my request my daughter went down for a long nap and woke up feeling a lot better. Last night she slept through the night with no problems and today she has been completely her old self all day. I now think she probably had a cold because I've found out a friend who was over the evening before her fever started was also sick with a cold the next morning. This would be my daughter's third cold and they've all been different. I'm not too worried about an ear infection following the cold because she doesn't have a history of them, but I will continue to watch for the signs over the next few days just in case. Thanks again everyone!
Hi A.,
I would say take her to the doctor with a fever, peace of mind for you at least! Maybe she has an ear infection, my kids used to get them with no symptoms!
M.
103 fever in a child is nothing to ignore. It is an obvious sign of something wrong. I would take her into the doctor, she needs to be checked out, it may be as simple as an ear infection or something else which may or may not need medical intervention. She is only 14 moths old and cannot tell you what hurts or what is wrong. We have a duty as parents to provide proper healthcare to our children. Listen to the Mommy voice inside you, when your child is acting differently from the usual, you need to have it checked out. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but witholding medical care from a sick child is neglect. I hope she feels better soon.
you probably are dealing with teething (or some other medical problem) since, the best sign is the tylenol worked. mine hardly ever had more than one "symptom" of teething so it was often hard to determine and each new tooth acted differently, some hurt like torture, some not at all. so everything changes and is different. you can always call the dr. office and talk to a nurse they may have some ideas, he may have an ear infection. you may want to try to give her very cold, frozen, wash cloth to put in her mouth, if it is teething and he may just put it on his ear instinctively and then you'll know also it may be an ear infection. good luck.
I agree with the others. Trust your gut feeling. You know your child the best, so if this is unusual for her, bring her to the doctor "just in case". You don't wanna be one of those parents who says "oh if only I had brought her to the doctor right away before this got this bad..."
Good Luck :)
Fever that high is not teething for sure-it is a sign of something else. Whenever my son is up off and on at night it is usually an ear infection or last time was a throat infection which also came along with the fever. Call the Dr it wouldn't hurt. Never second guess-a call would only give you peace of mind and if it is something more the little one can start feeling better with the right diagnosis.Good Luck! L.:)
Ditto what Michelle said, my son hardly ever shows signs of being sick until he's at the breaking point. Even if the fever broke it could still be an ear infection, the only way I found out my son had one the last time was because after a day of crankiness on and off and no sleep I just took him to Urgent Care and we caught it before it got bad...
Sounds like an ear infection to me. I would definitely get your baby seen by a doctor.
She sounds sick.
A fever of 103, and lethargy, is not due to teething.
Tell your Hubby.
Sure, you can ride it out... and if it's a virus, they will say ride it out.
BUT, best to check her by the Doctor...
Take care,
Susan
Hi A., sleeping problems at this age I believe are very common. These busy lil people suddenly realize they have a big world out there and have "lots to explore and do". With my boys, both of whom kept me up many nights , experienced the same thing while teething. A child can be teething even if you do not actually see a tooth popping up. What I did , besides fall asleep in my cereal bowl, was just rode it out.I tried to keep them on a schedual as much as I could, and just continued to make the mood right for sleeping. Having said that, I have to confess it did not always work. I know that it can be daunting at times when you yourself need to sleep also. You seem to be doing everything right so continue doing what you are doing. Give her the love and patience that you have and she will get back to her regular sleeping habits. By the way, if you feel the need to take her in to see the doctor, then do it. If for nothing else it may give you some peace of mind. You can't put a price on that. Have a good one and I hope that you both get a good nights rest.
I would go with the ear infection also, this is the only thing that ever kept any of my kids from sleeping. There is a homeopathic ear drop that you can use to help relieve some of the pain, it is the same makers of the teething tablets. Ask your doctor about them, but I think you can use them along with whatever the doctor gives you BUT check first. Good luck!
Hi A.:
I have two boys ages 6 and 8. I remember using motrin for teething pain and tylenol for fevers. Our triage nurse and pediatrician would recommend to alternate the two. You might want to at least give your child's doctor a call to go over the symptoms because if there is no fever they will probably just give you some ideas to try, and even if they don't want to see you and you don't want to go to the ER then find an Urgent Care office near you. Usually the insurance will cover like a regular office visit.
Since you mention the nose rubbing I am thinking about my son's allergy problem which sometimes led to ear ache and then ear infection and of course lack of sleep. My son has frequent ear pain but no infection and this we now understand is due to a bulge in the sinuses near the inner ear where the liquid is being stored at night and not dripping out while he is in bed so he has more pain at night. Now that he is eight we are finally understanding his symptoms as he explained himself to the urgent care doctor a coule of months ago. The doctor recommended "tylenol cold" to help dry these inner nasal passages and even gave me a prescription for antibiotics if the pain got worse. The use of tylenol cold helped relieve the pressure and improve his sleep. So once in a while he will tell me if he is starting to feel the pressure and we keep it up until he is better. We haven't had an infection so far and believe me we always had several per year. He had even developed a white line accross his nose from too much nose rubbing which is now almost gone. Two years ago the ENT even suggested tubes but we have been working on it so now it doesn't seem necessary.
Good luck!
