my son is 6 months old and is teething like no other!! This one tooth (his first) keeps going up and down for the past 3 months. lately he's been very cranky and clingy which i think is typical. But this past wee he's been crying, not happy with anything I do, not eating solids, not even my dad can cheer him up and he's a baby whisperer!! But the second I give him ibuprofen, and I mean the second he tastes it he calms down. This just happened again, and he's now happily playing in my lap. This just happened and I'm getting worried that maybe he's relying on it to much or maybe he just likes the taste? I don't give it to him often, only when he seems to be in major pain. Do other kids react like this?
**I took my son to the doctor two weeks ago thinking he was sick, and he just said he was teething. He does have his 6 moth check up next week so i'll be asking about seasonal allergy's and what not. I thought it was just odd that he the second he tasted the med he calmed down. Thank you all for your input! Glad to know this is kind of normal!
Yes, my son is 2, has been getting his 2 yo molars for the last 6 months (still nothing has popped through), and when he tastes the medicine, he is good. I think that part may just be the placebo effect. They know that it helps them and that the feeling better is right around the corner. My son actually asks for it sometimes! I think that is just the sweet.
I don't think you have to worry about an addiction to ibuprofin.
Little kids figure out really quickly what makes them feel better.
My son always wanted my "Magic". That's what he called my pillow. He was convinced that it made everything from scraped shins to getting teeth, to having the flu feel better.
He's 14 and still wants it if he gets a headache or is sick.
Hey....whatever works.
I hope your little guy will be feeling better soon!
He sounds smart. He knows that once he tastes the Ibprofin that soon he will have no pain! I would not worry about him being addicted. My daughter did and always has loved Tylenol - guess it's the flavor. Maybe just the taste of it is enough to get him to think about something else for awhile and then by the time the teeth may start to hurt again, the meds have kicked in.
If you are concerned about him using it for too long, try Hylands Teething Tablets...my son loves those too as they disintegrate fast/easily in their mouths!
This is pretty normal, I think. Let's put it this way, my son is two and shouts "Tylenol!" when he sees the bottle. It's not an addiction- he has learned that he's in pain and that little bottle eventually makes him feel better. There is no shame in using a little ibuprofin to get through the teething phase. Don't use it unless he's really in pain and drooling/chewing/gnawing, but it works and you would take something too if you were going through it!
Ibuprofen is NOT addictive, for anyone. Your child likely obtains pain relief and stops crying. Or perhaps he likes the attention. Regardless, one cannot become addicted to Ibuprofen. It contains no addictive substance.
In 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, I've never heard of an addiction to ibuprofen.
Have you taken him to the pediatrician to rule out an ear infection or allergies? It's been a record year for pollen, and our daughter (25 months), though being OK last year has really suffered this year. Her red, puffy eyes finally gave it away.
Because his temperament and eating have been affected, my personal next step would be a call to the pediatrician just to be certain.
Good luck.
I don't believe there are any addictive properties to it, and it certainly wouldn't get in his system quickly enough as you've stated to have an affect on any pain he may be having.
My kids always calmed down instantly when I give them medicine. It's like magic! I think it's the taste and the sweetness. They use glucose (and used to use honey) to soothe babies during procedures (like circumcision). It actually has a pain-relieving effect on babies.
The other thing that may be happening is the "magic juice" effect. When a kid is hysterical, you give them some juice to drink, and they're suddenly rather calm, and stay that way. It's because they HAVE to calm down to drink, or they'd choke on it. It really has nothing to do with the juice, just the act of drinking. This may be happening with the medicine.
My kids always did really well with Baby Orajel, too. It works very quickly to ease the pain. I tried it out, and it's quite awful stuff. My BIL tried it and said there was no way he was going to put that in his kids' mouth! But he didn't have a toothache. So all he experienced was a nasty (to us) taste and an odd tingling sensation. I, on the other hand, was having wisdom tooth pain, and wow, it WORKS! It was wonderful. After that tast and tingling sensation, there was nothing. No pain, no tingling, no taste.
My daughter had lots of fevers as a baby as reactions to her vaccines, I felt like I was giving her meds all of the time too! If you don't want to always give him ibprofin, you can alternate with tylenol. Also for teething, try the Hylands Teething tablets. They really work! My sister in law was curious and tried one of the tablets and she said it numbed her mouth, which is great and maybe what your baby needs?
Good Luck!
Have you tried Hyland's teething tablets? They are homeopathic and completely safe, and they work really well. I used them for our 3 children and many of my friends have too. You would not need to worry about any adverse effects with them, so I'd strongly suggest trying them. You can get them at Walmart, pharmacies, health food stores, and many other places
For my older son, he was running high fevers every 3 weeks (he had a fever disorder) so for almost 2 years, I went through BOTTLES of ibprofen and Tylenol and worried about the amount I had to give him over a such short period of time, but beyond that, my son now asks for "medcin" when he's sick-or even when he sees it in the cubbard. Both my boys know it will make them feel better so as soon as they taste it, the tears stop. Also I don't know if you circumsized your son and if you did, if you got to watch, but right before the procedure, they give the baby a bit of sugar water rather than Tylenol because they have found that the sugar water has the same effect on the pain receptors of a baby as actual pain meds so the sweet taste of the med could also be the reason for the sudden stop in tears.
Also, be careful of the "natural" teething tablets (my friend told me they had caffeine or something in them), so just read the label before you buy.
