Teething Interfering with Sleep Training

K., I would reccomend Hyland's teething tablets (availabe at any Walgreens, or a store like that). They seem to soothe and relax babies that are having a hard time with teething. My son had zero teething problems, they all just seemed to appear. But my Daughter is the total opposite. She is getting one painfull tooth at a time. I wouldn't follow a "sleep plan" to the T because it may make you feel like it's not working. Just do what works for now and don't stress about it. Eventully she will have all her teeth and sleep in her crib all night.

The teething tablets work great. But when my boy won't calm down then Tylenol will help a lot. My doctor told me not to feed him if he wakes up, so to comfort I will just rock him to sleep and sometimes give him a bottle of plain water (that much crying will dehydrate him!).

Im going through the same thing with my 8 month old... I know people said use teething tablets... they are suppose to be great and all my friends love them, however my little guy doesnt get pain relief from them. The ingredients work opposite for him and they stimulate him and get his heart racing. Im still looking for a solution :(

I gave my two daughters a life safing product called teething tablets, that Walmart sales. It is safe and you place two little tablets under the tongue. If she has been calling alot, she will fall right to sleep. Every baby is different, so maybe you should give it a try. You can find the Teething Pills at Walmart, maybe rite Aide, and Walgreens... Good Luck.P. G.

I ordered Calcium Drops (Dr. Christopher's). He has an herbal mixture that soothes irritated gums right away and calcium is absorbed right in to help with teething. It's great. It's called Kid-e-Calc.
My little girl immediately feels better after I give her a few drops with the dropper near where I think she's working on a tooth.
Look up Dr. Christopher on google then you should be able to find it.
Good luck, I think you're doing great with the sleep thing-that's always tough.
R.

My son is teething, too. He's getting 4 upper teeth at the same time! He was doing great with the sleeping until the teeth starting making their appearance. We have been giving him Tylenol before going to bed the last couple of nights (instead of waiting until he wakes up unhappy) and that seems to help - he's sleeping until 6am instead of waking at 2, 3 and 4.
Good luck.

I have 2 boys, ages 6 & 8 and I can tell you that no child sleeps through the night 100% of the time...and if someone tells you that they are pulling your leg!

There is a product I got for my children, called Gripe Water, that is homeopathic, smells like black licorice and works like a charm. It hits 3 trouble spots: teething, hiccups, and gas. I swear by it. I even gave it to my toddler when he got his molars (the worst). Check it out online, or look at a local children's store.

Here's my view on the sleep thing. Imagine having a tooth pierce through your gums and how painful it could be. The reason teeth come in when they are infants is that they cannot use words to tell you how much it hurts.

In times like teething, sickness, or crabbiness, it is ok to rock your child to sleep or have him/her sleep with you. Doesn't it make you feel better when you are hurting to have someone hold you?

Trust me, they get back on track...and so do you. You will never sleep through the night, everynight, until they are teenagers...but then you have to worry what time they get home!

Hope this helps.

Hi K.,

I so understand your pain here! In the case of pain, while teething, I think to allow a child to try to self soothe is not necessarily a good thing. It's one think if there is no pain. But pain is real and the two of you are her mama and daddy. She needs your comfort. Once the teething slows down or is not a factor, get back to teaching her to sleep at night. There is a time for everything. If this program is stressing all of you out, it may not be the program for you, as a family. It's OK to change gears!

Good Luck, Keep lovin' that child!
K. M

HI K.!

Teething is the pits !!!

Unbroken sleep!...What is that ? :-) LOL !

My son (now 28 yrs old) began teething at 2 months of age.

My kids are in their 20's and they
still wake me up at night !!!

Best thing we learned with his younger sister was homeopathic
teething tablets by Hyland.

They dissolve in the mouth or you can put them in the bottle. We always did the mouth because that way we knew it was full strength.

No side effects, natural and convenient, best yet they WORK !!
Often within minutes.....sometimes you have to repeat a dose to tame the pain but it does not hurt them.

They feel better and so do you.

Good luck,

D. T.

For teething we used these little pills that were a natural teething relief. Made by Homedics I think. Just called teething pills if I remember right. They're a miracle. and might still help her sleep uninterupted. They are in a little maybe three inch tall plastic bottle with a very plain label and easy to miss , so look closely. Good luck !

Hi K.,
I'm sorry about your the trouble you and your little one are having. I have not been in your shoes, however all the sleep books I have read say to discontinue the sleep program when your baby is teething or has hit a new milestone i.e. crawling, walking.
Your baby is in pain and seems to need the extra comfort.
Good luck,
S.

Give her the pain reliever before she goes to sleep.

Dear K.,

If there's a health food store anywhere near you, see if they have a row of common homeopathic remedies in a low potency (6c or 30c). Try a 30c of Chamomilla (the homeopathic remedy, not the herb). Dissolve one pellet in her formula or juice and let her have the formula/juice in the evening.

This is not a "constitutional" remedy, but it works well for many teething infants in acute situations. And it's entirely safe.

Best of luck!

S. I., L.Ac.
Lotus Wellspring Healthcare
456 E. Mission Road, Suite 100
San Marcos, CA 92069
###-###-####
____@____.com
www.lotuswellspring.com

Hi,

I am going through the same thing with my 8 month old. Even though her first two bottom teeth came through, she is having a rough time with her top teeth. Maybe trying cold water if she needs a bottle at night. The cold will releave some of the pain and you do not have to worry about sugar. The research i did said during the day they are stimulted with things to do, so the effects of teething does not seem as bad. But at night things settle down and the pain is more apparent. Maybe using a wet wash cloth to massage her gums may help. My daughter loves that. I hope this helps and good luck.

Always,
C.

Hi K....one thing our 'sleep easy solution' dvd/book told us was to not do while teething...ours was just 5 mos.old though. Teeth came @ 6 mos. Makes sense, but someone out there might have gone through the same.
Best Luck

Hi K., With all pain, for some reason it seems worse at night, I always rocked my babies to sleep, ( I know alot of people are against that) but I wasn't, my babies were sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old, and it continued through their baby hood unles they were sick. I didn't like medicating my babies, so what I did I rubbed the tylenol on their gums and rocked them to sleep, the tylenol soothed the gums they feel asleep peacefully, and slept peacefully through the night, I'm an old school mom, my youngest is almost 19, but what I did worked like a charm. If you would like more advice or have any questions you can e-mail me at ____@____.com J. L.

Have you tried giving her the tylenol right after her nighttime bottle? while she's still drowsy slip a little of that in her mouth and top her off with just a little more milk and bounce her just a bit if that's what she likes. That should keep her good for 4-6 hours right? so that should keep her good through the night. and if she wakes up at the right time that she should get more because of pain, then you can slip her a little more and pat her back and let her know its okay. and if she wakes up at the wrong time, then you know it's because of routine and you have to work on the sleep program again... ugh I know. ;)

hi K., i have two girls 16 months apart..one girl is 3 and the other girl is turning 2 next month, and while i do not know the book you are referring to, it sounds like it may be very similar to the technique i used with both girls.
with each girl, they slept in our room in their crib until about 7-7 1/2 months old. (we never co-bed with either of them)
then we moved them out into their own room. and we had a very tight-structured bed time routine, which my husband and i were both consistent with-every single night! which was so hard and cramped our lifestyle, but we lived by it. we were home by 7pm, no matter what. we bathed, dressed them in their room, gave them a bedtime bottle, held them in our arms their dark and quiet room (lasting about 20-30 min total bottle and holding and dressing). our first girl had her pacifier....and we put her down and left the room. and let them cry it out. as each day went by, the crying time got shorter and shorter. like the first day, she probably cried 15-20 min before falling asleep. and the 2nd day, 10 min. until by the 5th day, she only cried for 1 min or 2 and then fell right asleep.
and that was it! and it was even easier with the 2nd baby, because her little personality is just easier, less fussy.
our family thought we were cruel, because they were over a lot(we live down the street). they saw the training and it just broke the whole families hearts to hear the precious baby boo crying and be ignored. i felt mean and too tough. but the results are so amazing, and every mom i know respected me and were jealous of my 'free' evenings.....free for my hubby and i to hang without the kids, to clean, or even to call a sitter to come over after they'd been tucked in.
----but i do remember, that each girl would wake up sometime between 1-4am for a bottle until about 8 months, but then went right back to sleep. and in my experience, teething didnt interfere with sleep at all, as i was surprised by your experience. i never noticed a sleep interference. i saw the symptoms during the day...fussy, drooly.. but not at night. anyways, just thought id share, that the 'mean' sleep method works!

Her teething pain is far more important than any sort of sleep program. Babies were not designed to sleep through the night. They simply were not built to do so! Certainly you can train them to, bit why not just accept her for who she is and where she is in life? Give her Tylenol, give her a bottle, offer her comfort, and realize that you will be a much better mom if you accept the developmental stages of your daughters life instead of trying to alter them to suit your own comfort. ENJOY your baby! Don't rush her! She will grow up fast enough as it is!

just to reinforce . . . TEETHING TABLETS!!

Her pain is more evident during sleep because when she's awake, she's distracted by other things.

You just got to roll with the punches. We all go through the teething times. It'll pass

Poor thing! Your daughter just needs a little relief before heading back to sleep. Many have already reccomended the Hyland's teething tablets. We give our kids up to four at a time (when two or three with tylenol just didn't work) and give them a bottle or sippy cup of water. 'Course my kids started teething a little late. My now three year old didn't get her first teeth till 15 months.

Your daughter would be sleeping just as you taught her if her pain wasn't waking her up. Just give her a little relief and some time with you if she needs it. Then put her back in bed. It will not hurt your daughter if you leave a bottle or cup of water in bed with her. She'll have a source of relief that will not ruin her teeth.

Good luck. Stay strong!

That's part of the problem w/ sleep training; some theories don't allow for every day life to happen. Go back to sleep training or your routine after she's done teething (this time: ) Don't beat your head against a wall. That's the trick w/ these little ones: two steps forward, one step back. That's also the problem, I see, w/ sleep training (period). For some little ones (SOME) sleep training just doesn't work. My daughter was teething at three-months-old and it seems changes her sleep needs (depending on the amount of pain she is in or developmental milestones) every other month and she is now almost 15 months. I don't say this to be discouraging, but to encourage you to be as consistent as possible but allow for inevitable change. Also, my daughter is less fussy during the day (busy), but at night, look out. What do ya do? : )

Jen

I have heard about this homeopathic teething aid now from a few parents: Hyland's teething tablets. I hear it works wonders. Also, I heard of another liquid homeopathic one just yesterday by a company called Boron. The name of the product is Camilia teething liquid. I believe both of these can be found at Whole Foods and you might call health food stores or local pharmacies if you aren't near a Whole Foods. The parents who have told me about the Hyland's have said the teething tablets worked very well for their children from infancy through toddlerhood with no side-effects. Good luck!

Hyland's Teething Tablets are FANTASTIC! They really calm the baby down. We have twins, and the double teething was awful. We gave each baby the tablets during teething and they helped them settle in for a good night of sleep. Having said that, I think sleep training at such a young age is just a setup for failure. There is just so much going on at this age. I'd wait and try again later, like at 12 months. We found that giving a sippy cup of water helped a lot. When they would wake we would offer water, but nothing else. It puts something in their belly for the few days that it takes their metabolisms to get used to not having calories in the middle of the night. After that, my kids decided it wasn't worth it to wake up just for water. But at 8 months they are still growing so fast that they probably need that extra feeding. And from what you've stated in your post, it sounds like this is the issue with your little one. Wait it out. Soon she'll have her one year molars, and then you have a whole year before the next teething episode. That's the best time to start a sleep "schedule", if there ever really is one with a toddler. Good luck!

Dear K.,
I don't know if any one has given you any suggestions yet. what i would suggest is getting some teething tablets..they sell them at walmart for about $5. or so. i had the same problem with my girl when she was teething..i did the same thing you did but my mother in law suggested me to try teething tablets and let me tell you, it made such a difference..they work better then the baby orajel..orajel only numbs the gums it doesnt get to the source of the problem..the teething tablets help replace the minerals the babies lose when they are teething that is what makes them so cranky...it is safe..i assure you because my mother in law had me taste a couple of the tablets and they taste harmless and they dissolve instantly....wish i could send you some so you could try them out..but with teething tables and the tylenol/motrin mix your little wont be as cranky and fussy..wishing you the best of luck..hope it works for you as it did for me.
your friend,
M.

Hyland Teething Tablets are the best. All Natural, go right under the tonge and help them sleep great. You can find them at Target behind the counter at the pharmacy or most grocery stores carry them. Good luck.