A Teething Non Sleeping 5 Month Old

hello C.,
my almost 6 year old was an nightmare teether!!! we found hyland's teething tabs to be a life saver. you can get them at walmart, rite aid and many other stores are now carrying them. they are a 100% natural so you dont have the side effects of other choices , you also dont have to worry about the nasty taste or burning that you may get from oragel. these are tine white tabs that you put it the childs mouth and they disolve almost immediately, they coat the childs gums and numb it.

if nighttime seems to be the worst i would give him some tylenol or motrin to help take care of the discomfort so he can sleep as well as you!

good luck

Give him tylenol. Teething is very painful and it helps alot. Also Orajel makes a night time formula that helps too.

hyland's teething tablets?
tylenol? (sometimes it is called for...and may help you all get some rest!)

do you still BF? If so... LET him fall asleep at the breast during this time. some babies nursing is comforting while teething... some it hurts, just depends on your kid.

also, don't shove aside the idea of co-sleeping, at least for a time. my daughter started getting teeth at 5 months and had a full set by a year old. random co-sleeping is what got us through it all with some sleep! if you choose to go this route... look up guidelines online to do it as safely as possible!

HTH

Hi....I went through the same thing with my 2nd daughter....only to find out that it was her ears!!! We ignored her for so many months thinking it was teeth.
It can't hurt to get him checked out. They can't tell you what's wrong at that age so I know it's hard. We had a totally different child after the antibiotics!!!!
Good luck!
B.

My daughter is almost 11 months old and I was where you are now a few months ago. I found that Hylands Teething tablets worked great as well as Motrin. the motris is a pain reliever as well as a antiinflamitory. I think motrin is rated for infants 6 month an up, but check with your DR. If your son weighs enough theywill have you give him the Motrin. Another thing that I know works is Benedryl. I know it might sound like it is just used make them sleep, but as well as making them tired it also helps releive teething symptoms. A friend of mine, who works for a pediatric dental group, has a son who had a really bad time teething, the dentist told her that the infants aren't always troubled with the pain of teething, but they also have itching of the gums alogd with it. The chewing is prompted by the itching, not so much the pain, chewing would make the pain worse. The dentist compaired the itching of teething to the itching of a paper cut. I tried the Benedryl with my daughter and it worked. I know that at six months old my daughter got between 1/4 an 1/2 teaspoon of Benedryl, but you could get the dosage amount from your pediatrician. After really thing about the itching theory makes a lot of sense!! Good Luck!!

My 7 month old just cut her first tooth a couple of weeks ago, but the doctor says her gums are all red and swollen, so more must be on the way. We went through about 3 nightmarish weeks where she didn't sleep, cried, was gassy and had difficulty eating. I sympathize BIG time.

What helped my daughter was Tylenol, and Hylands teething tablets. I followed the directions for on the label for if your child is exceptionally fussy---the tablets were a lifesaver and worked much better than the orajel swabs I had been trying before.

I also switched to California Baby Calming bubble bath and added lavender and vanilla oil to her baby cream when I moisturized. I don't know if that made a big difference but at least I felt like I was attempting to help on all ends.

I also started using Gripe Water along with the Zantac that she already was on for acid reflux, before her meals. I do think the Gripe Water helped some. For some reason, the teething seemed to aggravate her gassiness/reflux. It must have to do with all the extra saliva and drool.

A last thing I did, in my no-sleep haze and desperation, was share an Italian ice with my daughter. She seemed to enjoy it and I think it eased her sore gums some. If nothing else, it distracted her during the crankiest part of her day at the time.
Hope that helps some and good luck for the next few weeks....