Valeria is in the thick of it now, as mentioned in a previous post, she basically had two little teeth pop out days apart from each other.
Sadly, I didn’t really comprehend how difficult this would be for her and all the symptoms she would be experiencing. Some I didn’t even realize were associated with teething.
This is about to get real and anyone with kids will understand the stress and worry this is causing. She surprisingly didn’t have many symptoms prior to her teeth erupting from the gums, it’s the after that has been effecting her, which I’m assuming is due to inflammation and pain.
Sunday night was the start of it, we noticed she was a bit fussier than normal being put to bed and she really didn’t want us near her mouth.
Monday it only got worse, she was again fussier than normal but she kept chewing on everything and anything. We figured the counter pressure was nice for her, along with the fact she was drooling buckets like a Saint Bernard dog. Her teething toys were her best friend during the day. Night time was a different story, she was literally up every hour crying in pain, and when we did calm her long enough, she would be whimpering in her sleep. Definitely a sleepless night.
Tuesday we all woke up with little bags under our eyes but hers were so terrible. Her eyes were red, along with her nose and cheeks. Than we really noticed the runny nose. She fussed over EVERYTHING and I mean everything. There were times she was inconsolable. Distracting her with walks was our only option and trying to get her to nap any way we could. But sleep still eluded her for the most part. Naps were short. Solid food consisted of whatever was soft, so a bit of fish and potato and a little fried egg. She really didn’t have much of an appetite though. However the diarrhea began so things were just flying out of her. We kept giving her the frozen teething toy to help with the inflammation, along with a bit of chamomile in her bottle. She eventually went down to sleep, later than we would have liked, but she still woke up fairly often.
Side note: Before you judge me for the chamomile, it’s been a remedy used for hundreds of years and you don’t give them a lot. It helps with restlessness and mildly helps with inflammation.
Wednesday was another fussy day, but my husband and I had a game plan. We were going to distract her with walks and go to the mall. Again she really didn’t want us near her mouth; wiping her runny nose and drool were a challenge. Though we took her for a nice LONG walk in the morning, if I recall it was at least an hour if not longer. She fell asleep in the stroller and my husband and I just decided to keep walking until she woke up. Once she was awake, she was a bit happier. We returned home and got her in the car seat and off we went to the mall. We walked around for at least two hours. She was okay, fussy at times, but a little bit of formula or a change in carrier position and she was okay. We noticed her nose was super runny, her cheeks flushed and a touch swollen and she was tired. But she was a trooper, even fell asleep on dad for a bit. When we got home, we put on some teething gel on for her, which she was NOT happy about. From that point on she would cry, fuss and get upset over every little thing. She ate very little solids, really disinterested in food and her formula. But again we gave her the chamomile in her bottle. She only really wanted me last night, so I laid and sang her to sleep. She cuddled up next to me and fell asleep drinking her formula.
Once I knew she was fully asleep and I could hear her little snores, I topped up the bottle and put it in the fridge. I was up all night, however my husband and her snoozed the night away. I was grateful with how much she slept. From 9:15 PM to about 2:15 AM, this is an approximation. She woke up to fed a bit and back to sleep, than she woke up around 3:30 or 4 AM. My husband was kind enough to take over since I didn’t sleep yet. She was crying and whimpering, and the only way she wanted to sleep was more upright and on my husband. She fell back asleep around 5-5:30 AM.
Now for today, things have been getting better thankfully. Her runny nose is still there, but a lot less. She is still pretty fussy and really just wanted to be held by me for the most part. Her diarrhea has disappeared which is great! Her appetite seems to be coming back slowly, we are doing smaller more frequent meals for her today. Sleep is still difficult during the day, her naps tend to be short. However this evening was good, we decided to try a bit of a new routine with her.
We gave her a bath, lavender lotion on her skin, read to her as some Gregorian chants played lightly in the background and when she got a bit fussy we started to give her the bottle. She would eat, pull off and then roll around a bunch. At that point I stopped reading and would sing to her instead. And it was rinse and repeat. At one point she pulled off the bottle and was just rolling around, rocking on her hands and knees and I told my husband just let her be. Her eyes were closed but she was still moving than bam, she laid on her tummy and just passed out.
It was almost as if she just put herself to sleep or wanted to. Her eyes were closed the entire time she was wiggling and rolling around, but we couldn’t understand it.
Has anyone else’s kid done this?
Anyway, it’s been rough and I’ll be honest, my husband and I haven’t exactly been communicating well. Sleep deprivation isn’t nice on relationships. But we are hoping that things are subsiding for her and she can get back to her normal self….until the next enamel nightmare decides to erupt.
Sorry this one was long, but I ask that you please pray for us. Thank you
Ciao!
Mama on the Move 