Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Works For Me: BACKWARDS Edition



 

Well, it is WORKS FOR ME WEDNESDAY BACKWARDS. This is where you post a dilemma for others to answer or help you with. Boy do I need this one!!!

 

TEETHING/BEDTIME is my issue. I have given him teething tablets, baby oral jel, ice cold paci's, my finger(clean of course), and other varies things to soothe him. My problem is he has been crying constantly(not all day just a varies nap times). Especially at bed time. It has taken us over 1 1/2 hours  to get him to clam down enough to lay him in his bed. Sometimes even longer. A week ago I heard a rattle sound in the back of his throat. I was thinking maybe this is the issue. So, I  called the nurse and she gave me several things to do. Apparently babies can build up saliva in the back of their throats if they don't swallow enough. She told me to give him saline drops in his nose to help with the  built up saliva, vaporizer in his room at night, and other varies things that I don't like and neither does my baby. I took him to the doctor just to make sure he wasn't getting sick and he check out in perfect health. We rock him, walk him, cradle him, talk to him, read to him, wait till he is asleep to lay him down...you name it, we do it! He will wake up from a short(15 mins. tops) time of sleeping, start to cry b/c he is hurting, and he becomes restless.Just as we speak he is waking up from a 10 minute nap...(sigh). I feel bad for him. I know he is hurting! So, my bloggy friends ...any thoughts???? Ideas for what to do with a teething baby who won't go down for bed time???? He is so tired and he needs his rest. 

 

For more WFMW (backwards) go to ROCKS IN MY DRYER

 

Please don't state the obvious of "let him cry it out." I am not trying to be picky. If that is what worked for you...GREAT. Exactly how did you do it? Did you wait 5, 10, 15 minutes before going in there and how loud did you let it get before you scooped him/her up? or did you do this when he/she wasn't teething? I really hope that this makes sense!!!! 

11 comments:

  1. Are you sure it's teething? Could it be something else, like gas bubbles? Or, I hate to say this, Colic? What else is he doing? Does he draw his legs up to his chest? Call me if you need to...

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  2. No he is not drawing his legs up to his chest. He mainly sucks on his paci(the hard part) and chews on his thumb. I thought about gas as well. I may have to call you...

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  3. Do you think it could be reflux? If so, you could try raising the top of his bed. We did this by putting phone books under the mattress...not raising the whole end of the crib.

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  4. I'm dealing with the same problem right now--cough and everything. The best solution I've found is to give her a warm bath right before bed, which helps loosen up a lot of the mucus junk in her chest and helps soothe her, and then give her 15 minutes to half an hour of crying time before going in, rubbing her back, rocking with her, using the blue bulb suction thingy to clean out her nose, and then laying her back down. Oh, and tylenol every four hours, if she's awake for it.

    It doesn't always work though--we only got about five hours of sleep last night! So I guess I'll be coming back here to read other people's tips, too.

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  5. From your previous post I see the little guy is 5 months old. Have you tried giving him some baby tylenol about 20 minutes before naptime or bedtime? That would take care of the teething pain. We had to do this with my daughter a few weeks ago until her tooth came through.

    Another thing that worked with my little boy was to put him to bed a little earlier. When he was still wide awake and happy. If I waited until he was tired, forget it. He would fight sleep.

    One more thought - have you gone to the doctor and had his ears looked at? When a little one gets an ear infection they usually don't have a problem with pain until they lie down and the fluid piles up against the eardrum.

    Good luck!

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  6. I agree with the use of Tylenol. But, he may have gotten all things mixed into one. The teething may have led to sleep deprivation which in turn leads to more sleep deprivation. It is a viscious cycle. Keep me posted.

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  7. Oh My! If you read through my prior blogs, I went through this SAME thing. I don't think it's teething, so I rotated Tylenol and Motrin. Didn't work. I thought it was gas. So I loaded him up on Mylacon. Didn't work. I thought it was something I was doing. So I bought a sleep guide book for babies written by a highly accredited Dr. (Dr. Ferber). Tried several of his techniques. Didn't work. I tried letting him "cry it out". But, I mean, come on. Is that realistic? Kuddos to whomever can just listen to their little baby cry for hours. I can't. So that didn't work either. What I learned for myself was that you just gotta do what it takes. If you have to feed him more, just do it. If you have to hold him while he sleeps, just do it. I don't think there's a cure. From my experience it was just a phase that he went through. You won't get much sleep, if any. It only lasted, for me, a couple of weeks. It was a hard couple of weeks, but alas, it was only a couple of weeks. Now that he is on a strict routine and eating lots of whole foods, he sleeps so much better. Because anything is better than what it was. Good Luck!!

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  8. I dont' know if he's old enough to try motrin yet, but that worked better for us than Tylenol with teething.

    When my guy is teething, he always has a runny nose/congestion. So I give him a warm bath, turn on the humidifier in his room (it runs 24/7 when he's congested), and use Baby Vicks Vapo-Rub on his chest. It works for us.

    We used to raise the end of his mattress (with a pillow underneath) when he was younger, but now that he wiggles around at night, he doesn't like it and just ends up screaming.

    I know the teething process can take a long time. We just spent a month trying to get four (yes four!) teeth in at once. But ride it out and remember that this too shall pass!

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  9. Hey Shellie, I just thought of something. Is he eating food yet? I had to start some of mine on cereal at bedtime at about 5 months because they just seemed extra hungry then (nursing didn't satisfy no matter how much they had). The ones who were ready just devoured it, and the ones who weren't just spit it out & refused. If he's already eating, then never mind! Hope something helps soon!!
    Love you,
    Amy

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  10. Our kids liked teething cloths more than anything else. Here's a link to something you might try:

    http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Egyptian-Flannel-Sleeping-Green/dp/B000XBNMLU/ref=sr_1_50?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1220488605&sr=1-50

    This might help, but there is no perfect solution. You are definitely not alone.

    Take comfort in knowing that it will pass soon and be a distant memory. Just work on finding ways to survive the short term. Looking back on going through this with my two kids, I think it was harder on us than it was on them.

    Good luck!

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  11. My baby had 8 teeth at 8 months......he would scream, not cry, but scream !
    I let him have a bottle in the crib, b/c it was the only thing that soothed him. So, i agree do whatever it takes, i've almost caught up on sleep and he's just 3 days shy of 10 months, oh yeah praying helps to calm yourself down:)

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