Moody Darius...

Darius had not been sleeping well since last Thursday and had occassionally burst out in uncontrollable crying. He had been sleeping through the night for a while already, so it baffled us what was causing his sudden change in behaviour.

The truth only came to light when I came across a teething article on the December 2008′s issue of Mother & Baby magazine, that it crossed our minds that Darius could be experiencing the discomfort of teething.

Checking out some of the possible symptoms from websites, we discovered that he was indeed exhibiting most of them (Source):

Irritability:  As the sharp little tooth rises closer to the surface your baby’s gums may become increasingly more sore and painful, leading to your baby being very fussy.  The pain and discomfort is most often worse during the first teeth coming in and later when the molars come in because of their bigger size.  This is most often the case since babies become accustomed to the sensations of teething and learn to live with them.  But you may find your baby may be fussy during the whole time that every tooth comes in.  Every child reacts differently.

He’s indeed getting more irritable nowadays, sometimes bursting out crying for no apparent reason, like while he’s in the middle of his sleep. Soothing him with pats and words does not seem to help either. We had initially thought that he was frightened by nightmares while sleeping.

Drooling:  From three to four months of age you may see your baby start drooling more often than normal.  Teething stimulates drooling, which is often worse with some babies than others.

Darius has been drooling for quite a while now, and we are noticing more saliva coming out of his mouth, especially after he places his hand into his mouth. Carrying him over our shoulders will now usually end up with fluids flowing out of his mouth and onto our arms and shoulders.

Here’s a video of him sitting with the support of the sofa, holding the teether, and drooling quite a bit:

Coughing:  The extra saliva can cause your baby to occasionally cough or gag.  This is usually nothing to worry about as long as your baby seems fine and shows no signs of a cold or flu and does not run a high fever.

He does cough more now, and we are worried if he was being choked by his own saliva or had fallen sick. Fortunately these coughs don’t last long each time.

Chin rash:  If your baby is a big drooler, the constant contact with saliva can cause the skin around the chin and mouth to become irritated.  To help prevent this, gently wipe your baby’s mouth and chin periodically throughout the day.

We did notice a small patch of rashes at his chin, and I had always thought it was the milk stains (though we always clean the surrounding areas of his mouth after the feeds) that was causing the rashes.

Biting & gnawing:  A baby that is teething will gnaw and gum down on anything she or he can get their mouth around.  The counter pressure from biting on something helps relieve the pressure from under the gums.

Darius has been profusely munching his hands, with three to four fingers in his mouth at one time. We thought he was just chewing his hands as a comforting alternative to pacifiers, but now it looks more than just that.

Cheek rubbing and ear pulling:  Pain in the gums may travel to the ears and cheeks particularly when the back molars begin coming in.  This is why you may see your baby rubbing their cheeks or pulling at their ears.  However, keep in mind that pulling at an ear can also be a sign of an ear infection.

Darius pulls at his ears sometimes or rubs his hands across his cheeks. We noticed some flushing of his cheeks once after his first cereal feed, and we even thought he was exhibiting some allergy to the new food.

Diarrhea:  While this is a symptom that is disagreed upon by physicians, researchers and parents, most parents usually notice slightly looser bowel movements when a baby is teething.  While the recent study done by the Children’s Hospital in Australia found this to be the most common symptom of teething, there are still many people that will agree and disagree with this recent study. It is believed that the most likely cause of this is the extra saliva swallowed, which then loosens the stool.  Be sure and report any diarrhea to your doctor that lasts more than two bowel movements.

Darius pooped twice on a single day on two occassions with relatively watery stools, and though we did suspect if he was suffering from diarrhoea, we now see it as just loose stools.

Low-grade fever:  A fever is another symptom that doctors are sometimes hesitant to directly link with teething.  But there are many parents who will disagree with this and find their baby gets a slight fever while teething.  The best thing to do is be extra safe and notify your doctor if a fever last more than two days.

We didn’t notice him having any fever.

Not sleeping well:  With teething pain happening during the day and night, you may find your child wakes more often at night when the pain gets bad enough.  Most parents agree that the night waking happens more often during the first set of teeth and with the molars.

This is definitely the case for Darius, as he has been waking up every hour in the night, often crying out with his eyes still closed, and not responding to our calls to his name or voices. It’s like he is stucked in his ‘nightmares’.

Cold like symptoms (runny nose, etc.):  Some parents find that their baby will show signs of having a cold.  Runny noses, coughing and general cold symptoms are believed to come from the baby having their hands in their mouth more often.  Play it safe and always notify your doctor if symptoms such as this occur.

He does have some muscus lately, blocking his nose and preventing him from drinking properly. He spat out the muscus on several occassions, sometimes together with the milk he drank.

Acknowledging these symptoms, we moved on to check on his gums, to notice that two small white spots are emerging on his lower front gum. Comparing with teething photos found on the Net, these looked like signs of teeething indeed. This further ascertain our teething theory, though we are quite surprised that Darius is teething at only 18 weeks old.

Not very visible but we do see the teething signs

We have previously read that teething usually occurs after 6 months but after checking the Babycenter website, we now know that the first tooth in babies could occur from 4 months of age onwards.

Right now, we are trying our best soothe Darius’ discomfort. We have chilled some of the teethers and put into his mouth but he did not seem to like them, possibily because ‘coldness’ is still a new sensation for him. We will try again to see if he gradually finds it useful in decreasing his discomfort.

Munching on the non-chilled teether

I have also dropped by Kiddy Palace to get a finger brush for him to help clean his gum in preparation for his emerging first teeth, and comforting his gum by applying some pressure on his lower gums with the brush.

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