How do I know if it's teething or reflux or sleepiness?

[odoole]

DS just turned 5 mo and the past week and a half have been horrendous. I know lots of mamas out there have to deal with babies who cry a lot and fuss the rest of the time, but DS was never like that. Prior to this, I could count the total amount of time he fussed in his first 4 months of life in minutes.

Now he just seems miserable a lot of the time, and I really want to help him feel better. Initially I assumed it was teething, but now I'm not so sure, because I haven't seen any teeth come up, and the times I've given Motrin, it hasn't seemed to be all that effective. He is gnawing on stuff, but he's been doing that for 2.5 months now. He enjoys ice in his mouth, but maybe that's just for the novelty of it?

He also refuses to eat during the day and only nurses when he's sleepy after a nap and at night. I initially thought that lended evidence to the teething bit, but now I'm reading that reflux also presents that way? DS did have some nasty reflux initially, but after eliminating Dairy and Soy from my diet, I thought we had tackled the problem. Could it be resurfacing as a different food intolerance or a build-up of esophageal scarring? Anyone have experience with this?

Lastly, I know he's a bit off-kilter because of all the traveling we did for the holidays. He's had several night sleeps cut short because of air travel. Could it just be that he's sleep deprived?

Any advice would be appreciated. I just want to know what's bothering him so I can help him!

[lkmiscnet]

I had a similar post about 2 months ago.

I ruled out reflux on my now 7 mo old because I thought his symptoms would be consistent throughout the day and night and they were not. He did not spit up at night and during the day, typically would only spit up if we did not burp him properly or put him on his back too soon.

He still wakes up every 2 hours to nurse, but he quickly falls right back asleep. He used to have lots of gas, but that seems to have dissipated as well.

He also had been gnawing on a lot of things and drooling since about 4 mo of age. He had one particularly fussy day on New Year's Day and it turns out that's when his first lower tooth cut through the gum. His second tooth just cut through 4 days later.

So, I vote for teething if your baby has been unusually fussy and it seems to correlate with teething. A baby can be teething for a few months before the tooth finally cuts through the gums.

Let's see what others think...

[Norasmomma]

I vote for teething-my son who is 3 months just cut his first tooth and has been most of the same things. My DD who got her first tooth at 3.5 months was the worst she had what I call "pushy" teeth that would push and recede over and over. Then finally they would all come in on the same day(seriously like 6 teeth in a week). This would go on for months. I could tell when she was pretty much a miserable wreck that was what was going on, nursing hurts when they are teething, my DD had a small nursing strike at 8 months because of teething.

Plain and simple teething sucks, and it is extremely painful for them.

[odoole]

Thanks. I agree it's probably teething, combined with being cracked out from all the traveling and time zone changes, etc. And honestly, I'd prefer that to reflux. At least teething has some remedies I can try and potentially see immediate results rather than the long-term problem of reflux.

For the past week and a half, he seems to be having a guaranteed meltdown around 6 p.m. It does seem like his teeth hurt -- but why more so at this time?

That's interesting about the "pushy" teeth. I hope my poor guy has some teeth erupting soon. I can't tell how close they are.

Regardless, now that we're home, we definitely need to establish a more regular routine. He's too old to just "go with the flow" now ...

[kdtmom2be]

I have to vote for hungry. While teething MAY be a problem as well, it is probably not what is causing the constant crabbiness. He is more intertested in the world and refusing to nurse when he is awake because he's too distracted, quite common among 5-7 month old babies.

Also, as a side note about teething, Motrin is an anti-inflamatory, not an analgesic. Teething is an inflamation process, so if it is teething and you give Motrin you are merely prolonging the teething process, esp is you are giving it regularily. Giving Tylenol (acetominophen) will ease the pain but not slow the teething process.

[kamane18]

I was going to vote for a combination of teething and overtired - since this is very similar to how my 7 month old is currently acting and he is definitely overtired with many naps cut short due to having to pick up/drop off DD/school, etc plus shorter nights lately too.

Originally Posted by kdtmom2be

Also, as a side note about teething, Motrin is an anti-inflamatory, not an analgesic. Teething is an inflamation process, so if it is teething and you give Motrin you are merely prolonging the teething process, esp is you are giving it regularily. Giving Tylenol (acetominophen) will ease the pain but not slow the teething process.

Is this true? I try to rarely use Motrin unless REALLY seems needed but don't even keep Tylenol in the house. I've never heard that before about Motrin slowing the teething process...

[odoole]

Originally Posted by kdtmom2be

I have to vote for hungry. While teething MAY be a problem as well, it is probably not what is causing the constant crabbiness. He is more intertested in the world and refusing to nurse when he is awake because he's too distracted, quite common among 5-7 month old babies.

Also, as a side note about teething, Motrin is an anti-inflamatory, not an analgesic. Teething is an inflamation process, so if it is teething and you give Motrin you are merely prolonging the teething process, esp is you are giving it regularily. Giving Tylenol (acetominophen) will ease the pain but not slow the teething process.

Hmm, interesting thought. Hunger could be part of his general angst, but I tend to think that teething is what has instigated this daytime nursing strike. It's a tough call because I could pump a little and give him bottles, but I'm worried about that causing a permanent strike, and I can't pump enough to feed him 100% from pumped milk. He's gotten a little better about feeding through the day lately, just not when he's really unhappy. He's gaining tons of weight and still a super-heavy wetter, so he's still getting plenty of calories, but maybe not as many as he would like during the day.

I've never heard that about Motrin either. Where did you learn that? I was advised to switch to that because it was more of an analgesic than Tylenol. Regardless, we don't use it very much (only 2x so far) because it hasn't gotten so bad that he can't sleep at night. It's just a general, low-level fussiness all day and worse at night.

He has gotten better the past couple days since we've been at home with more low-key days and catching up on sleep.