unsettled 5 1/2 month old

My 5 1/2 month old girl has just changed from a settled happy baby to a nightmare my husband and I are at wits end. She doesn't sleep during the day and she cries constantly and isn't happy if you pick her up or put her down she is so overtired and will not sleep she is waking at 12.30 and 4.30 (and sometimes every hour from 12.30 till 4.30 am) in the morning where she used to go down at night and sleep till 4.30am we don't know if she is starting to teethe as she is constantly chewing and putting EVERYTHING in her mouth. We have tried cold teething rings, bonjela, Hylands teething tablets, water iceblocks made on plain boiled water only. She has lost interest in her bottles and is taking about 40 minutes to feed her with her formula and then we try the solids and she just isn't interested in her solids either, she does have her water during the day though as I try to settle her on this. The only way I can get her to sleep now is to rock her and I dont want this to become a bad habit. I just am now finding it hard to cope as I am not getting sleep during the night or day and neither is my husband.

I hope someone can help.

My baby boy went through something similar. He too was grizzly and wouldnt feed very well and kept waking during the day sleeps and woke a few times at night. He wanted to chew everything as well. It has settled a bit but I found the dummy was a big comfort to him. His gums are puffy but there arent any teeth yet. But the 5/1-2 month stage is a strange one.

Thanks JZ

It helps to know that I'm not the only one that has gone through this (it helps the sanity).

Hi,

You poor thing, you must be exhausted!!!

Does rubbing her gums seeem to help at all?? if you think it might be her gums Brauer Teething Relief might be worth a try, it's homeapathic so there's nothing in it that could hurt her and i found it worked beautifully with Ella when her first 2 teeth came through (at the same time)...

Otherwise maybe it'd be worth trying a chiro or your dr to see if they can help? Or perhaps trying her on a lactose free formula to see if she'll take that (thats if she's bottle fed??)

Good luck, hope things improve

Bel

Hi sorry... bit ditzy today!!! smile just re read your post and realised she is bottle fed so excuse my airiness... long day!

Bel

Hi Bel,

Thanks for your suggestion we have just gotten back from holidays and read your post. Emily is lactose intolerant and is on a lactose free formula and I am actually going to talk to my dr and see if it may be that the formula doesn't agree with her. Also yesterday my husband and I were at the markets and because it was so hot we got and ice cone and fed her some ice to keep her cool and noticed that she has two little white dots on her bottom gum at the front and we think that her teeth may be playing games and going up and down so we are trying everything but thanks about the brauers I've never heard of it but I will give it a go - anythings worth a shot if it keeps her happy.

Thanks for your post.

Pauline

Hi Pauline,

Have only logged on to this site for the first time today so your troubles may have finished by now.

My 5 month old hasn't started teething yet, but I have been trying to get things in readiness for it. There is a thing called a Gummy that is made by Happy Baby, the company that makes the original dummies. It looks like a dummy but instead of a teat it has a kind of mouth/gum guard type of thing that allows your baby to chew on it to relieve their gums. They come it two sizes, one for when their front teeth are coming through, and one for the side teeth.
If you are in a metro area you can probably get one from Coles or Woolies, if you are in a regional area you may have a bit more trouble. I looked in all our local supermarkets, Target and Big W but couldn't find one anywhere. If you can't find one in the supermarket your local Chemist should be able to order one in for you.

Hope this helps, Dan