By Good Night Consultant
Is your baby not sleeping through the night because of teething?
Teething babies; The good, the bad and the ugly
I hear it so often: “My baby cannot sleep through the night because he is teething really badly!” Maybe I was just lucky that my son took teething in his stride; the sore gums, the drooling, the runny nose, the horrible nappies – all the usual “teething symptoms” was something I just read in books. But then, I also have to be honest – he was sleeping brilliantly.
You see, the good news is – your child is getting teeth! Fantastic, he won’t be the only baby that looks like a toothless little shark. The bad news is, it might come with some sleeping problems and the ugliness of it may be that you will use your teething baby as an excuse for everything that has ever gone wrong in your life! 🙂
Baby Sleep Training and Teething – Could it actually work together?
Now the question remains whether your little teething bundle of saliva can actually sleep, sleep train, be trained for sleep and/or sleep better, whilst teething. The answer is a loud, very definite: YES. If you are going to wait for your baby to stop teething before you actually train or teach him/her to sleep, you are going to wait more than 2.5 years. Since sleep is a skill we need to teach our children, the faster we give them the gift of a Good Night’s sleep the better.
Watch this video by Dana Obleman on Sleeping ant Teething [youtube id=”7YrI7F4Of6Q” width=”600″ height=”350″]
Helping your baby sleep through the night
If you want to help your baby sleep through the night, take restful naps, be healthy, happy and STILL have teeth, you can help your baby or toddler by teaching him/her how to sleep unaided. Think about it, if your little one can put him/herself to sleep without your help he won’t wake you up during the night the 5 times he wakes at night because of sore cums. In my experience, I have found that children who has learned the skill of sleeping, handles teething and illness much better.
Teething causing baby sleep problems
Teething can cause a slight regression in your child’s sleeping habits. HOWEVER, be careful that YOU are not the one regressing, using “teething” as an excuse. If your child wakes you up because of teething, go to him/her, provide some comfort, give the necessary medication and then allow your little one to fall asleep without any props: no dummy, no bottle, no rocking.
Lastly, a good way to test whether your child is restless because of teething, is to think about whether he/she is showing other signs of teething, and whether it is also bothering him/her in the day. If your child is truly teething, it won’t just bother him/her at night!
#sleeptraining