Teething - The party that never ends

As I've mentioned here and here, The Chubs has been in a major funk for the last few weeks. Eating very little, sleeping very little and just generally being a fussy little muffin. We've had a few evenings of inconsolable crying, many days of 15 min. naps, and so much nipple biting I'm having sympathy pains for the bottle.

Last week I decided, that was enough; we needed to visit her pediatrician and get the low down on this situation. Everything looked great. She appeared healthy. No fever, or any other signs of anything viral or infectious. The conclusion was drawn that she is teething. I've heard that babies can teeth for months without even a tooth showing up. I have a feeling this is what we've been dealing with. It's apparent she is in some sort of discomfort and all signs point to her mouth as the culprit. Especially when she fusses during the middle of a feeding and chomps down multiple times on the nipple. On further inspection, it does appear that one of her bottom front teeth is trying to make it's appearance. Her gums are slightly raised and whiter on one side. She loves it when we rub her gums and sometimes this helps her to finish a feeding without screaming bloody murder.

And I admit, I drugged my child last night. I gave her a tiny dose of Tylenol to ease the pain. And you know what? She slept beautifully for her final nap and was a completely different baby before bedtime. All happy, and smiley and an all-around attention hog. She was like "Hey, look at me dad! Watch me roll over, and grab this ring, and giggle when you play with me. Aren't I the cutest most angelic thing alive?" And of course he bought it, because how couldn't you? She was an absolute joy to be around. So the moral of this story is not that I need to drug my child on a regular basis to keep her happy, but that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and this is just a phase. A phase that could possibly go on for months, but hopefully with a few pleasant breaks along the way. And maybe that lazy tooth will just come in already and get all of this agony over with. I've heard the first is the worst. Anyway, while we're partying it up over here in teething land, help yourself to some delicious cold wash cloths and some frozen paci's, because it may be a long time before this party ends.