Hundreds of parents from all over the world complain from teething & restless sleep. The growth of the pearly whites of your baby can really give everyone in the house including her hard time especially during the night. Find out more about this common issue and how to resolve it in the most effective manner for your child and for your whole family.
What are the characteristics of restless sleep?
Falling asleep can be quite difficult for babies that are teething. You may notice that your child is tossing and running in her bed instead of just relaxing and preparing to fall asleep. Even if you take her in your arms and rock her gently, she may need an hour or even longer to get calm and doze off. This can be quite frustrating especially for parents who have already established a sleeping routine for their baby and she is happy with it. What’s even worse for parents is the frequent waking up at night associated with teething and restless sleep. The baby wakes up wall of a sudden and starts wining or crying. In this case, you have to get up and try to calm her so that she can fall asleep again. This can happen several times during the night and sometimes every hour or so.The sleeping schedule of your baby can get seriously mixed up due to teething and its symptoms. She may sleep more often and for longer periods of time during the day. This can make the problem with her night’s sleep even worse.
Why can’t the baby sleep?
Teething and restless sleep go together because of the things which the baby experiences during this natural process. When a tooth starts growing, it penetrates the gum tissue and moves up through it slowly until it breaks on the surface. This can create pressure in the gums and consequently swelling, inflammation and redness. As you know, sore gums are naturally associated with discomfort, pain, irritability and crankiness. These symptoms can keep your baby awake for hours even though it’s her bed time or cause her to wake up quite often during the night. In some cases, restless sleep during teething can be caused by pain and discomfort associated with a medical condition such as an infection. That is why if your baby is experiencing runny nose, has fever, vomits and/or has diarrhea, you should call your pediatrician.
How can you help your baby and yourself?
Your primary goal is to help your baby get relief from the teething symptoms and fall asleep. Giving her a teething ring before bedtime can help. If you hold her in your arms to relax, you can wear teething jewelry which she can chew on. Generally, parents are recommended to hold their baby in order to put her to sleep during the teething period as self-soothing is hard for a child who is in pain. Experts recommend that you should feed your baby smaller portions more frequently during teething to prevent restless sleep. Babies generally eat less food during this period due to gum discomfort. By feeding her more often, you will ensure that she will not wake up in the middle of the night because of hunger pangs. She will be more relaxed as a whole. A Baltic amber teething necklace can also help your child have better sleep and keep her sleeping routine. It is worn around the neck during the day and can be put around the ankle of the baby during the night. It releases amber acid which works naturally to provide pain relief and to produce a gentle calming effect. You should try to get naps when your baby is napping. If she wakes up frequently during the night, you and your partner or another caregiver can be responsible for her in shifts.
Use these tips on teething and restless sleep so that your child can feel a lot better.