calling on all those with experience of teething and poorly bubbas

[jennyh]

Hi

Following on from my post last night...I wanted to check a couple of things. My girl is getting her first tooth and whereas she was doing brilliantly with it, the last 3 days or so have been a bit of a disaster. She is very unhappy and grizzly, she has an upset stomach and won't take hardly any milk, she also has a pretty bad cold and has today developed an eye infection. I have been to the doctor and have drops for the eye and I have been giving her teething powders and bonjela as well as giving her cooled teething rings etc, none of them seem to help to be honest, she just thrashes around grinding her jaw constantly.

Today is particularly bad as the eye infection is very sore and she is also tired after a rough night. My question is - how long is it ok for her to be off her milk for before it becomes an issue? she is a very healthy weight and size so that doesn't concern me but obviously its not ideal if it goes on! I have tried feeding her using different bottles in case one is less painful to suck on but doesn't really work. she seems a little happier taking water which makes me think she is just a bit off colour. Of those who have experience of the first teeth coming through - should it be improving any time soon or will I struggle to feed her for a while, if so when do I consider that she isn't getting enough?

To be honest whilst the summer is glorious, the heat is making it all that much harder! She is having around 5-10 runny nappies a day which is really unlike her. Hoping that it all passes soon! if the cold clears up then she will be able to breath better so that should help with the feeding, similarly the eye should respond well to the drops but just need the temperature to cool a bit and the teeth to calm down!

Oh who would have thought I would be such a worrier, just horrid to see them suffering!

Thanks

Jenny

[jennyh]

just managed to get her to take a full bottle of water but kept spitting the milk out when I tried to sneak it in! So it must be a funny tummy rather than teething pain...

[buggie]

Is it worth trying a dose of calpol? With everything she's got going on at the moment could be pain that's distracting her/trying to show to you she's not happy. If she's got diarrhoea well worth giving dioralyte (rehydration powder) rather than plain water as she could be bit dehydrated.

[Saffron]

I agree, try dioralyte, or diluted juice. And definitely try Calpol (paracetamol). You can alternate it with children's Neurofen (ibuprofen). Teething can be very painful for some babies. Having a cold on top is miserable. The diarrhoea is probably the cold virus working its way through Baby's little system. Try giving Baby a cool bath 2-3 times a day. Keep it short and gentle. Offer warm milk or water afterwards. Then cuddles and quiet time. When you give the eye drops, try to bring them briefly to body temp by keeping them in your bra or pocket for a few minutes. Babies don't generally like a cold drop in the eye. (Incidentally, the same is true for pets.) If nothing has improved in 5-7 days, see your GP again. xx

[jennyh]

Excellent advice thank you! She violently vomited earlier but I think she was getting a bit over stressed with the combination of teething powder, eye drop and syringe of calpol. I had been giving her calpol but last night wanted to see if she could settle without, mixed results. Anyway I did give her calpol this eve bcoz frankly she seems to really need the rest to beat all the nasties. Hopefully she'll pick up tomorrow. Thanks for the tip about the eye drops too, I just gave them straight from the fridge so prpb not the nicest for her no!!!