Little Man’s Teething Hell

Little Man had been out of sorts for a little while – grouchy, snotty, waking up even more often that usual through the night. He had turned into ‘someone else’s baby’ – the one that winges solidly and never settles, cries constantly and won’t let you put them down. Our Little Man wasn’t a baby we recognised.

Little Man’s grizzling and unsettled ways continued past his 5-month-day and we were all knackered. Waking up every hour or two, up for the day at 6am and the whole day being a grumpy blur of snotty baby-ness. It was exhausting.

Then, at the grand age of 5 months and 2 days old Little Man turned back into the gorgeously happy baby we knew. He was his old self, chatting and rolling around on the floor, spending the day happy and alert, not a grumble in sight.

The reason for this personality change? Little Man’s first tooth had appeared!

I had honestly forgotten how awful teething was. It takes over your child and replaces them with one you haven’t seen before – a snotty, dribbly little person with red cheeks, a sore bum and an awful temper. LP didn’t get her first tooth until nearly 8 months so I wasn’t expecting teething hell quite so soon and thought he must have been teething but wasn’t sure. Now I know, Little Man was definitely teething and here starts a teething journey that will last the next two years – a journey of a lovely sleep routine disrupted by the next tooth coming through. Weeks of sleep-time bliss followed by nights of constant wake ups, cuddling to sleep, co-sleeping, constant baby hugs, anything to get that little tiny bit of sleep before the days of grouchy, moody, baby-ness starts again.

In a way, I am glad that we are starting this teething journey early – it means, hopefully, that it will be finished sooner and we can get teething out of the way. Teething is the one thing no-one warned me about when I was pregnant and something I wasn’t expecting – Obviously children get teeth, I just wasn’t expecting the process to be so awful.

This time I’m expecting the teething hell, sleepless nights and awfulness. But for now I’m just very proud of my Little Man. 5 months and his first tiny little tooth!