Teething

The complicated existence of a 17 month old baby.

Things were going very nicely recently.  LuLu had been sleeping through the night for the past month.  Dutch and I were finally feeling caught up on sleep.  She had been trying almost every food we gave her.  In between naps she was social and engaging.

Yesterday it all changed.  We came home from visiting friends and she was very cranky.  I thought she was tired.  So I fed her a little snack, changed her diapers, and put her down for a nap.  I was fully confident the child I would greet at the end of the nap would be my wonderful little LuLu.  It was not to be.  She cranked and cranked.  I tried to console her, I visited her in her room a few times and she never stopped crying.  So I pulled her out and she still continued to cry.  I nursed her.  As soon as I pulled her off, she started crying again.  This went on all evening and night.  We gave her baby painkillers. We rubbed her gums.  We double checked her diaper.   I am trying not to panic, since I have to wake up early tomorrow morning and start work.  We had a rough morning and I gave her some ice to chew on, and that seemed to help.  She finally went down for a nap this morning.  I hope she feels better.

I keep wondering what the Lesson To Be Learned here is.  I keep telling myself it will pass.  That LuLu isn't being cranky just to irritate me, that she is in pain and she doesn't have any words for what she is going through. I know every baby goes through this.  I know she will start sleeping again.  That soon, another couple teeth will be poking their way out of her little pink gums.  She will be that much closer to having a full mouth.  Closer to eating tortilla chips and beef jerky.  And in the meantime we'll keep the ice on hand, and the baby Tylenol, and we'll keep visiting her crib at 1 AM, and 2 AM, and 4 AM.