Cutting tooth

Many weeks ago, I've posted on my suspicions that Faith might be teething becos she was exhibiting some signs of of salivation, gnawing/biting on items and sleepless nights. The weeks passed and as there wasn't further signs of any tooth sprouting, I had dismissed that thought and pushed it to the back of my mind.

For the past few nights, Louis and I were kept awake by Faith's incessant crying or roused out of sleep in the middle of the night. Even at 6 months, Faith continues to wake at least once a night for feeding. More often than not, she would promptly fall back to sleep after. For the last few nights, she was still awake after feeding and resisted our attempts to pet her back to sleep. It was trying when you are so sleepy and tired and have on hand a baby that wouldn't want to sleep.

We thought that the problem was becos she doesn't know how to grt back to sleep on her own after waking up. Louis and I are guilty of being overly anxious parents. Every time she wimples or cries a little, either or both of us would rush into the room to comfort her. Deciding that it was time for our baby to learn how to fall back to sleep on her own, we've decided to put her right back into the cot in her own room. If and when she roused from her sleep and starts crying, we would wait 5 minutes to see if she can quieten down and fall back asleep on her own. If not, we would go in, comfort her, put her back to sleep and retreat out of her room. This time around, we decided that the both of us would remain sleeping in our room.

We also decided to leave her and our doors ajar and not use the baby monitor -- I'm guilty of picking up the baby monitor once in a while, putting it very close to my ears to listen if she's making any sounds. Between the time that we put her to sleep till our bedtime, she woke about 4 times, crying each time for 5 minutes before went in to help put her to sleep.

Thankfully, she sleep soundly after that till 3-ish in the morning, roused a little for her night feed and promptly fell back to sleep until 7-ish this morning. That's when Louis and I woke and decided to bring her back to our room so that she can sleep the rest of the morning with us in our bedroom. Actually, I'm always in a dilemma. Whenever she's in the room sleeping with us, I would feel that we need to get her to sleep in her own room. But when she's sleeping in her own room, I miss her so much :( What a conflicting mom I am. Fortunately or unfortunately, Louis is of the same sentiments too. ;)

When Faith and I finally decided to stir our lazy bones and get up for the morning, I usually play with her on our bed for a while, tickling her to make her giggle or pulling her into a sitting position. And as usual, my little one would try to grab hold of my fingers to put it into her mouth to gum it.

That's when I discovered today for the first time something sharp when she gummed down on my finger. I let her gum my finger a few more times, got her to open her mouth to examine her gums and what do you know???!!! I saw a tiny speck of whitish tooth breaking through her gums. Its so small that its easy to miss it but for the sharp sensation when she gum my fingers.

Finally! There's a logical explanation for her restless sleep and constant waking over the last few nights. My baby was uncomfortable becos she was teething! What a dummy mummy I am -- it rhymes!

I hope with the breaking of the tooth, Faith would be able to go back to her normal routine of sleeping again. While its rather tempting to bring her back to our bed so that we could pamper her a little more during her teething phase, I think we should continue to stick with letting her sleep in her own room for now. Or more rightly, I hope we wouldn't cave in and bring her back to our bed ;)

Still, I'm rather happy and proud of my little one for going through yet another of her development milestones.