Alexandra Pache

Post: Is teething affecting the baby’s sleep?

Small little kid child toddler infant newborn baby gnawing toy ring. Teething process, milk baby teeth tooth concept. Playing games with child. Babycare and motherhood

As a sleep consultant, parents often asked the same question ” It is ok to start the program if my little one is in a bad teething episode? And my answer would always be the same: sleep is essential, not optional. If the parent approached me as a consultant, it means they need help with the baby’s sleep, so the child should get help right the way. Especially if the child already struggles to connect sleep cycles.

How can teething affect sleep?

First of all, let’s talk about teething in babies and young children.

There are two types of teething:

  • chronic teething
  • acute teething


The first phase, chronic teething, is happening all the time for the first two years of a child’s life. During this time, the teeth slowly move way up through the gums.
The acute teething is the worst phase- when you can see those little white bumps just before they pass through the sensitive nerve endings near the skin surface. Once the tooth cuts through, the pain is almost gone. And acute teething takes place only for a few days. So if the child’s sleep is out of routine for weeks, teething is not likely the real problem.

How do you know whether night wakings and nap disasters are teething-related or not?

There is a way to check if teething relates to the baby’s sleep issues. It can be hard to determine if a tooth is cutting through or the baby has another discomfort. However, you can observe if the night awakenings occur at the end of a sleep cycle ( every two to three hours), more likely teething is not the trigger. Here we can observe a pattern of sleep associations or miscalculated wake windows during the day. But, if the baby starts to wake up screaming at unusual times, especially in the second part of the night, you can blame teething.

So, dear parents, not always teething is the blame for interrupted night sleep and nap disasters. And a teething episode should not encourage you to give up the consistency in baby’s sleep and accept all-night wakings, no naps, and a screaming overtired baby. For a baby helped to go to sleep for each nap and bedtime it will be rather difficult to sleep through de night and have good length naps because he is not used to re-settle and any other discomfort will make it even more difficult.

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