Tales of a Hibernating Bear Slumbering Princess*

*Alternate titles: Tales of Teething or Why I Suddenly Love My Nipple Shield

So I may have spoken too soon when I said that my baby suddenly decided she had time to do more than eat, sleep, and poop. I think that I may quite possibly have the sleepiest child that ever walked crawled lounged on the planet.

I get a lot of sleep advice from other parents. Things like, "Oh is she sleeping through the night yet? Do you know what helped me? I would keep little Mikey awake for twenty minutes after each feeding," or, "I never let my baby nap for more than 45 minutes or she wouldn't sleep at night." Of course, this advice is completely unsolicited, as Violet not only sleeps well at night, but also wants to sleep for pretty much EVERY HOUR OF THE DAY. A typical day lately goes something like this:

11:00 PM - She falls asleep for the night
4:30 AM - Diaper change, feeding, right back to sleep
7:00 AM - Diaper change, feeding, right back to sleep
9:00 AM - Diaper change, bring her to our bed, nurse to sleep
10:30 AM - Wake up to for a diaper change and eat some more
11:00 AM - Time for some fun - anything from baby talk, singing, reading, cooing in the mirror, or tummy time.
12:00 PM - Sleepy and cranky. I try to walk her, bounce her, rock her to sleep, but she won't have any of it. Finally I take her up to my bed and nurse her to sleep. We snuggle and I might nap a bit too.
1:00 PM - She's fed and out, I carefully pick her up and put her in her crib.
2:30 PM - Wakes up for a diaper change, maybe some fun stuff (see above)
4:30 PM - A repeat of noon
5:30 PM - She's out and back to the crib we go
7:30 PM - Wakes, diaper change, bath if we're lucky, maybe a walk in the Beco if we're really lucky
8:30 PM - Tired and cranky, repeat of noon and 4:30
9:30 PM - In and out of sleep until 11 PM

REPEAT

Now this is my first baby, so I can't say with any accuracy how normal or abnormal this amount of sleepiness is, but I do have my theories on why my babe is as sleepy and cranky as a hibernating bear in the dead of winter.

Of course there's the growing. We've talked about this before. She is HUGE. Ginormous, in fact. So long that I accidentally bump her little toes into things when I'm walking around the house because I forget how stinking long she is. This would explain the sleepiness bit.

But the insane crankiness? Yep, you guessed it - our three-month-old has begun to teeth. A little white speck has made an appearance on her gums, along with a ridiculous amount of drool, a lot of hand chewing and copious amounts of finger munching. Nursing has become a perilous event, because instead of contented suckling, I get insatiable chomping. We've purchased the wildly popular Sophie the Giraffe,

but since V is only a wee three-monther, object-mouth coordination has been touch and go. While she can grip Sophie with a vise-like force and is skilled at shoving her hand in her mouth, actually jamming a hoof or ear in her mouth is a major accomplishment. The same goes for the frozen teething rings.

They seem to give her some relief, but we pretty much have to hold them in her mouth for her - not an easy task, let me tell you. And the trendy natural wooden teethers? I like them in theory - no plastic, no paints or dyes, and they're pretty and all, but really, if a tooth was exploding through my gums, the last thing I'd want to do is chew on a piece of wood.

I've tried some of the Baby Orajel on myself, and while it definitely has some insane instant numbing powers, it didn't last very long and V doesn't seem impressed. Plus it can apparently suppress her gag reflex, so the risks kind of outweigh the short-lived benefits to me. We aren't interested in giving her baby painkillers either unless it gets really really awful.

The next thing we would like to try are Hyland's Teething Tablets. While some have reservations, most people say they are amazing, and apparently a baby would have to eat about a bazillion in order to overdose. They dissolve instantly, so she can't choke on them, and they are homeopathic. I haven't gotten a chance to purchase any yet, but as soon as I do, I'll let you know what V thinks.

[Update: Hyland's have been recalled by the FDA - they didn't do much for V anyway.]

For now, we're rolling with the punches, thanking God for nipple shields (I know, I know, I said all kinds of horrible things about them, but right now they're seriously saving my nipples from a fate worse than death), and trying to keep our sheets from smelling like sour milk and drool.

And on the bright side, I'm getting all kinds of snuggling time with my giant little (teddy) bear. I mean seriously - who wouldn't want to snuggle up to this mug:

Have you had any experience with teething? Any products you'd recommend? We'd appreciate the scoop, because as usual, we need all the help we can get!

P.S. If you've found this post helpful, I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote for us on Top Baby Blogs by clicking here. It only takes a second and I'd love to reach more moms and mothers-to-be (okay dads - you too!). Thanks so much - have a great weekend!