Teething baby

Well, I have been missing in action...AGAIN.  My excuse is that life happened and I wasn't prepared.  The baby who started his cold the week of Thanksgiving, has kept it.  I think. 

He is also cutting his first tooth.  And the old wives tale is that babies will can have a runny nose, diarrhea, or a low grade temperature while cutting teeth.  While I don't have any medical evidence to support this, I also cannot prove it wrong.  My own kids have always ha a runny nose while teething, not so much the diarrhea and low grade temperature.  Fever over 100.4 F is not from teeth.

Back to the baby...He hasn't really had a runny nose at all until today.  He has had an occasional cough and no fever.  I don't think he has even had a low grade temp, but I haven't checked it.  He is happy and eating and making dirty diapers as usual.  But he does not like being horizontal.  And I can hear the drainage when he lies down.  With congestion for almost two weeks and a baby who is not sleeping as usual, I think..maybe his ears are bothering him.  But, without fever, I wouldn't want him to get an antibiotic anyway.  Most ear infections, viral or bacterial, go away on their own in three days with or without an antibiotic.  You would think I would have an otoscope to just look myself, but I don't.

So, it could be his ears, or his teeth.  And maybe I should give him Tylenol at bedtime.  I could also give him Motrin since he is six months old now, but then I wouldn't know if he would have had fever.  And then I could miss something more significant.  Plus, he isn't really fussy enough to warrant a medication.  I am not one to give teething tablets.  That is because belladonna is the key ingredient in most teething tablets.  And belladona, while natural, is a very strong medication.  It has been used as a poison, a narcotic and for anesthesia.
  
But, even with the head of his bed raised, he doesn't stay high enough to stay asleep.  Some babies would do best in their car seat, but this baby won't sleep long in his car seat and he definitely wakes up if you try to move him there.  Now, I should be following my own advice and using nasal saline and suctioning out his nose.  Don't ask me why I haven't.  I don't have a good answer.  Except, that it is late at night, he stops crying if I sit up with him and the nose suctioning with make him mad.  I know, bad soft mom.  I'll blame it on being tired.

All this to say, he isn't napping in his bed and I am up frequently with him at night.  Add this to hubby being less available than usual for help with the kiddos after work and you have one tired momma.  I am working on the fiber post.  It may become posts.  I had wanted to get it to you for today...but sadly it is a no go.