nmg | A checklist

Restlessness, irritability and disturbed sleep patterns? Check.
Sore, red gums? Not clear.
Flushed cheeks? Check.
Loss of appetite? If by that you mean lots of little feeds rather than substantial big feeds, then yes.
A slight rise in temperature (but not above 39°C, which indicates a fever)? Check.
Dribbling (which may cause a rash or sore, chapped skin on the chin)? Check.
A sudden desire to chew anything they can lay their hands on? Check.
An urge to bite? Judging by the gum marks on ias's arm this morning, yes.

Either the garklet is turning into a vampire, or he's starting to teethe. He's not shown any sensitivity to either garlic or sunlight, so I assume that the latter is more likely to be the case.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

drdoug.livejournal.com

From my experience ... I say enjoy having him chew on your fingers, arm, leg, whatever while he's teething. Once those tiny, pointy teeth have come in it's waaaay less fun.

Although on the positive side it is a very vivid illustration of how to get much more pressure from the same force by reducing the area over which it's applied. Handy if you're the sort of person who finds musing on p = F/A useful for distracting yourself from surprisingly serious pain.

From:

nmg.livejournal.com

The sucking and chewing on anything that comes within range is rather lovely, I must say, but not as endearing as the way that he fixates and just falls on the intended subject of his sucking (which in turn is not as endearing as the the way in which, when particularly satisfied with his lot in life, he tries to gurgle at

ias with a mouthful of nipple - that's just hilarious).

On the other hand, he left

ias with lovebites on her upper arm this morning, despite having made it quite clear that he wasn't hungry and wasn't interested in milk, just the sucking.