Of course, if he's not a newborn, his middle-of-the-night distress might be caused by teething. The eruption of teeth through sore and tender gums is a common cause of babies crying at night. (Teething probably also gets erroneously blamed more often than any other cause.) When a baby six months old or older suddenly becomes fussy at night, it's common for parents to assume “he must be teething.” If your baby is drooling more than usual, seems to be biting things a lot, or if you can actually see or feel a tooth or a part of a tooth breaking through the gums, assume he really is teething. If he is, give him lots of soft things to chew on or offer him a teething toy, many of which are designed to be placed in the fridge or freezer between uses, since the coldness helps numb the baby's sore gums.