Initial difficulties painting these at sea (8,5)

I believe the answer is:

teething pains

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'initial difficulties' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'painting these at sea' is the wordplay.
'at sea' indicates anagramming the letters.
'painting'+'these'='paintingthese'
'paintingthese' is an anagram of 'TEETHING PAINS'.

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I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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