To think amber bracelets are a load of shit?

[SalemSaberhagen]

DD is 11 months old and has 2 bottom teeth, and is currently cutting her top ones. She has been a bit grumpy about it, a few more wake ups at night but nothing too bad or unexpected whilst teething.

I'm sick of people telling me to get an amber bracelet and all will magically be better. Am I right in thinking they have no proven benefits? This is unsolicited advice by the way, I haven't asked for recommendations or complained about DDs teeth.

One person even told me to eschew the teething powder in favour of amber!

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

No comment, never tried one.

Teething powders were ok for mine.

Go with whatever works for your little one.

[MyLovelyFriend2015]

Teething powders worked for both of my DS

I don't like the idea of a beaded necklace or bracelet on a baby

[vvviola]

Absolutely no proven benefits, other than, I suspect making parents feel like they are at least doing something

[Twinkie1]

I was sceptical but after a hideous time with DC3 I would have anything.

It bloody worked though, we think it must be voodoo or something.

[MerdeAlor]

Amber bracelets are beautiful - not a load of shit. I don't think they have any proven benefit in teething though and are a south european superstition as far as I'm aware.

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

I'm in Oz and loads of the babies here wear Amber necklaces. Something must be in it.

[vvviola]

An interesting debunk of them...
scienceornot.net/2012/10/30/amber-necklaces-and-teething-babies/

[Twinkie1]

Vvviola that's a ridiculous thing to say.

We did bloody loads before we got to the stage of trying a fucking necklace!

[MrsAukerman]

Yep, really dislike them. ROSPA advise against them and there seems to be no scientific basis on which they could possibly work. Having said that I take arnica for bumps and sprains so I'm possibly not in the best place to argue the point.

[SalemSaberhagen]

I thought I read somewhere that for the amber to have any effect, it would have to be at boiling point or something.

[SalemSaberhagen]

Merde I meant a load of shit as a teething miracle cure. Not just an amber bracelet on an adult as jewellery.

[Fluffyears]

Is it expensive? X

[vvviola]

Oh, twinkie, sorry, I think it came across wrong. What I meant was, parents who have tried things, they aren't working and move on to amber because nothing else seems to work, and they have to do something, rather than nothing. If you see what I mean?

But there really is no medical evidence that they work - lots of anecdote, but nothing proven.

[Fluffyears]

Oops sorry random 'x'. If not expensive is it worth trying?

[MyLovelyFriend2015]

" Needless to say, such anecdotal evidence is worthless, and the examples described in the preceding links are likely to be cases of regression to the mean. In other words, in the natural course of things the teething pain eventually gets better."

[ChristmasYoni]

I have to say, I thought the same until my MIL bougt one for ds2. I put it on his ankle under a sock to shut her up and so I didn't have to worry about -people seeing- him eating the beads...it actually worked. Will be buying another for ds3 when he arrives and starts teething.

[ThursdayLast]

YANBU

Utter bollox

[WorraLiberty]

I can't see how they can possibly work, apart from having a placebo effect on the parents.

[GarminGirl]

It's just so the parents can claim to be Eco parents and a bit hippie! And feel superior. I agree they are a load of crap.

[ElderlyKoreanLady]

We don't yet know the scientific basis for a lot of things that we know to be true, so I don't subscribe to the "there's no proof of how it would work so it obviously doesn't" train of thought.

I don't know why you'd be any more annoyed at someone recommending amber than you would be at someone recommending teething powders or anything else.

FWIW, DD has one. Didn't work for the early teeth where the pain is more accute but once we'd gotten through the first handful, it's all we need now, and without it she does occasionally need something else when cutting a tooth.

[kiwiscantfly]

YABU. I do not judge your parenting choices, and I'd appreciate you not judging mine. Or in a less polite way, pull your head in.

[DinosaursRoar]

Sorry, but they don't work, they might make the parents feel like something is being done so they calm down, and the baby calms as the parents are calmer, but won't actually make much difference. Also most teething powders are a lot of sugar and herbs, not really going to make a massive difference either.

Calpol, calpol works as pain relieve. As does baby nurofen. Cuddles for comfort and coldness for sore gums. Try wetting a flannel and putting it in the freezer then giving to baby to chew on, that'll help.

Anything else is just you trying to make yourself feel better about it or other people's cultural heritage.

When my wisdom teeth came through it was sore, I was told to take pain killers, not start getting my amber jewellery out. A doctor or dentist wouldn't suggest amber, if it worked, it would be prescribed.

[ElderlyKoreanLady]

The only way I feel superior to you Garmin is in the sense that I'm not one to scathingly criticise how other parents get their DC through a difficult time like teething. Amber was my last resort, not my first, so I certainly wouldn't describe myself as a hippy type.

[DinosaursRoar]

and it's worth noting that many societies have been using amber jewellery for teething for a long time, it's not a new idea, so there's been plenty of time to study it. With a lot of alternative and traditional medicines, some have been tested, proved to work and become "medicine" that gets prescribed/licenced/can be sold as proven to work. Amber comes under the heading of "no evidence it works" - but doesn't do any harm and does look cute so no reason to stop them being sold.

[vvviola]

We don't yet know the scientific basis for a lot of things that we know to be true, so I don't subscribe to the "there's no proof of how it would work so it obviously doesn't" train of thought

Yes, that's true - except in the case of Amber teething beads, most proponents say why it works (magnetism, substances leaching from the Amber) in ways that could not possibly work. It's not like they are saying "this seems to work, who knows why", they are making utterly unprovable claims.

And if they were that good, wouldn't at least one reputable medical trial have shown some indication of effectiveness by now?