To wonder whether people on here know that teething powders are homeopathy?

[ArfAPandaTreacle]

Whenever the word 'homeopathy' is mentioned on here, you instantly get people saying that it's woo. Water doesnt have a memory etc.

But when someone posts asking why Ashton and Parsons is no longer on the shelf, you get a lot of replies saying how good it is, where you can get it, that Nelsons also do some (disclaimer - Ashton and Parskns and Nelsons and Boots own teething powder are all identical).

So out of interest, why when someone posts about teething powder do you never get anyone saying 'homeopathy is woo! Water has no memory.'

And why, when you have a 'homeopathy is woo' thread do you never get all those teething powder loving mums saying 'Actually, teething powder works really well for my baby.'

Please take this as the light hearted, inquistive thread that I intend it to be.

For sure Nixea.

But I feel as though the point of my OP has been missed now. People poo-poo homeopathy but rave about teething powders.

I thought I was wrong part of the way down, but the more I research the more I come to realise that AandP is infact homeopathic.

So I wonder if those who poo-poo homeopathy have now realised they have not only been using it, but believe it works.

I believe that arnica is demonstrably effective at preventing bruising. However, it is also highly toxic and must only be used topically. Any 'medicine' in which 'qrnica' is ingested is homeopathic - there won't actually be any arnica in it. But creams are a different matter.

And there's always lots of anecdotal evidence for homeopathic remedies working. Boys gives lots of good reasons for this above - also factors like the act of rubbing the powder in may be soothing; the carer feels good that they have done something and so interpret the levels of crying a little differently, etc. Unless you see any effect in properly conducted double-blind trials, this cannot be counted as evidence of effectiveness, however convinced the carer is.

They are described as herbal on boots website, not homeopathic. For all we know .0002 may be an a affective dose.
I just looked at nasal sudafed and the main ingredient is only
.1%

I don't know about teething powders but IMO homeopathy works for some limited things. I'm always surprised when people use it for something it blatantly won't work for (eg kidney disease or diabetes) and then blame homeopathy. I think we are in a position where we have the benefit of modern science for everything, and where we don't want to drug ourselves up too much or modern science isn't working, there isn't any harm in taking a stab at homeopathy. IMO.

Arf - I imagine any non-woo person who has felt teething powder is effective but then learns it is homeopathic will just roll their eyes at having been fooled by the placebo effect. Some may even continue using it for the non-homeopathic benefits it may have, as discussed above. Only the rather dim will suddenly be converted to homeopathy.

So YABU in principle!

yes but boys gives the reason - it could be something else - hmm well then it could be homepathic as it is clear that it is unknown.

Ok Nelsons have 2c chamomilla. Which is the exact same as 0.002mls of Chamomilla in Ashton and Parsons teething powder.

So, as I thought. Both are identical. Both are homeopathic.

There isn't any harm in taking a stab at running 3 times round an Oak tree either, but it will be as effective

Arf they are not homeopathic.

Last answer, honestly, as I feel like I've derailed the thread somewhat, sorry Panda!

Bruffin - chamomile has very mild actions and as such, needs a much larger dose for it to be classed as theraputic. It's why chamomile tea should be brewed with 3 or 4 bags to actually be fully effective. Other herbs like peppermint need vastly smaller amounts to do the job.

I am sure some bits of homeopathy work, some don't, probably.

My sister always swears by it, she sent me chamomilla, antiseptic cream and Nelsons powder a few years ago - no idea if any of them worked. Mind you I wouldn't know if savlon did anything or not.

I tried rhus tox on my children when they had chicken pox and they both had it really badly. So I'm kind of not convinced. However I wouldn't diss it too much as like anything that comes from nature, it has the potential to have an effect.

Ok Bruffin so despite their teeny tiny amount, because they 'are not homeopathic', they work?

See only rhus tox to treat chicken pox wouldn't be a great idea.. I am presuming you aren't saying that! :)

Anything that comes from nature has the potential to have an effect?

Well I suppose anything has potential, whether it comes from nature or not.

Luckily though, we have science to tell us which of those "potentials" have been realised.

Shaking some water and relying on it's spiritual memory of a substance it may not even contain a single atom of is woo. Total woo.

You know what they call alternative medicine which has been proven to work? Medicine.

Tim Minchin rather than me, but the point still stands. Maybe there are hundreds of studies around showing the clinical effectiveness of teething powders, I've never looked, but somehow I doubt it. Sugar is cheaper.

Good god "spiritual memory" wtf is that?!?
Homeopathy works for some limited things- I continue to hold that belief.
If you're trying to cure cancer or kidney stones with it- of course it won't. Horses for courses.

As a said somethings atbtiny does do work, i dont know the effective does for chamomile. As i pointed out above effective doeses can be really tiny as in the sudafed i mentioned above where the main ingredient is just 0.1%

Forgive the typing, am on phone

Do you rub these products into the child's gums? I have never heard of teething powder.

If it is indeed just sugar, and you have to rub it onto the gums then I imagine that they 'work' (? by soothing the child) by tasting pleasant, nurture and care by the giver (descending path inhibitory pathways activated) and pain gate activation of the dorsal root ganglion of the trigeminal nerve through the rubbing process.

I suspect the presence or not of a tiny amount of herb is a moot point.

I wish my fat cells would remember their empty phase. :(

Zombies, tell me what you mean - I used other things too, of course. But what is the point of Rhus Tox if it doesn't do anything? Or should I have done it in combo with something else from the homeopathy bit?

Is this something that requires training? I wish Boots hadn't sold it to me if so.

Bruffin it has been established, that the difference between herbal tincture and homeopathy is the amount. Chamomilla homeopathic remedy has a herb in it (Chamomile) but just a tiny amount.

Its been discovered that AandP has indeed got a tiny amount of Chamomilla in it.
So at what point in your opinion does it become homepathic?

What i am saying is that i dont know if powders work on teething. I have never used them.
What i am saying is that there are herbal remedies that have been proven to work, whereas homeopathic remedies have not and there is no scienticfic reason they would even if some of the proponenants bang on about quantum physics.
Teething powders are herbal not anything to do with homeopathic.

slubbers you just pour it in their mouth.