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.

I'm no homeopath but my parents did believe in it. When I had measles for instance they didn't solely rely on homeopathy. But when my dog had a persistent skin infection that nothing would clear up (and I mean nothing, for months- the hair fell off whilst the vet continued to take skin scrapings and wring his hands and inject him and pump him with drugs) homeopathy - as a last resort- worked in a matter of days.
Homeopathy worked for me for period discomfort but for instance for PCOS I would certainly go the conventional medicine route. Basically I would use homeopathy for minor things or as a last resort or a "might as well try it" option.

rooney I believe they say homeopathy shouldn't be used in conjunction but I would never do that for something like chicken pox, so you were being completely reasonable!

This website explains it far better than I ever could

www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/

Homeopathy is to do with the way it is prepared as well as the dose.
Do you know the effective dose for chamomile. Homeopathy doses are so diluted to be undetectable.

Bruffin was that an educated answer? (Genuine question, not an arsey one!)

I just wonder, if you went to a homeopath and saw their items, how many if them you would point to and say 'thats not homeopathic, thats herbal'.
Not that you would, of course, but you see what Im asking?

Brilliant richman

But Nelsons IS homeopathic.

Ah. I see. So you are just giving the child a mouthful of sugar? Well I guess less of the pain gate theory is at work then, although if the child is licking its gums because of the sugar then that would do the trick.

YABU simply because you don't understand what homeopathic is or not. (There are certainly homeopathic versions of teething powders) Chamomile is simply too poorly studied to be viable or not as a teething relief, the dose of active ingredient could be completely reasonable, or it could be way too little. The lack of studies (I could find none of any quality let alone a high quality one) on the effectiveness and side effects of them is a reason not to use them.

Anecdote is a poor reason to use any medicine, and I certainly wouldn't use teething powders, but the ones you are complaining about are not homeopathy. Railing against something inaccurately is bad as your arguments can be easily dismissed as a straw man and then your sane message of "avoid untested plants used as medicines" is lost.

Speaking as a scientist I think its the height of scientific naivety to completely dismiss something the way most scientists have about homeopathy. Several scientific experiments have been carried out that either a) suggest there may be some truth to homeopathic theories (google Madeleine Ennis) or b) give insight into how homeopathy may work new scientist article

I've taken homeopathic remedies and given them to my children and just like 'proper' medicines, some worked, some didn't. And personally, if they only worked as a placebo I don't see anything wrong with that.... The placebo effect is very powerful and has no side effects unlike chemical medicines. Surely utilising it as much as possible instead of harsher medicines is no bad thing?

Not all 'proper' medicines work either. In China it's common to use both western and eastern medicines.

I'm on the 'try it and see' brigade! If it (and acupuncture) can workin animals, it can't all be down to placebo, can it?

Hear hear summer rain.

That is what i was trying to say Fred.

It really scares me that people can think that homeopathy has any effect beyond the placebo. It's indicative of a pervasive scientific illiteracy in our society.

Hello that would be my A&P thread then op?

They are herbal not homeopathic, homeopathy actually requires dilution upon dilution plus a review of that persons spiritual needs, psyche blah blah. Herbal is giving herbs of whatever strength.

They actually claim the help with the discomfort of teething (the chamomile) and with the stomach issues that can occur. They include Lactose which is not just sugar, it's a cows milk sugar. Doctors prescribe lactilose to relieve hard stools, there is medical backup for it working.

DD1 it worked with DD2 has hard pooh and Hopefully they will work. I wouldn't expect the chamomile to work miracles so am drugging with paracetamol as well. The granules to my mind are nice and gritty on their gums and sort out the tummy issues.

But feel free to ignore me as I think reiki makes me feel all energised

Isn't homeopathy supposed to "work" with a magical reverse effect of the non-existent active ingredient? Meaning, any homeopathic teething powder based on the memory of chamomile should actually agitate the baby rather than calm him. HTH.

softly spiritual needs!?? Eh

I thought camomile was supposed to calm you down and was good for stomach upsets and lower high temperature? The grainy texture is good for chomping if the gums are sore and I assume the taste was nice too as DS almost took my finger off.

alistron it really scares me that people can have totally closed minds and not allow for the possibility that something might have a limited use.

I assume that there's a bit of truth in most traditional medicines and therapies. I don't pretend to know how they work, but then I can't quite get my head around chemotherapy either, and have seen that close up.

Speaking as a scientist (pisses self laughing at Summerrain) you will find that there is ABSOLUTELY no real scientific evidence supporting homeopathy bar the placebo effect. Show me ONE peer reviewed sciientific paper with double blind testing that shows homeopathy works and I will post a photo of my arse.
How does water "remember" all the nicey nicaey bits from a specific thing you've put in it but not all the shit and piss and everything else it's touched in it's existence??

link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00431-005-1735-7?LI=true

I haven't time to read it all (will do later though).

I don't have a closed mind Zombie

But if something cannot be shown to via being able to replicate results in clinical trials then it doesn't work and is woo.

Nothing closed minded about that, in fact I think science is the opposite of closed-mindedness. It's about investigation, innovation and discovery. As opposed to just making shit up and waving water about.

Its the banging of the bottle 10 times on leather bound bible that makes the difference Bonzo