Those ridiculous amber necklaces...

[moxon]

...that all babies seem to be wearing these days. No, people, it does not help with teething pain/inflammation/positioning. It's just pieces of amber. You would need to heat it to extract the oil which you can use to make your baby smell like the inside of a potpourri bowl after using as a massage liquid base if you want, but it still won't do jack to give your baby a carefree pearly whites experience. I am getting so tired of everyone buying into this new-age old-age rubbish, and seeing otherwise perfectly reasonable parents stringing up their babies necks in gimicky stuff.

They are popular round here. I think they look pretty horrible, and I just can't imaging putting jewellery on my babies. My friend puts them on her children and I always think they look grubby.

Depends. Babies need something to chew on, and in that sense an Amber necklace (or anything they can chew) will suffice. But it also has a placebo effect on the parents. If the parents think it is working, they will be calmer. Calm parents = calmer babies.

It's the difference between calmly putting a bandaid on a scraped knee (which serves no purpose, wounds need air to heal), and openly acting stressed around your child when you see them bleed.

So it works for some people, but not because it has magical properties.

So I shouldn't have used the bonjella and the calpol and just waved some beads at the child instead then?

WhiskWarrior I think I have heard variations on the same theme from other people but the following is from Tim M.

“”A small crack appears
In my diplomacy-dike.
"By definition", I begin
"Alternative Medicine", I continue
"Has either not been proved to work,
Or been proved not to work.
You know what they call alternative medicine
That’s been proved to work?
Medicine."
—Tim Minchin, Storm[1]

if it hasn't been said already: 'the great thing about science is that it is true whether you believe it or not'.

placebo does work - but only on something that is capable of being told that it will (and has not read that it won't). Most teething babies are not yet that smart.

No, Zucker, the majikal amber must touch the skin! but I reckon a tribal dance would help too. :o

thanks moxon, I'm glad someone appreciates my genius, most people just looked at me like i was mad.

They are a load of bollocks. I cannot comprehend why anyone would put one on their child to relieve teething pain. Both my children were awful when their first two teeth came through, after that I didn't even know they were teething until I noticed at around 18months they had a full set of teeth.

I have friends who had the same experience of awful first teeth so bought an amber teething necklace and then claimed it worked because subsequent teeth were nowhere near as bad.
I suspect that most babies first few teeth are the worst and the amber necklaces did fuck all.

YANBU they're disgusting.

They're a nice idea and parents will buy into anything that might make their lives a bit easier.
(I wish I'd thought of them).

There's a toddler at a group I go to who has everything there is to do with babies: her banana comes in a banana carrier (don't bananas get here all the way from the West Indies in their own natural cases), on of those netty holders to chew fruit through, amber necklace, etc etc
Babies are a big market.

i don't like the look of the necklaces though. A risk not worth taking IMO.

Are the babies supposed to wear them when sleeping because that is definitely a choking hazard. I assume people don't put babies to sleep wearing clothing with any type of buttons other than poppers. Perhaps I am wrong and the thinking is that babies are being put to sleep wearing lots go choking hazards and one more won't make a difference?

Tbh I doubt most people who buy them truly "believe" in the magic, they just think it makes them look a bit boho and alternative.

My sons isreally cute regardless of its medicinal qualities (biased)

It is certainly not disgusting FFS . How is it possible to have such strong feelings about a necklace?....must be tiresome to be some of you

Baby are not supposed to wear them when sleeping....your supposed to put them around an ankle inside their sleep suit if you want to use it at night (as outlined by the instructions that came with mine).

I don't know you could of been a mug like me a bought a £12.99 Sophie the giraffe instead of amber necklace, that everyone thought was a overpriced dog toy.

Most people know they are complete bobbins but desperate sleepless people are allowed to try mad things.

Ds wore one. He looked so cute. I still have it, along with his hospital ID wristband. He had no trouble teething. None.
Dd didn't have one - I hadn't heard of them back then. She had a nightmare teething, and accompanying infections/antibiotics.
Probably just a co-incidence for sure but I'd have tried anything to attempt to avoid the rounds of antibiotics

I've never seen one on a baby here in Aus, but I know what they are - look like a choking hazard to me (and don't believe for a second that they work).

Sophie can sod off back to France.

I know nothing about amber necklaces, and I am not at all 'woo', but I went to a women's de-stress day where there were loads of therapies and I nearly fainted after the crystal treatment. It definitely did something - I had just gone through a bereavement and it 'cured' my grief - it was bizarre. Acupuncture however did nothing. So I have an open mind about the healing properties of Amber but I wouldn't give a baby a stone to chew.

These venomous comments re: a necklace are hilarious. It must be exhausting expensing such strong feelings over something so seemingly trivial... of course they are not a choking hazard; any significant force (which could cause choking) causes them to snap. When they do, they only snap the once, not shattering into little beads. Do you really think they would be sold otherwise?

I used them now and again during the daytimes for my dd. I never knew 100% if they worked or not- they certainly seemed to help, looked cute pretty too...so what is the issue?

Oh. They aren't made up of numerous little pieces of amber on a string? What are they then? (Genuine question)

The baby doesn't chew the necklace. When ds was small it just went under his vest. When he was older he was so used to it being there he didn't pay it any attention. I never saw it in or near his mouth. Co-slept and SAHM at the time so was with him all the time

The popularity of both the necklace and the giraffe have finally wafted over from Europe then I guess?

Amber necklaces are for sale in every Apoteke in Switzerland and Germany, and a very common sight, like copper bracelets on the elderly.

Strangely the Sophie Giraffe was banned in Germany for containing prohibited toxins.

People don't seem to worry about choking/strangulation so much here - if it's not an amber necklace then the baby or toddler is usually wearing a knotted neckerchief.

My dd wears an amber necklace. She suffered terribly when she started teething at 5 months. She had every symptom associated with teething: nappy rash, dribbling, red swollen gums etc etc.
I tried every single proven teething medicine known to man. None of which offered her any relief whatsoever.

In a moment of sheer desperation. I ordered an amber necklace. I did not believe it would help but I was crazed and desperate.
Within 2 days of her wearing the necklace (which we take off her neck and wrap twice around her ankle under sock/baby grow when she sleeps because even us desperate enough to buy into all this craziness care about our babies' safety) all of the symptoms disappeared. Several teeth have popped through since with no distress.
coincidence? probably. But I'm willing to keep the necklace on just in case.