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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think amber bracelets are a load of shit?

92 replies

SalemSaberhagen · 17/08/2015 14:42

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!

OP posts:
Eminybob · 17/08/2015 20:08

If amber were to work in the way it is alleged to, ie some substance contained within is released into the body through wear, would you really want your baby to be absorbing unknown amounts of an unregulated, unprescibed chemical? I think I'll stick to calpol thank you.

And if it is such a fantastic pain killer, why is its use restricted to teething babies? Surely it could be used to treat all sorts of aches and pains?

In summary, it's a load of absolute woo nonsense.

I have a friend who has recommended it to me. I have politely declined but I've not expressed my misgivings to her. I believe that she believes it works. It's a placebo in that respect. I'll leave her to it. If she were to push me I would tell her what I really feel.

lemoncordial · 17/08/2015 20:22

I silently judge any parent of a child with an amber necklace. I keep my views to myself though.

Eminybob · 17/08/2015 20:23

Me too lemon

BankWadger · 17/08/2015 20:24

Worked for DD. It didn't stop her teething pain entirely, but most definitely reduced her symptoms noticably.

I removed it for a couple of days once and her symptoms spiked dramatically, as soon as it went back on she calmed right down.

What ever it did, it really did work and was not just coincidence of symptoms easing naturally at the same time the anklet went on.

Eminybob · 17/08/2015 20:27

Oh I forgot to mention the most ridiculous bit, said friend also believes that her Amber necklace needs to be recharged by moonlight periodically in order to keep working. Arf.

BankWadger · 17/08/2015 20:30

PS. If I'm asked directly, yes yes I do recommend amber, based on my own positive experience. I very rarely if ever recommend them off my own bat. I also don't care either way if someone does or does not go on to use amber for teething much the same with say the brand of shampoo I use.

Charis1 · 17/08/2015 20:33

You don't need any treatment for teething, because it doesn't cause any symptoms. Since ancient Greece, any symptom displayed by a baby could have been put down to teething, and the fact that a tooth will almost certainly have arrived a few days before or within a couple of weeks after is taken as proof. The fact is, teeth are moving upwards and arriving at regular intervals throughout babyhood.

A very few babies might have some mild discomfort, nothing much, and the majority not even that.

The whole thing is a myth.

Amber will have no effect on anything what so ever.

Charis1 · 17/08/2015 20:34

should also add when I have asked parents if I can examine the "Amber" bracelet they are swearing by, a few simple scientific tests quickly reveal that in most case it is fake anyway.

DeandraReynolds · 17/08/2015 20:37

Obviously they can't really work (except my "magic").

I don't think even people who use them really believe they work, they just think they look cute/hippy/alternative.

Personally I think jewellery on babies looks trashy and is a choking risk, and I don't believe in magic Grin

Though neither of mine suffered with teeth. If I thought they were in pain they got a painkiller.

TheEagle · 17/08/2015 20:40

aramynta, you're not alone! I thought that babies had to suck or chew on them as well Blush

eminybob, I heard that bright sunlight will "recharge" them Grin

MuffMuffTweetAndDave · 17/08/2015 20:42

There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that it's proven useful for a significant minority.

There isn't really. There are anecdotes, but no evidence whatsoever that it was down to the bracelet rather than regression to the mean, child responding to parental attitude, parents reporting positive changes because they're invested in it working or some combination of the above.

I'm also another who'd be more concerned about it if it did work than if it didn't. We'd need information on what is a safe dosage and how to administer it, what to do in the event of over-exposure, any possible side effects and/or reactions, all kinds of things.

ElderlyKoreanLady · 17/08/2015 20:42

Dying at the idea that teething pain is a myth! Grin Just as I did earlier when I read an article describing it as 'gentle'. Anyone who had face ache when their wisdom teeth came in knows that's a load of bollocks.

DeandraReynolds · 17/08/2015 20:43

Thinking about it, aren't parents who believe in them being pretty reckless?

BankWadger - you're putting something that has a pretty powerful effect on your baby, and yet you have no idea what it's actually doing (presumably releasing something into her bloodstream/brain?) and no idea of what else it could be affecting?
How do you know it's not really harmful?
Presumably there's been no long term studies into the effect wearing these necklaces has on babies?

ElderlyKoreanLady · 17/08/2015 20:43

And MuffMuff, I'm guessing anecdotal evidence isn't a term you're familiar with? Hmm

Lweji · 17/08/2015 20:45

There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that it's proven useful for a significant minority.

Yes, which means no evidence at all that it's useful.

Anecdote doesn't go with evidence and significant doesn't go with minority (scientific method wise).

For amber beads to be proven useful, using them would have to be compared and matched, in a blind way, with no treatment (fake beads).

Lweji · 17/08/2015 20:48

Wikipedia article on "anecdotal evidence".

The term "faulty logic" is mentioned.

If there was anything to it, the anecdotal evidence would have been replaced by proper evidence.

Charis1 · 17/08/2015 20:48

Dying at the idea that teething pain is a myth! grin Just as I did earlier when I read an article describing it as 'gentle'. Anyone who had face ache when their wisdom teeth came in knows that's a load of bollocks.

It is a myth. It started thousands of years ago when any baby that died had it's mouth examined. If a tooth had just erupted, or was close to erupting, this was given as the cause of death. Of course, this applied to about half of all babies at any given time, so was held as one of the most common causes of death in babies

It is ridiculous the amount of credence this old idea is still given. It predates even the theory that illness is caused by one of the 4 humours getting out of balance, or that you can diagnose an illness by working out which stars were highest in the sky when it started.

ElderlyKoreanLady · 17/08/2015 20:51

If logic is what you like Lwegi, by your own logic, before there was any definitive proof that smoking was bad for you, it mustn't have actually been bad for you as there was only anecdotal evidence available? Hmm

MuffMuffTweetAndDave · 17/08/2015 20:52

To be clear EKL, the problem in your post isn't the term 'anecdotal evidence'. It's the 'proven useful for a significant minority' bit. Lweji has done a better job than I did at explaining why.

Charis1 · 17/08/2015 20:52

www.irishtimes.com/news/health/teething-trouble-a-figment-of-parents-imagination-says-dentist-1.2319043

Thank you Eagle. There are thousands upon thousands of articles like this. The medical world has been trying for DECADES to get the message across the teething doesn't cause any symptoms, but the teething industry shouts louder!

ElderlyKoreanLady · 17/08/2015 20:54

The medical world who reassure parents on a daily basis that the child they've brought in is just experiencing teething pains and isn't actually ill?

Eminybob · 17/08/2015 20:55

There is never going to be any actual evidence that amber works because it simply doesn't.

Neither does healing crystals, homeopathy, magic or witchcraft Grin

TheEagle · 17/08/2015 20:56

I'm only linking the article that was mentioned above!

I do believe teething causes pain and discomfort for babies but it also gets blamed for a lot more than it should.

BumpTheElephant · 17/08/2015 20:57

YANBU.
I know people who claim their babies first teeth were horrendous so they bought a teething necklace and had no further issues.
Both my children's first two teeth were horrendous then the rest came through with no apparent pain at all. They have never had a teething necklace. It's a load of bollocks. I think some babies are over the worst of teething by the time the parents try a teething necklace and it's just coincidence.