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!

There were anecdotes but no evidence, regarding smoking.

To get actual evidence that it was bad for our health, clinical studies had to be undertaken, with proper controls.

Anecdotes are the starting point to build a theory to be tested. Not evidence.

But, by all means, grab your amber beads anecdotes and plan a study to demonstrate how useful they are.

The placebo effect doesn't work on Babies does it?

The placebo effect works on parents who are the ones who decide whether they think their child's symptoms are improving or not.

Pp is right re: fake amber BTW. There's loads of it about.

They don't work. They can't work. It's regression to the mean or placebo on the parent. Which is fine if it helps, but it's not ok to get arsey with people who point that out.

There's also the possibility that a parent who believes they've just given their baby something that will help them will have a change in manner, perhaps show happiness and relief, and this will genuinely soothe the baby.

Not so much a placebo effect, but bias.
The parent knows what the child is getting, knows what the expected outcome is, and is prone to see what they want to see (improvement).
These are the types of biases that would be reduced (or eliminated) in a proper controlled trial.

I don't believe in amber, homeopathy, crystals or anything of that elk

For teething pain I am a firm believer in Gin

For mum obvs, not child

I have never seen anyone slip on the amber when an older child has fallen into a something or their chest hurts with coughing lots etc. Why?

Or for wisdom tooth pain.

Interesting site on amber necklaces scienceornot.net/2012/10/30/amber-necklaces-and-teething-babies/

YABU. I also thought they were a load of old shit but, my 10 month old DD broke hers on Saturday and has since; woken at night for at least 1 hour each night, something she hasn't done in a couple of months & is a dribbling, chewing, screaming ball of teething fury.

Now, if this had happened once, I would of course put it down to a coincidence. However, this is maybe the 3rd bracelet that she has had (2 broke,1 lost) and the exact same thing happens every time within 6 hours of the bracelet coming off. As soon as the replacement comes through the letter box, I put it on her and she is back to normal within a few hours.

What happens to the beads when it breaks? Do any come loose? And does she wear it in bed?

Absolute hogwash. They work just as well as homeopathy, so not at all. They're pretty though.

Hazza - or is she used to wearing it so when it is missing she is upset, a bit like a security blanket?

There is always some idiot claiming teething doesn't hurt babies. My dd had a terrible time cutting hers so there is not a chance in hell I would believe it causes no symptoms. I know that it does, and an article from a dentist trying to make a name for himself won't change my mind. It wasn't long ago that some doctors wanted to operate on babies with no anaesthetic because they didn't think they felt any pain at all. Scary

No idea if amber necklaces work, anbesol definitely seemed to help.

complete rubbish. Tried on mine when I was desperate, made not a jot of difference.

This is a revelation to me. Literally never heard of Amber for teething. Mind you dts are 18 now! Am going to Google it