Amber teething necklaces - mumbo jumbo or magic cure?

[moogdroog]

Any experience? I'm a bit skeptical, but curious. Any recommendations if you've found they do work?

I'm 1) not seeing the sense in putting a necklace around a babies neck and 2) if they do work they would have to release a chemical which is absorbed through the skin and into the blood stream for the "natural" painkiller to reach the site of the pain (mouth)in enought quantities to work. That's a bloody drug to me and they are utterly untested for pharmacological safety.

If they don't work, no harm, and hopefully no strangled baby.

My DD is 2.6 and the only tooth we have had problems with is her last back molar. The others were no problem so if she had worn one I might have said "oh it worked". But of course I wouldn't have been able to compare it to anything.

I know. Logic says 'no' to me. But I did meet a woman who RAVED about them. DD not started teething yet, but DS was absolute murder every time a tooth was on it's way, despite trying every conventional remedy... hmm

complete mumbo jumbo

sorry

Woof - have you tried one?
I guess I'm looking for a mumbo-jumbo verdict off someone that has used one with their DCs. I can use my scientific reasoning to come up with the verdict that they're bollocks all by myself.

There are very popular in France. I can't see how they can help, but hey I have never tried.
I would be worried about putting a necklace on my LO so I would not even give it a try. Calpol and teething gel seem a lot safer to me.

Mumbo jumbo.

My friend's DD wears one and every time I speak to her she's banging on about teething nightmares so I'd say they don't work.

ds2 was having calpol every day (and i really don't like using medicine on myself or my kids) ...put amber necklace on and not another tooth related squeak from him.

"a bloody drug" katiebeau ? seriously? it's a natural material worn as jewellery by thousands, probably millions of people, children and adults, around the world. whether they work or not, my kids look cute in them and there is no way either of them could strangle themselves. tried and tested by a v.accident prone 2yr old.

Fair dos natural baby re your baby not strangling herself, mine would.

What I was saying that by claiming chemicals are released and that it is these chemicals which cause the end to teething pain and associated issues they must cross into the skin, into the blood stream and to the mouth to reduce the swelling etc - that is how drugs work.

So either it does nothing which is why 1000's don't have adverse reactions to wearing amber next to their skin or it works - by allowing chemicals to be absorbed and circulate via the blood stream.

I doubt this is the case somehow otherwise some people would have issues wearing amber.

I got one for dd2 just before her first birthday. She was proving to be almost as awful as dd1 was with teething and I was willing to try anything! Tbh I don't think it makes it less painful for her but it does seem to stop her getting the bright red teething cheeks and her nappy rash (a symptom both my girls have had with teething) is much better when she's been wearing her necklace consistently.

We have a magnetic clasp necklace so she pulls it off if she doesnt want it on. I've never been worried about the necklace strangling her cos she has always been able to get it off easily.

they are really popular in spain too. we didn´t use one with ds1 and he was pretty averagely grotty with teething pain, plenty of red cheeks and drooling and screaming etc and plenty of dosing up on calpol.

so many people went on about the necklaces that we put one on ds2 (6mo). i was worried about the strangling issue but its very close fitting (not tight close) so i don´t actually see how he could strangle himself anymore than one of us could strangle ourselves by wearing a simple bead necklace. if he starts playing with it or gives us cause for concern we will remove it pronto.

does it work? who knows. i remain sceptical but don´t see that it does any harm to try. i don´t see how anyone can know that THAT child (regardless of how siblings weathered teething) would have had any more discomfort without the necklace, after the fact.

i do know ds2 recently cut his first tooth following a couple of restless nights but no crying or obvious discomfort or reddened cheeks. dribbling is also a lot less then before we put it on. But I still can´t QUITE see how it would work...so i am not sure I would recommend but for now it is staying on regardless.

Not a believer but I have been told that they have to NEVER take them off if they are to be effective-which puts me off a lot. On the plus side they don't have to go round the neck, you can also put them round the wrist or ankle.
A friend of mine bought an expensive one in a French pharmacy and it fell apart within weeks-which is why I'm not getting one for my DS.

katiebeau there are no drugs or chemicals, that is the point of them. they are a natural alternative to calpol and teething gels.

it has a childsafe clasp so a baby/child cannot strangle themselves. if you pull on it it comes apart very easily with very little force and it wouldn't be long enough to wrap round the baby's neck and get caught in something to cause strangulation.

there are no side effects from wearing an amber necklace. babies have died after being giving teething gel.

Indeed - teething gel - nasty when people use the wrong stuff. But the company Amber Cures own advert says there are chemicals that come out of the amber! There own ad says that.

there is no proven explanation on how it works, there is no evidence, only theories. one theory is that natural chemicals in the amber - which are also found in the human body, are released. scientists have stated that it is very unlikely that the temperature of the human body is enough to cause the chemicals to transfer out of the amber so there is no proof that the chemicals do come out of the amber and into the human body. it's a bit like homeopathy - scientists say there is no reason it should work but millions of people report that it does. it's not harmful so you have nothing to loose, other than a few £'s buying it.

No harm- except increasing the amount of anti rational bull shit in the world!

are teething gels really very bad? I try not to give calpol but I do use teething gell and powders.

The issue with teething gels, I think, was linked to people using adult versions rather than the proper baby/childrens ones.

Naturalbaby - I think we are saying the same thing. It's the ad from one of the companies which makes strong claims about chemicals etc. I agree - it is very very unlikely to cause harm in reality.

teething gels for babies are fine, sorry to be so blunt. adult ones with benzocaine i think, used on babies can result in a rare reaction in the blood stream which is fatal.
i haven't seen any ads for amber claiming anything about chemicals. surely they would be breaking the law if they did, given that there is no evidence to prove how they work?

You can buy homeopathic teething powder (made by Nelson's) in Boots. My baby loves it! They come in little convenient sachets. I lick my finger, put my finger in the sachet and then rub the powder on my baby's gums. She enjoys the rubbing and licks her lips a lot! :o) Seems to help relieve the teething aches and pains...

My ds2, 6 months, has been wearing an amber anklet for two months, he doesn't wear it at night as advised by the supplier. He has cut one tooth, with limited pain, and is currently cutting another without any fuss. We have used teething granules too, Boots own make, which I swear by.
I'm not sure if the Amber works but if it's possibly helping without harming him I'm happy to use it. I certainly wouldn't use it if I thought it had chemicals in it.

this company does not recommend it's necklaces to a child under 36 months as it could be a choke hazard and it's bracelets are not suitable for the under 3s as they do not the safety feature of a knot between each bead

a claim here that an oil is released into the bloodstream

I am wearing my face because if a substance is released into the bloodstream through the skin then it is a medicine and should be regulated; if however it's guff and nonsense why is the company making claims of amber's ''medical'' nature?

"I certainly wouldn't use it if I thought it had chemicals in it."

Of course it's got chemicals in it! Everything's made of chemicals!

Some babies cry a lot when they teethe
Some cry a little bit
It makes no logical sense that amber can affect teething pain (how?!)
The people who advocate them don't know how much their baby would have cried anyway
The people who advocate them may also be selling them
If you have one and your baby doesn't cry, you have a vested interest in not looking like you spent good money on something useless and so you will point out the relationship even though there is no correlation
It's all a lot of swinging bollocks you know

lololol

I definitely don't drink beer, I hear it has that horrible chemical dihydrogen monoxide in it...