what do you think of amber teething necklaces?

[Jocooley]

Just wondered what you all thought of these and can they sleep in them? Thanks

Amber is completely inert until it's heated to 200 degreesC. So if the blurb says it works because the baby's body heat releases something from the Amber, then it can't possibly work. Honestly- the's no two ways about it.

Calpol and / or bonjela. They work for teething.

Well more children may die from crossing the road but the point of parenting is to minimise risk, especially with regard to potential benefits (in this case fatal vs none). Being warned of exposing your child unnecessarily to the risk of choking doesn't sound like scaremongering to me.

OK, so suppose they do work, and completely forgetting the whole choking hazard thing - do you really want to be dosing your child up with some unknown, untested, unlicensed substance, of unknown provenance?

Well thanks for being a bit constructive seeker

This is quite an interesting article on the subject.

Snake oil!! But more danger of choking - ridiculous idea for a child!

I tell my kids NEVER to put anything round their necks. It's akin to playing with matches in my opinion.

Hate them. Think they are pointless and tbh think they look awful on kids too. Teething powders and calpol with ice poles.

I am not anti alternative medicine. I can accept that there may be things we don't understand.

However, I think teething necklaces are rubbish and I hate seeing babies wearing them. Even if the beads are individually tied, if the necklace snaps the thin string could easily end up swallowed. To me, there is a big difference between something like reflexology - which may do nothing but isn't going to hurt - and something like this which could be dangerous.

If you are looking for a genuine help with teething, I really liked the Hevea rubber teether. It was much harder than the water filled ones, and gave DD2 some good relief. Plus it was easy to hold.

I think they are the sort of thing that every environmentally oriented precious first born parent fall for. It's just stupid. They don't work.

"I am not anti alternative medicine. I can accept that there may be things we don't understand."

There'd are things we don't understand yet. But there are things that we do understand- like water doesn't have a memory and amber doesn't give off pain killing vapours when warmed to body temperature( and if it did, we understand that breathing unknown gasses is generally not a good thing to do!)

I totally agree Seeker. What I was trying to point out is that I am not inherently antagonistic towards alternative medicine - I am open to hearing something might actually work, even if we don't understand why. It doesn't mean I don't consider most of it total woo (especially bloody homeopathy). But the thing I just worked up about is dangerous woo.

The thing I get, not just. Sorry, don't know what I thought I was typing then.

Absolutely. The fact that the scientific community is open-minded enough to accept that there are some things that aren't known yet does not give licence to make random shit up.

The Old God of the Gaps argument!

I used an anklet with my now 15 month old but stopped using it at least six months ago. Have just had an email from online shop I bought it from informing me that as the company ad trading standards are in discussions about the teething anklet we should not use it any more and to contact the main seller if we had any issues or concerns.
I used it at the time as I did not believe it was causing my son any harm. He wore it on his ankle on,y during the day and not during naps. I don't know if it worked but I didn't see the harm in trying it especially as he wore it n his ankle. I would not have put anything around his neck.

I think the amber necklace is probably a bit gimmicky, cannot see how it would have any effect. One thing a friend recommended to me is a chewable toothbrush/teether thing made by Brush-Baby, as it helps clean the gums (which is supposed to help relieve teething pain) as well as giving them something soothing to chew on, which is what I suggest would be most effective