Amber beads and teething – your feedback please

As those of you who regularly read my blog will know, I’ve written about amber beads and their healing properties (or not) when it comes to babies’ teething, you can read those posts here and here. On the back of this I have been contacted and asked to appear in a Channel 4 health show (eek!) which is going to be exploring the world of alternative and home remedies.

So I thought I would ask my blog readers about their experiences with amber beads and teething, both those in the UK, where it is less common, and in France, where many parents use amber for teething pain relief.

Please can you comment below, or if you prefer to contact me in private, please email me (FranglaiseMummy@gmail.com) with any experiences you have had. For example do you completely disagree and think it’s a load of old rubbish? Did it save you from sleepless nights? Did you try amber beads and find they didn’t make any difference?

I don’t mind whether you’re totally pro, or 100% against, or whether you just sit on the wall and hedge your bets, but I would love to hear your feedback and experiences.

Thanks for sharing 🙂

P.S. The show is going to be filmed in a couple of weeks, if you have any tips on looking good on camera please do share. Once I know when it will air I will let you know.

Share

18 Responses

  1. Kara says:

    I swore by them for Isaac and Eliza.
    I had a necklace for I but moved onto an anklet for E as thought it was safer.
    We still used other teething remedies but the time I knew they really did help was when we temporarily lost the anklet in a babygro foot. The three days it took to find were hell – nappy rash, burning cheeks, sleepless nights and screaming!
    Once it was back on everything was much calmer and I had a happy baby again!!

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      That’s very interesting about the lost anklet. I have to say the idea of a necklace freaks me out, but I’m happy for C to wear hers as an anklet. She didn’t have it on much with the hot weather (as I put a sock over it) and she started getting really grizzly, I put it back on her again and she calmed back down. A week later two more teeth appeared.

  2. Lucy says:

    I love the two necklaces my daughter wears. She has had one since nearly six months, a polished variety and the other at 17 months- an unpolished amber which claims to have even more healing powers.
    She is hardly ever irritable and if so I can put it down to other things like hunger or tiredness. Teething pain has hardly affected her. Either I am just lucky or they really work. I gave her her first at 5.5 months as she was starting to become a bit irritable and I thought it worth a try. I never did this with my older son and he was without a doubt a more fussy baby/toddler.
    Her last lower canine is coming through at the moment, today is her second birthday. We still have the last molars to come but to be honest I really think they have helped.
    My husband took them off her the other day whilst I was away and when I came back she just didn’t look “right” I suddenly realised why! They look so good on her and since she has worn them other friends of mine with babies have since got some for their own.
    Good luck

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      Thanks for sharing – that’s very interesting about the polished and un-polished, I didn’t know that.

  3. Gcroft says:

    I did look into amber beads for DD but was really frightened by some negative reviews posted, mainly, choking hazards, on the various forums I checked. So, it was back to calpol and cuddles. Still no sign of teeth! Good luck for the show.

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      Thanks for the best wishes 🙂 It took me a long time to get one for our eldest, L, as I was really scared of choking and strangulation, but then someone suggested I put the necklace on her as a bracelet or anklet, which we did and it made the world of difference. I think each parent has to decide what they are most comfortable with and go with their gut instincts. Here’s hoping the teeth come through soon with not too much trouble.

  4. Swazi says:

    I did use the amber beads with my little one, but then I also practised baby yoga & baby massage. I’m not sure if they helped, but they didn’t do any harm and that’s my main criteria for trying medical or non medical interventions. He seemed pretty well most of the time and if it was down to the beads then that’s great. If not, well they look pretty.
    I’ll get your autograph now shall I ! Beat the stampede :o)

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      That was my thinking too – if it’s not doing any harm and avoids me dosing them up with Calpol then why not? Especially once I’d made the decision not to put it around their necks. You can have my autograph whenever you want 😉

  5. Lucy says:

    Personally v skeptical. I’ve never seen any convincing scientific evidence of their worth. But whether they work or not I’d never let a baby wear or play with necklaces, bracelets, beads, belts, ties or cords of any kind. My youngest chews EVERYTHING & I just do not believe it’s a safe thing to do.

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I haven’t seen any scientific evidence either and the whole necklace thing totally freaked me out, but when L was about 7 months old our normally placid baby was screaming 24/7 and I was dosing her up with the maximum of the French equivalent of Calpol/Nurofen. My paediatrician in France suggested it, as did pretty much every mum/grandma/woman on the street over there. I finally decided to try it, using the necklace as a bracelet or anklet and in no time she was back to normal. We left it on until she finished teething and her 4 molars came through at once, almost without us noticing. I was very sceptical and Hubs is totally sceptical, but something about it just seemed to work for us. But I certainly don’t condone wearing them as a necklace. Now C has hers on her ankle, with a sock over the top.

  6. I can’t imagine you not looking good to be honest. How exciting? I don’t think I would have the confidence to do something like that but go you! I’ve never used them.. At the beginning I was worried about the potential hazards (choking etc) and then I just didn’t feel the need. Now I’m sure they are safe but just don’t use them. I know quite a lot of my twitter friends use them and rave about them.

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      Ah, you lovely lady, you 🙂 Thank you. It is exciting but a little daunting too! The choking hazard was a big worry of mine, but once I decided to put the necklace on wrists and ankles I felt more reassured.

  7. On your suggestion I did get and amber bead necklace for Lumpy. She wore it as a bracelet to start but now her little wrists are too big. She does seem much more calm with it on. I took it of for a week by accident after her first little tooth receded and the howling, chewing and drool increased. She’s now wearing it again at 6m and there’s definitely something under the gums but nowhere near the grumpiness we had before. I do still use bonjela on her as it clearly hurts to suck on her bottle but the rest of the symptoms seem much reduced.

    Can’t be placebo because she simply doesn’t know. Witchcraft! But it works.

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      That’s really interesting – C wore hers as a bracelet too before getting too chunky for it, now she wears it as an anklet, under a sock. I can’t figure it out either – it must be witchcraft!

  8. Mark Hanna says:

    While I’m not a parent, I have spent the past few months looking into the claims made about amber teething necklaces, and I’ve yet to find any good support for claims that they provide any benefit. I’ve also looked into all the claims made about how they supposedly work, and none of them have seemed at all plausible to me. I’ve written about the least implausible claim on my blog here: http://honestuniverse.com/2013/02/13/amber-teething-necklaces/

    I’ve also had several advertisements for these products removed by the Advertising Standards Authority here in New Zealand because, when pressed, the companies selling them have been unable to substantiate the therapeutic claims they’ve been making.

    Part of the New Zealand government, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, has issued a warning on their website about the potential choking hazard posed by these necklaces, and not all advertisements contain a warning that they shouldn’t be left on unsupervised infants: http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/for-consumers/goods/product-safety/keeping-kids-safe/amber-teething-necklace

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I was incredibly sceptical about them which I talk about in this blog post:
      http://www.franglaisemummy.com/witchcraft-and-wizardry-or-a-teething-miracle-cure/

      And I can’t begin to explain it, but the amber necklace turned my eldest daughter around when she was teething. However I would NEVER condone putting one on as a necklace – I would suggest having it wrapped round a wrist, or better still, an ankle, under a sock.

      Along with all aspects of parenting each parent has to decide what risks and hazards they are prepared to take with their own children.

  9. Katheryn says:

    When my oldest was born, Amber teething necklaces were not popular and I never used them. For my other kids, they were effective teething remedies I used as long as they were teething alongside with frozen wash clothes they used to suck on. The necklaces worked great. One of my boys was more sensitive but the necklace helped him. It didn’t take the pain away completely but I could see that he got more comfortable.
    Katheryn recently posted…Natural Home Remedies For Swollen AdenoidsMy Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I think it always has to be a case of what works for each child / family, as each one is different.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge