Teething Trouble

Daphne is getting her first set of molars in. Rather than be nice and get them one at a time, she has been getting all four of them at the same time. Teething is traumatic enough for a baby, but this was over the top. She often had to be held, and she would just sit and cry and cry with nothing that would console her.

A few things really did work. A lot of the time, we could just give her a nice high dose of homeopathic chamomile. That stuff worked well. One time, at the height of her screaming, I gave her a dose of chamomile, and she just fell over and was sleeping in no time. Chamomile has been really nice to use, and I recommend it highly to any parent. However, it just didn’t seem to stay the dragons during this round of teeth.

After wining to my mom’s group online about my very sad baby, the owner of Pumpkin Butt emailed me and told me that there was something I had to try. In her store, she sells something called teething oil. It is a blend of a bunch of different oils that have proven to be therapeutic. A lot of moms just put clove oil on their baby’s gums. Though it does work, experimentation on an adult shows that clove oil hurts until it numbs all feeling for at least 24 hours. Not a good numb, more like a chemical burn numb. Not something I recommend.

I got some teething oil from Pumpkin Butt. It is the best $5 investment I could have made. Daphne likes the taste, and she likes the bottle, and when I rub it on her gums, that seems to calm things down incredibly.

A while ago, my friend sent me a link for some Amber Teething Necklaces. I looked at them at the time, thought they were cool and then closed the link. I started to think about it more, recently, and I decided to give it a try.

I bought two Amber Teething Necklaces and 1 bracelet. The total was about $20 including shipping. I got 2 so that I knew that if it worked and one got lost that I would not feel without while I waited for a new one to be shipped to me.

The SECOND I put the necklace on Daphne, we truly had a miracle on our hands. She calmed right down, and her temperament seemed to improve. She liked the necklace, though she was prone to chewing on it because it was a little long.

I SWEAR that I don’t believe in voodoo much, but this is one case where it really works.

You see, the child is not supposed to chew on the beads. The mere act of wearing them will do the trick. See, I told you it was a little voodoo.

Of course, the Europeans have been doing this for years, and it’s popular over there. Americans tend to be a little more stubborn about all things voodoo.

Here is some truth behind the voodoo. Apparently Baltic Amber has a high level of succinic acid in it. When the baby wears the necklace against his skin, the amber warms up, and the succinic acid can then absorb into the skin and be soaked up by the blood stream. Apparently, research has shown that it can calm a person down, stop them from drooling (always a benefit) and soothe the soreness that comes with teething.

That sounds logical. Daphne lent one of her necklaces to a friend to try out, and we found out very quickly just how much it does work. She had an awful time without her necklace while the baby she was lending it to had some relief from the teething. I have since been encouraging a bunch of mamas to try the teething necklaces for the teething pain.

I bought my necklaces from Inspired by Finn. They are made specifically for babies, so care has been taken to knot between each bead. If the strand were to break, the beads would not scatter everywhere for a curious toddler to eat! They are also made in smaller sizes. I got Daphne a 14” strand, and it worked very well for her.

She likes to look pretty, so the next time you see her, admire her pretty necklace.