Amber Teething Necklaces - our response to the 3News story

You may have seen us featured on the 3News story tonight on Amber Teething Necklaces. 

We started stocking the necklaces after receiving requests for them from our lovely customers.  Like anything we add to www.bellybeyond.co.nz we only do so if we've tested it ourselves or had a recommendation from someone we really trust.

I will be honest - I was a total sceptic and thought is was quite barking mad that a necklace could help with teething issues and to put my mind at ease about the claims I put a necklace on my then 5 month old son and ran my own little experiment.

Before the necklace was on he was drooling thru 3 layers of clothing by about 11am - a bib, a jumper and a t-shirt sopping wet with dribble.  After the necklace was on the dribble all but stopped.  He was settled when breastfeeding and not constantly pulling off the breast or skipping feeds and as a result he was more settled at night.  I was convinced and we added them to the site.

Heidi's story is somewhat different.  With Master now 14 she regularly dosed him up on Bonjela and Pamol, even resorting to dipping his dummy in the stuff (eek!).  Finn however (her 18 month old), has been wearing them since he was about 4 months old and has never needed Pamol and Heidi believes it's down to the necklace.

There are countless stories just like ours that echo these sentitments (just check out our Facebook page!) and as I confessed on TV I have absolutely no idea how they work but I'm convinced they do and that parents should be able to choose to use the beads to naturally treat teething - it can truely be a miserable time for some babies.

So to the more sensational claim of the choking hazard.  Again, when I first heard of the beads I thought it was crazy that you'd want to put something around your baby's neck.  Crazy!  But having used the necklace on my own children and seeing that they are sized specifically for little ones I'm completely comfortable that the risk is almost non-existant. 

"But they might hang themselves in the cot" the naysayers claim.  On what??!!!  Have you seen modern cots?  There is nothing for them to hang on and parents are well informed enough to have a completely empty space without toys or decorations, so for me there's no logic in such claims.  In addition, there actually is an added safety feature in that the necklaces are designed to break in the unlikely event they do become caught. 

A Google search reveals that there are no reports here or internationally of a child ever being harmed because of their teething necklace.

If we thought for a minute that Amber Teething Necklaces were dangerous we would not be selling them!  To me this is a case of science saying no and parents saying yes.  When it comes to your kids, who knows best?

 Safety Summary
1)  The necklaces are designed to break under strain.  In the unlikely even that it's caught on something or a child really gives it a yank then it will break.  I'd like to note that the 3News report stated the necklaces are tied on - this is NOT the case as our necklaces come with a safety clasp.
2)  The necklaces are hand tied with a knot before and after each bead so that if the necklace does happen to break, only one or two beads will come off.  The beads are small enough that they are unlikely to be choking hazard and amber is non-toxic if a bead is swallowed.

You can make a comment here on the 3News story and let them know how the beads have worked for you and your opinion on their choking hazard claims.

To find out more about Amber Teething Necklaces, check them out on our website