Worth it Wednesday: Amber Teething Necklace

Now I consider myself a pretty natural mama. My kid eats organic (even at the cost of her college fund, but that’s what scholarships are for, right?), she knows her downward dog from her tree, she is used to being slathered in coconut oil for a whole range of ailments and popping Hyland’s for teething pain. When molars were making their emergence, I added another natural remedy to the mix: a Baltic amber teething necklace.

You’ve seen those, right? Before I had kids I thought they were just cute necklaces (no). Then once I had a kid I thought they were supposed to chew on them (no again). So the story is that the warmth of the baby’s skin is supposed to help absorb some magical “succinic acid” that is a natural pain reliever. (A safety note: don’t let your baby sleep in it!)

Some moms swear by these things, but I have to be completely honest, perhaps at the expense of my crunchy mama identity, and say that I’m just not so sure. I definitely believe in the healing and energetic properties of certain stones and crystals. That said, I guess I’m just wary of anything that becomes a huge fad, anything that smells of snake oil (here’s an especially questionable link in my opinion), and especially anything that references its popularity in Europe as one of the reasons we should buy it. Love Europe as I may, those mamas are just as desperate as we are when their kids are teething, so I’m sure as heck not going to take their word as teething Gospel.

In practice, I really couldn’t tell a huge difference with my daughter when she wore it, but we all know that teething has its ups and downs and she is generally a good teether anyway. That is not to say I did not whip it out every time her teething got bad, and that I won’t do the same with my next kid. Just because I’m not sure does not mean I won’t try it. It just means I won’t pay full price for it! (I got V’s Inspired by Finn teething necklace from babysteals.com for $17, half off its original price).

 So what do you think? Cure-all or total hoax??