Friday, October 7, 2011

One more step towards a crunchy life

As if cloth diapering didn't make me granola enough....I've taken it one step further.
I bought an Amber teething necklace.
Go ahead, laugh if you must.  Even I don't always recognize the holistic, hippy mom I've become, but when you've been dealing with a teething toddler, non stop, for TWO months and only have ONE new tooth to show for all the pain and suffering...you'll try just about anything.
Honestly, I was getting tired of giving him Tylenol and Motrin constantly.  Might as well have tapped a vein as often as we were giving it.  When his eyes lit up like Christmas at the mere sight of the bottle, his hands clapping, his mouth opening like a little bird....I decided we needed to find something new.
I bought some of the "black market" Humphrey's Teething tablets now that they're back on the shelves.  They work OK....better than orajel which was a big waste of time, but not the relief I was hoping for.
I had seen several of the moms on my cloth diapering message board talk about these teething necklaces, so I looked into it.
Amber is a natural pain reliever.  When worn, the warmth of the skin causes succinic acid to be released, helping with all sorts of pain.  Arthritis.  Back pain.  And yep you guessed it, teething.  The amount of positive reviews and testimonials I found was astounding....enough for me to click "Add to basket" and check out faster than you can say "molars are the devil."
There are several different ones you can choose from in a variety of shapes and colors.  They say the lighter the stone, the more succinic acid it contains, making it slightly more effective than the darker ones.  I went with a multi-colored one since the light butter yellow was sold out.  Figured this way, I was at least getting some of the lightest stones.
 We've only had it a few weeks and unfortunately daycare won't let him wear it there.  Said it's a choking hazard.  I tried to explain that each stone is individually knotted so if it were to break, the most that would come off is one stone....but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.  They already think I'm a little crazy, what with the cloth diapering and all.  I think this was too much for them.  Disappointed, I gave in without much of a fight.
I wasn't giving up all together though, at home it's pretty much on all the time.  At night I put it around his ankle, and on the weekends he wears it 24/7.  I honestly can't say I've noticed a HUGE difference.  Certainly not the night and day turn around some people claim, but a big part of me knows that not wearing it consistently probably has a lot to do with it.  I can say however, that we've definitely stopped giving Motrin as much.  So to me, that's worth it.  Plus the darn thing is pretty cute.  I can't believe how many people comment on it when we're out!

Have any of you tried one??  What are your teething lifesavers?

6 comments:

Lindsey said...

I wish I had tips for you friend! But he looks so cute in those pics!!

Ashley said...

We are trying one out. We started a few months ago, and just got lazy about it, but Cooper has been having so much pain, we were giving motrin and tylenol too often as well, so I put it back on him yesterday. I don't know that we noticed a huge difference the first time around, but we weren't very consistent either. Luckily, daycare didn't care the first time around. They would take it off for naptime and then not put it back on though, but I guess it could be worse. I didn't even tell them I put it back on him today. I like your idea of putting it on the ankle at night, I think I'll start doing that as well.

Anonymous said...

I've never even heard of that. It's an interesting concept.

Stephanie said...

He is beyond adorable in those pictures!! Such a cutie!! I have no experience, but kudos for you! :)

I can't wait to email you sometime this weekend all about my Cloth Diaper 101 class last night :) Um, did you know its standard policy at all centers on the West Coast to use cloth?! Yea, or per my teacher last night. Maybe we just need to move out to Cali and we'll have cloth diaped booties and necklaces allowed at school and anywhere else!

Nikki said...

Hey! His scar is looking so much better. I could barely notice it in that second picture. And that necklace makes him look like he's about to go play hackey sack. :)

dave and jenn said...

Well, I don't have any other advice to offer, but seeing as how I'm in the granola boat with you (cloth diapers and all), I'll be interested to hear if this helps in the long-run!