At 7 months, Blanka has 2 teeth. The first tooth was a walk in the park compared to the second one. When that second tooth was making its appearance, Blanka (and therefore my husband and I) had a really rough few days. I’m still new to this teething thing so I’m never sure that it’s teething that’s bothering her until it’s entirely obvious.
Enter amber necklace
I clearly had no idea what I was doing. I was under the (mistaken) belief that Blanka should chew on the thing. And thus, I repeatedly tried to put the short necklace into her mouth. She looked like a tiny briddled horse. It was ridiculous. She would tolerate that indignity for a split second before she would spit it out (and rightly so).
In fact, amber necklaces are NOT for chewing.
They work by the slow release of natural oils as the stone is warmed by skin. Succinic acid is the component that is absorbed through the skin and is responsible for the natural pain relief.
Amber itself is a natural substance from trees - it’s the sap from pine trees that grew 60 million years ago and then fossilized. According to one website on Baltic amber, the ancient pines that are responsible for the sap were so prolific in their production of the stuff that it used to drop from the trees onto the sub-tropical forest floor. Weeping pines.
These days, the majority of amber comes from Lithuania – thrown up onto the shores of rivers, lakes and of course the Baltic Sea. In fact, Lithuania has some of the largest amber deposits in the world and is actually that country’s national gemstone.
Back to amber as a natural teether for babies
Apart from the natural analgesic properties of the stone itself, the construction of the necklace is made with a baby in mind in terms of length AND their capacity to destroy things. If you look closely, you will see that between each stone, there are knots which means that if Blanka rips it off, I won’t have tiny amber pebbles flying all over the place. And tear at it, she does NOT…which suprised me. If fact, Blanka doesn’t seem to notice it. The amber necklace that we have has naturally shaped stones with rounded corners and edges but there’s a great diversity of shapes (rough hewn to perfectly round pebbles) and colors (from transparent, cognac to opaque black) available out there in internet land. At this point, I have her wearing it continuously, whether she’s actively teething or not. There are people who report that they didn’t even notice that their child cut a new tooth until after the fact. I’m curious to see how she handles the next tooth!
How have you been able to tell that your amber necklace is working? Have you noticed a change since your child started wearing the necklace?
