Inspired by Finn Teething Necklaces

Our first experience with teething was when our oldest child was 10 1/2 months old. There was some slight fussiness for a couple of days. The night before the auspicious occassion he awoke his normal amount of times during the night, and got up in the morning with a brand new tooth poking through. A couple of days later, the process was repeated. With the exception of his incisors, teething was a fairly mild experience for him. a few teething tablets and life was good.

Our second child was a different story. Her teeth seemed intent on making up for the easy time we had with her brother. There was screaming. There was crying – on both her part and ours, I’m sure. We pulled out teething tablets and Motrin and nursed as much as she possibly would, as that seemed to consul her just a bit. Honestly, at the time, I didn’t think teething could be any worse.

Enter child number three. I can now say, teething can be worse. The pain meant he didn’t want anything to touch his mouth at all, including my breast to nurse. He went on a nursing strike, only really nursing if he was asleep. Finally we worked out a system. I would put Hyland’s teething gel on his gums a couple of minutes before we nursed. We used teething tablets. We broke out the rarely used Motrin. We cried together. We sat in the bathtub, and we hoped for fast teething.

Last Fall, facing a toothless eight month old, I turned to my husband and said, “I think we should order a teething necklace.” He raised an eyebrow. We both tend to be research fanatics and I haven’t ever seen any articles showing any research concerning the use of teething necklaces. Frankly, that is what kept us from ordering one before. Then I reminded him of the experience we had with our last child and pointed out the trend of increasing teething pain with each child. There was no guarantee that such a trend would continue, but I really didn’t wan to take that chance. If the necklace didn’t work, our daughter would have a pretty necklace to wear. If it did, it would be worth its weight in gold.

So, I ordered a teething necklace from Inspired by Finn. I had heard good things about the company, and I appreciate that they have information posted about the purported benefits of baltic amber. I would have appreciated cited infomation, but as research in this area seems to be lacking, I could’t very well expect that.

Ordering was easy and the necklace was shipped out right away. I will say that I was a bit disappointed with our necklace. On the second day that my daughter wore it, I noticed that a couple of the beads had extra holes drilled in them, as though failed attempts at drilling holes were made and then the drill was moved. I doubt other people notice it, but I notice these holes every single time I look at it, now.  Her necklace also has a large variation in the color of the beads. While I would expect some variation in natural beads, that marked contrast of the coloration for what I ordered, coupled with the extra drilled holes would mark this necklace as a second were I to sell it. For the price I paid, I expected something a bit nicer.

I can’t say for certain how well the necklace works. Our youngest daughter now has her two front bottom teeth. While her teething hasn’t been as extreme as our third child, neither has it been as mild as our first. The teeth have also come in extremely slowly; they still aren’t all the way in. The necklace may or may not help, but I’m not willing to take it off and test that at this time.

Even with my disappoint with the necklace, I would still order from Inspired by Finn again. The only difference is that my expectations would be a bit lower.