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Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Hylands Teething Tablets
Has anyone had any luck with them? We just tried them for the first time last night, and I know it is too soon to tell if they work, however last night he slept from 10pm until 5:30am!! We were camping and there was even a severe thunderstorm that shook the trailer, started at midnight and lasted until 3am and he never woke up once! Usually he is up every 2-3 hours. I am hoping that the tablets really work and it wasn't just our one and only lucky nIght because the thunder did keep me up!
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Re: Hylands Teething Tablets
Just FYI, Hylands Teething Tablets were pulled off the market about 1.5 years ago due to wildly different amounts of belladonna found in various batches of the tablets sold by the company. Belladonna is commonly known as Deadly Nightshade, and it is a plant whose leaves and berries are extremely toxic. One of the side effects of a belladonna overdose in infants is extreme drowsiness. The fact that your baby slept for 7.5 hours in the middle of a thunderstorm that kept you (a sleep-deprived mama) up, when he normally only sleeps 2-3 hours at a stretch would be VERY concerning to me.
My husband is a pediatrician and would never consider giving Hylands teething tablets to our LO, because it is not regulated or even tested by the FDA, so there is NO quality assurance of safety or purity. Belladonna is not something to mess around with--and there has NEVER been any controlled studies that have shown that Hyland's teething tablets have any positive effect on teething pain (anecdotal evidence =/= proof).
Have you tried tylenol for the worst of the teething pain (tylenol is both regulated and tested by the FDA and has clinical trials to show it is a proven pain reducer for babies) and cold/frozen washcloths to gnaw on for the rest of the time? I do feel your pain--teething is so tough on parents and kiddos alike--but it, too, will pass!
This.
I used them and loved them with DD1. We used them as directed for teething from 5months til about 11 months. Then the FDA made them pull them due to kids showing signs of belladonna poisoning. Turns out, my daughter was one of them. She had severe constipation. We always thought it was just how her bowels worked and never thought it was related to the tablets. There wasnt any warning on the box that that might happen. As soon as we stopped the tablets, she was fine. There were no other changes to her diet that would have resulted in the change.
I won't trust them again with my children. While the product did help with teething it was also poisoning her. now I used oraljel naturals with clove oil, frozen water filled pacifiers and tylenol.
This is great information! thanks! Have you heard anything about Humphreys Teething Tablets? My son hasn't had any horrible teething pain yet, and we haven't needed to use tylenol or tablets, so we've just been giving him teething toys and cold washcloths. But some people have recommended and actually bought the Humphreys tablets for me. So I was just curious.
Yes, Humphrey's contains belladonna as well. A good rule of thumb to remember is that "natural" or "homeopathic" is just code for "not approved/investigated by the FDA." Arsenic and Lead are both "100% natural," and have both been used in various "remedies" over the centuries, but you would NEVER think about giving your baby either of these potent poisons. Even Aspirin could technically be called 100% natural, because it is made from an enzyme that occurs naturally in a certain tree's bark. Natural does not mean safe. Natural also doesn't mean that you are not giving your child real, potent medicine. I hate it when people say that they "swear by teething tablets" because they would never give their child a medicine like Tylenol! As I said above, The medicine in tylenol is rigorously investigated at many levels by independent scientists using double-blinded studies and empirical evidence and every batch is quality controlled by the company that produces it and by the FDA. Why would anyone choose to forego the very occassional use of such a carefully-studied drug (and other safe remedies like cold washcloths), in favor of a potent drug that is sold without going through any quality control process and a drug that countless studies have shown to have no benefit in reducing teething pain (although it is still a real drug, that has real effects on the body--just not the one that it claims to have!)
I am very glad that the people who recommended the tablets to you did not have any ill effects with their own children, but they took a risk--one that my husband and I would never take.
Whoa. I'll be tossing our teething tabs when I get home. I've only given them to her once, and they seemed to have no effect on her, thankfully. No wonder our pedi said, "please, call me before 'trying' any type of 'medicine' with Aria..." I'll be calling next time!
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This is false. Homeopathic medicines do have certain FDA requirements, just not the same ones as prescription drugs.
Homeopathic Medicines are generally regarded as safe by the FDA due to their extreme dilution. The Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States is responsible for establishing good manufacturing procedures and standards for the industry in collaboration with the FDA, as well as overseeing the U.S. Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia. The FDA does not use the same standards for approval of homeopathic medicines as it does for over chemical drugs due to the overwhelming safety record of the homeopathic approach. The FDA's main concerns with homeopathy are health claims.
I think everyone should do their own research, talk to their doctors, and figure out for themselves if they want to go the homeopathic route, but frankly I think there is a lot of unnecessary scaring going on in this thread.
I think it's horrible that people think that FDA approval is the know-all final say on products. IF the FDA's primary reason for existence wasn't to build consumer trust in products, thus fueling the economy in the food and drug sectors, product recalls wouldn't be as widespread as they are and side effects of FDA approved drugs would never include death. Just remember, Yaz once was FDA approved.
Do you or your husband know ANYTHING about homeopathy? They have been using homeopathy for centuries and centuries. What you are talking about is giving a child the actual plan, or part of it, not the extremely diluted amount that is in a Hyland's teething tablet. That's how homeopathy works, which you would know if you knew anything about it. I'm shocked and appalled that you are telling a group of nervous, first time women that it's not okay to use an all natural, trusted for centuries way of treating ailments, but you are emphasizing using an OTC pharmaceutical medication. Use of such medications in infants can cause myriads of problems, including liver failure. I hope that all of the women on here who have read this thread do research of their own before making a decision, because that is what everyone should do, and what you obviously did not.
I'm sorry--I just can't agree with you that there is any "unecessary scaring" on this board. I just wanted to make sure that people know that "homeopathic remedies" are not safety tested by the FDA and are not tested for effectiveness at treating the affliction that they claim to treat.
This is an exerpt from an article that discusses the incredible "loophole" that allows potentially dangerous drugs to be labelled as "homeopathic" and put on the market without the rigorous testing required of "medicine" approved by the FDA:
It might seem reasonable not to require safety testing for homeopathic product, since most homeopathic preparations have ?little or no active ingredients.? That has, in fact, been the core criticism of ? well, anyone with the slightest bit of scientific literacy and common sense. Homeopathic pills are literal placebos ? nothing but sugar and water. So why bother testing for safety?
However, the loose regulations allow anything to be sold as a ?homeopathic? remedy that is listed in the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States- and its supplements. That?s right ? homeopaths can make up new products (new combinations of ingredients that are not actually present in the product), write them down in a supplement, and they are magically approved by the FDA.
This has led to some products being sold under the label of ?homeopathic? because it?s the magic carpet ride to the market. Recently Zicam, a cold remedy some formulations of which were sold as ?homeopathic?, were linked to anosmia (loss of the ability to smell). The products contained zinc compounds in a 1x or 2x dilution (x meaning 1:10 dilution ? in homeopathic nomenclature ?C? is a 1:100 dilution). This is hardly diluted at all ? meaning there was actual active ingredient in the product.
This violates the basic assumption of safety for homeopathic products.
This same situation has now occurred again. The FDA has issued a warning that:
Teething tablets ? for babies ? contain measurable and variable amounts of an actual drug, in unsafe doses, and without safety caps (because, hey ? they?re not real drugs). These tablets, like the Zicam products, were fakes of a fake. And in this case the double negative does equal a positive ? measurable amounts of actual drugs capable of causing toxicity, but not regulated as such.
Clearly the regulations are broken. This seems unavoidable given that homeopathy is an unmitigated scam ? the persistence of a pure pseudoscience into the modern scientific era due to cultural inertia and outdated but calcified regulations.
The optimal solution would be for the laws to catch up to the science (they are about a century and a half behind) and remove homeopathic remedies from automatic FDA approval. In fact, they should be banned as fraudulent, in my opinion. At the very least they should be labeled appropriately, with a clear statement that they do not work and do not contain any actual medicine or active ingredients; they are nothing but placebos. If there is actual active ingredient in a preparation ? then it should be regulated like any other drug.
Yeah we already know about the press release from 2010. You are just reiterating old news.
And I'm sorry, but women running home to throw out their teething tablets based on one person's personal opinion on homeopathy? That sounds a little scare-tacticy to me. Again, I hope people do their own research and don't take your word as the be all end all of anything.
ETA: Same thing with your solids post below. That's nice that you have such strong opinions about things you read on the internet, but again I hope that other people educate themselves and not just go off of what they are being suggested here.
And UH the FDA makes mistakes all the damn time let me give an non-exhaustive lists of pharmacutial/devices that have been pulled from the shelves after the FDA has approved them:
Vioxx
Vaginal/Bladder Mesh
Darvocet
Phen-phen
And there are even more under investigation, like paxil, wellbutrin and even YAZ/YASMIN.
In Hylands 100 years of making homeopathic remedies this is there first EVER recall and the amount of belladonna in the tablet is less than you would find in a calming tea, I bet. So, untwist your freakin' panties and stop scaring people with your "OMG BELLADONNA POISIONING" you friggin' sanctimommy.
My husband learned in medical school to stay away from "homeopathic" remedies, because either: (a) they are real medicine that has been diluted to far below the effective dosage to be able to legally call them "homeopathic, or (b) they are not truly homeopathic (read: sugar water) and contain active, real medicine that has not been tested or approved in any capacity. Frankly, the fact that there is no regulation of this market, and that Hyland's Teething Tablets were forcibly recalled 1.5 years ago due to babies having serious adverse reactions from belladonna poisoining SHOULD scare moms against using such products.
And yes, occassionally well-tested, FDA approved products like YAZ and Tylenol do end up causing adverse side effects in certain people (in fact, almost every drug out there has side effects that a certain percentage of the population will experience!). But if drugs that have gone through the rigorous FDA approval process still end up occassionally causing adverse reactions in the population, just think of all the problems that have occurred in non-tested, non-regulated "natural medicines." What makes it worse is that, because there is no central repository/database for reporting side affects of "natural medicines," they tend to stay on the market longer and cause more harm than those that are controlled through the prescription process where physicians try to report all adverse affects suffered by their patients and the FDA gets involved much earlier in mandating recalls.
Wait we're talking about the FDA- The Federal Food And Drug Administration the one that came under fire for streamlining the process of drug approvals that has basically led to recalls of many drugs and the investigation of others.
AND UH OF COURSE YOUR HUSBAND WAS TOLD TO STAY AWAY FROM HOMEOPATHY how the F.UCKIN.G F.UC.K do you think he'll get paid if he has no patients because they all went to a homeopath instead of him and no kick backs from the drug companies.
You can take "WELL my husband is a ped" advice and stick it right up your sanctimonious a.s.s.
Well obviously homeopathy is evil if medical school said so.
I am a firm believer that if it wasn't for homeopathy/acupuncture, the beautiful little girl in my signature wouldn't exist. Just saying.
I am CERTAINLY not a sanctimommy. I just get tired of misinformation out there. I get tired of people who "wouldn't dream of giving their precious LO any tylenol because medicine = evil," but are preaching the benefits of an unregulated medicine containing admittedly unknown amounts of a potent toxin (belladonna). I honestly don't care what choices people make for their own children. I just want other moms to have the benefit of information about supposedly "all natural" products. I think that the "all natural" label is VERY deceitful and occassionally dangerous, when people assume all-natural means safe, as those moms did whose babies were poisoned by a belladonna overdose from those all-natural Hylands teething tablets in 2010 (less than a year and a half ago!)
I just want people to make educated decisions. I don't think this is worth "running home to throw out tablets," and I didn't argue that anyone should run home to do so. I just am in the camp that more information can never hurt!
And yes, I also posted the information about allergies potentially being reduced in children who start solids before 6 months because I thought it was interesting. Like I said in that post, my pediatrician discussed it with me, and then I found those articles on reputable websites to back up her initial conversation. I don't just believe what I read on the internet. But I do occassionally discuss things with my husband (a pediatrician) or my LO's pediatrician that I think might interest this group.
I apologize if presenting more than one viewpoint on an issue threatens you and the choices you make for your LO. That is not my intention!
This right here is why you are getting called a "sanctimommy". Just FYI. Because you are convinced that you are 100% right even though you obviously don't know everything there is to know about the subject.
Just because your husband went to medical school doesn't mean that you know all there is to know about a subject that they don't even actually teach very much about in medical school.
I don't care if people in here listen to me or not, but I certainly hope they don't run home and throw away their teething tablets based on your opinion.
Not really caring what your intention here is Sooner- but what I see is you being a little bit "OMG DON'T USE HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES THEY ARE UNTESTED" when in actuality, they are tested. The whole thing about hylands, I will say again is that they NEVER had a recall and the one they did was purely voluntary at that. Moreover it was not about the freakin' belladonna as you quoted but about packaging. So stop with your I wanted to inform BULLS.HIT that we all know is BS.
I just found your line of reasoning for being against homeopathy very hypocritical because the FDA has a far worse track record when it comes to approving and selling medications for profit. And again of course med schools will teach the evils of homeopathy how the f.uck do you expect them to get money for the drug companies to have GlaxoSmithKlien Hall or the MERCK auditorium unless they tell doctors to deny natural medicine. Science is science and homeopathy for something like teething is better than shoving chemically formulated drugs down my child's throat. It's called being aware and being a good parent. DONE.
And, yeah your articles were arguably reputable. My first has no allergies while my second is allergic to milk and is on hypoallergenic formula (I am going to wait a few minutes while you crucify me for giving my child evil evil formula too). Both will be fed using BLW and I will wait for him to show signs of readiness which is better than force feeding him food before he wants it. thankyouverymuch.
Just FYI--actually there have been awesome articles lately about the effectiveness of acupuncture in a variety of contexts. I think it is awesome that you were able to use a range of treatments to facilitate the birth of your sweet LO.
I don't like arguing with internet strangers, but the question has never been about whether the FDA is EVER wrong or whether there has ever been a homeopathic remedy that has later been proven to work (answer: there has, and whatever caused them to work quickly became real drugs, governed by the FDA). The real question is what does each mom feel is a best choice for their precious LO.
My entire point was just that I have done lots of research on the issue and talked to knowledgeable people, and I don't feel comfortable using teething tablets, for the reasons stated above. I wanted to share this with the group, so that everyone could benefit from an exchange of information. In order to do so, I had to cite articles that I had read and identify that the people I talked to were pediatricians, so that other people could calmly review, and make their own decisions based on that.
Like I have said before, I don't care what you do with your LO. But if you are trying to imply that my husband, who cares about his little 4 month old daughter more than life itself, would jeopardize her health in telling me not to give her teething tablets and to only give her tylenol or frozen washcloths to ease her teething pain just to "get kickbacks from the drug companies" (whatever that means!), you are off your rocker. You have no idea how much research doctors go through in their everyday practice (much less in medical school). My husband, with all that research under his belt, would do anything for our daughter to be safe and healthy--and he recommends staying away from homeopathic remedies (and has ensured that our LO has received all of her vaccinations on time, but that is a subject for another day!).
People are allowed to disagree. It is rude, however, to personally attack me, merely for having a different opinion than you re: homeopathic remedies and chosing to share what I believe with this group.
You don't see at all what you are doing though Sooner. You think because you did your research and are presenting it to the "group" at large that some how your opinion is the right opinion. To say that you don't care what others do is BS, you know it. If you honestly didn't care you would have kept your trap shut but you didn't. Instead you insighted a panic and massive toss of Hylands Teething tablets. I have a 4 year old and you know what she teethed really poorly we used teething tablets probably 3 times a day and you know what SHE LIVED, it's amazing.
And yeah drug companies love the cashcow that is homeopathy don't they. You said so yourself anything worth its salt in homeopathy usually becomes a regulated drug that I now have to pay 9 times the price for because it's formulary. GO BIG PHARMA w00t.
And you want to tell me that your husband doesn't get incentives to push certain drugs. Again, I call BS.
Just so we are on the same page, homeopathy and tylenol are both medicines. Just one is approved by the FDA, while the other is untested. They may both work to reduce teething pain--I don't know. But teething tablets are medicine (with potential risks of side effects), and I just wanted people to know that.
As for the food/allergies article, I would NEVER judge anyone for using formula. Oh my gosh. I BF because it is easy and cheap. Your LO was allergic to milk, you had no choice, and formula is better now than it ever has been in the past--in fact, lab science has pretty much made it bioidentical to BM in every way except for the antibodies, which can probably be picked up by LO just living in the same environment as you.
I was also told by my pedi to look for signs of readiness before feeding, and we have only given small tastes of a variety of foods to our LO (including DH giving her a taste of ice cream off his thumb the other day b/c why not?) We certainly don't force feed her, and never intend to. I like the basic tenants of BLW, although I am petrified of our LO choking, so I probably won't be able to just let her go whole hog on things and gag (but again, that is just me...I honestly don't know of any studies or articles about the benefits/detriments of BLW vs. starting with veggie purees, which is what we did).
I never told people to throw away their teething tablets. I just gave an opinion, backed up by studies/info/etc. re: our decision not to use them. What people do with that information is their own decision--clearly you used them. We are all free people in this country. I don't have such an inflated sense of self that my comments on an internet board could incite a panic and a massive toss of teething tablets. If people read my opinion and thought it made sense and tossed their tablets, that is fine. If they don't, that is also fine. I just think more info. is usually better, since we are all trying to do the best for our LOs.
And YES, I can tell you 100% without a shadow of a doubt that my husband does nto get incentives to push certain drugs. That is 100% illegal for either hospitals or doctors to get kickbacks. My husband is both a moral and ethical man, and works for a moral and ethical hospital, and he would never accept kickbacks, both because they are illegal and because he would always try to find the right treatment for every single one of his patients--even when that treatment is to do nothing and let nature/time heal the kiddo without any medicine (you wouldn't believe how many times a week he gets yelled at by angry parents when he refuses to prescribe antibiotics or other uneccesary drugs to kids just because "they are sick." If a medical treatment is not absolutely necessary, he is a firm believer in watchful waiting, wet washcloths and lots of distractions for sick, irritable kids).
He's never attended dinners or lunches provided by drug reps? Received items that have a drug label on them (pens, notepads, stress balls, etc). I can't even tell you how many free lunches/dinners my husband got as a medical student (while doing clinical rotations) from drug reps. kickbacks aren't always straight up cash.... just saying...
I'd also like to add that my DH has also gone to medical school, talked with knowledgeable people and done his own research on homeopathic medicines - which is why we use them before trying other things. That doesn't mean we don't use OTC or prescription medications as they certainly have their place and uses. We just prefer to not depend on them.
Hylands tablets were recommended to us by 4 different pediatricians in 3 different states. We have used them since DD1 started teething in 2007. For our LOs they have been more consistently effective than oral gel.
As you know, the ballpoint pens and stressballs are considered "de minimus" exemptions from the anti-kickback laws (and you certainly don't get more of them the more of a certain medicine you prescribe!), and these days there are certainly not nearly as many free lunches and no free dinners at restaurants! Laws have changed to make sure that doctors would never prescribe medicines in an attempt to gain favor with a drug company!
I am happy that you made a decision that was right for your family based on all the info. out there. I am so surprised I have been personally attacked for merely stating my opinion (and citing to the resources I used to form my opinion--isn't the Bump designed for moms to trade opinions with each other?) I had never heard of a pediatrician around here that put any stock in homeopathic teething tablets, but your response will make me ask my husband to check and see if there has been anything more recent concerning the efficacy/reliability of such products.
One thing we can definitely both agree on is minimizing all medications that go into our LOs, whether prescription, homeopathic or OTC--there is definitely a place for them, but why use them if a more physical remedy (cold washcloth, frozen/mesh teethers, etc.) will do?
Sorry, but the FDA won't test herbal and homeopathic remedies because the drug lobbyists have been very successful in shutting down any attempt to get such things certified. That doesn't mean that they're evil, untested, or automatically dangerous.
ETA:
Also, I sourced this from my husband, who is a political scientist. So it's obviously the only correct way of thinking of it.
I think it i hilarious how some people feel so threatened by me presenting a viewpoint different from the common Bump "Hylands Teething Tablets are SOOO amazing!" maxim.
I presented a few articles and reasons why I would never personally give teething tablets to my LO. One (only one) of those reasons was that my husband has read about these and other homeopathic remedies, and said they are essentially potentially dangerous snake oil. I included that only because it is something that I took into account when we made our decision not to give our LO teething tablets.
I just don't get the personal attacks, the curse-filled diatribes against me personally, my husband, etc.
Why is it so scary for people to have different opinions and to state the reasons for those opinions?
Again, you all are free to do whatever the heck you want and to give your LOs anything you think is safe for them. I just wanted to share some info. that is out there on these so-called "100% natural" products, just so that moms can make decisions with all the facts on the table.
I wouldn't take the attacks personally, even though there are a few who disagree, there are many of us who really appreciate your views and opinions. Even though I probably won't toss the tabs just yet, the information you've provided will definitely make me think twice about popping them in my child's mouth every time he cries from teething, and to try other options first.
I find your responses to be very well written and thought out, and thank you for making me research this (and any "all natural") product more thoroughly before assuming "natural = safe". In the end we all, as parents who love our children to the ends of the earth, will do what we feel is best for our kids based on our own knowledge, research and advice.
I find the natural and homeopathic groups (ie Natural News) to be just as guilty of using "scare tactics" to sway new parents in their direction as modern medicine...
But before you negate a type of medicine that has existed for thousands of years - ya might want to learn what it is and how it works. Their is an art to homeopathic diagnosis and treatment. One that is based on the sympoms that an individual has - not the disease. Therefore, five people could have the same cold virus, for example, and be treated with five different remedies. There is a subtly to homeopathic treatment that is lost on allopathic physicians. There is no one size fits all. This principle is actually why the mass market teething remedies are far less effective than selecting an individual remedy for an individual moment. The most appropriate remedy can change day to day as symptoms change. Additionally, the concentrations found in remedies are sooooo low - it is damn near impossible to be hurt by any remedy that you can obtain OTC.
My family is a Foreign Service family. Families like mine are posted in every corner of the globe. We live our lives away from family, friends and the conviences and comforts of home. We often live and work in dangerous places among those that misunderstand our intentions and purposes. Sometimes members of our ranks sacrifice our lives to further diplomacy. Please remember that we serve too. And I'm always open to questions.