Are Teething Tablets Safe?

As a Mother, I want only the best for my child. As I’m sure we all do. And we also, don’t want our baby to suffer through the pain of teething. When my child started to cut teeth, she wouldn’t eat and she didn’t want to sleep. We had to take her to the ER, because we were afraid she was getting dehydrated. It was a rough time for us each tooth that came in. I would know that the nights she would not sleep were the nights that her teeth were cutting through the skin.

So I looked for ways to sooth her pain, and I came across a highly debated topic.. Teething Medicines. Some doctors recommended it, and some do not. Some parents allow it, and some will not. I collected some information and links, so that you will be able to read the ingredients, the doctor opinions, and other Mother’s opinions. As for me, I am not saying one way is right or wrong, every parent has a different parenting style. My opinion will be at the bottom of the page. Read my article "Teething Tips and Remedies"

What are Teething Tablets?

Brands such as Hyland’s and Orajel make Teething Tablets, which are tiny little dissolvable pills that go under your child’s tongue or can be dissolved in their bottles. They are meant to help with your child’s pain due to teething, however, most will say they are homeopathic and contain no pain or numbing medicine.

This link is for the Hyland’s Teething Products and will tell you all the facts about their teething products that you need to know.

What is homeopathic?

“Homeopathy demonstrates that a substance that produces a certain set of symptoms in a healthy person can cure a sick person experiencing those same symptoms. For instance, onions make your eyes water when you cut them. If you have a cold or allergies and your symptoms include a runny nose, the likely remedy to treat your runny nose would be Allium Cepa, which is made from onions.” (hylands.com)

What is the debate about?

Teething tablets, like Hyland’s contain belladonna. Belladonna is a plant that can be poisonous when ingested by the mouth. Some people will think that it is not FDA approved, and because the bottles were recalled in 2010. However, the tablets were voluntarily recalled because there were different amounts of Belladonna in each tablet and they did not have child proof caps. The amount of Belladonna in each tablet is now 0.0000000000003%. Hyland’s says “to further clarify the homeopathic dosages of Belladonna in Baby Teething Tablets, a 10-pound child would have to accidentally ingest, all at the same time, more than a dozen bottles of 135 Baby Teething Tablets before experiencing even dry mouth from the product.”

This link will tell you about Belladonna, what it is, what is it used for in medicine, and the effectiveness of is.

This link will take you to FDA’s statement about Hyland’s Teething Tablet’s when they were recalled in 2010.

This link will take you to Hyland’s statement from when it was recalled.

What are other Mom’s saying about these products?

You can read the comments below, as well as my own opinion on teething tablets.

This link will take you to a Circle of Mom’s forum about using teething tablets.

This is a good current article that about teething that also says that Orajel for babies was recalled.

My opinion:

As a Mother I wanted my daughter to be comfortable. I used the Hyland’s teething tablets, and found them to work wonderful! I researched them and talked to my child’s Pediatrician before giving them to her. I did have one person who called me out as a bad mom because I recommended them to someone she knew. Well, this lady, who I don’t know, said it was putting unnecessary ingredients into my child’s body. She also, informed me that the product was recalled, but she had the reason wrong, which I had already known because I have looked it up. When another Mother asks my opinion on anything, I will always say the same thing.. "this is what I did, but Mommy knows best, so do what is best for your child". I am not judging any parent, this is just my opinion. And unlike the woman, who claimed to have a 20-something year old child that she never gave medicine to, but just let them “suffer through it”, I can realize that different people have different opinions and I am not trying to force mine onto anyone.

My Mother and Mother-In-Law have both tried to tell me things that they did. But as I tell them, we are rapidly advancing in technology and medicine from 20 or 30 years ago. So if there was a medicine that could give my child some comfort, help her eat, and get both of us some sleep, I would look into it.

The medicine worked great for me. I would give her some at night when it was the worst, and some when she woke up during the night sometimes. These let her sleep good and be comfortable. She had stopped eating, because it hurt so bad, and we were almost hospitalized for dehydration. But after giving her these, we never had another problem.

If you have used any type of teething tablet or teething gel, or have an opinion on why you didn’t, PLEASE COMMENT! I want other Mom’s to read what another Mom has experienced. You can also, leave links to any pages you found that were helpful in making your decision. Thank You!