Review: Inspired by Finn amber necklaces

We promised you'd get the honest truth on this blog, right? Honestly, I have to admit that I was quite the skeptic of amber teething necklaces until recently. I have some pharmacy background, and while I don't rush to medications, I'm "used to" clinical trials and things of that sort to base my decisions upon. I was living a double-life for a while, not telling my pharmacy friends I wanted to try one, and not telling my crunchy friends that I was still a bit skeptical. *blush* Teething for lil J started to hit HARD, though...I wanted to buy one but I couldn't bring myself to make the investment on something that hasn't been "proven"! Then I received a surprise package from a special friend, and in it was an Inspired by Finn necklace!!! I was thrilled!

I had already done my homework to investigate the "mechanism of action". The amber is a resin, which when worn against warm skin, releases substances which include succinic acid. This has an analgesic effect. Amber is worn commonly for teething for babies and toddlers, and the jewelry should be worn close to the location of the discomfort, so a necklace is perfect for teething. I was expecting to be able to notice a difference in as early as 18-24 hours.

Unbelievably to me, lil J seemed to achieve some benefit within 4-6 hours... She'd been having fitful naps during the day and was up and down all night for several nights in a row. That day, she slept for 2 1/2 hours straight - a small miracle! Of course, most of me thought this was a coincidence, but after several more restful nights, I could no longer deny it's benefits.  My husband even noticed as well! In fact, we'd been using it on our younger baby, but we also had a *really* cranky toddler. We joked that maybe she needed an amber necklace during the first week we had one. Two weeks later, we decided something had to give with our older baby. One morning, I showed it to her, and the girl who wouldn't let me put anything on her like hair bows or any type of accessory "allowed" me to put it on her. I held my breath that morning, and had to mildly correct her only a few times when she wanted to play with it or put it in her mouth. When bedtime came around, I doubled it and put it around her ankle under footie jammies. The next morning, I took it off to put it back on her little sister, and she would have NOTHING to do with her little sister wearing it any more. SHE was going to wear it. And she has ever since! Could she *really* associate it with relief, or did she just decide she liked to accessorize all of a sudden? Jury's still out on that one, but the bulk of her fussiness is gone. You decide! :)

Meanwhile, little sister still has teething full force, so we got a second necklace and pretty well breezed through two teeth coming through in two days, then 2 more teeth the next week! I'm not going to tell you there was zero fussing, but with her being our fourth baby, I can confidently say this is some of the easiest teething we've been through.

One of the most common questions is, "what size"? Size is a preference. You don't want it too tight, but since it's benefits are when it lies against the skin, you do want a close fit. Also know your child's tendencies. If they tend to try to put things in their mouth, consider having one short enough that it cannot be put in the mouth by the child, as it is not intended to be chewed on. To get your perfect fit, take a piece of string to find the length you'd like, then measure it. The Inspired by Finn necklace will come as a length "range". The range is small (1/2 to 1 inch), but by nature, the beads are not exactly the same size, so there will be a small amount of variability in length.

I definitely had some safety concerns at first. A few things that made me feel confident is that the string *could* break with enough tension, and the beads are individually knotted. If the necklace were to break, beads would not go everywhere. As a mom, I don't want a necklace that won't break - to me, that is a higher risk than one that would break if it experienced too much tension. These are not recommended to be worn at night by a child. Many do without problems, but if you choose to have your child sleep with it on, the safe recommendation is to double it and have it on an ankle under pajamas.

Here are a few pics of the girls wearing theirs. The 2-different is a size 14-14 1/2 inch, and the butter round (lighter color on the smaller baby) is in the 12 1/2 to 13 inch range. Our girls are about 6 and 20 months old in the pictures, for reference.

Now the once-skeptic is waiting on her very own amber necklace!! I'm going to try one myself for occasional headaches, and I'm excited! Regular over-the-counter meds work, but if I can avoid them, great!

Mami's and Papi's has a few in stock here for children and here for adults, but through tomorrow morning February 1st, they are doing a SPECIAL ORDER!!! If they don't have what you're looking for, let Mami know at mami@mamisandpapis.com or on facebook, and she'll order it just for you!!

~Prima~