7/9/12

The Best Teething Toys for Infants

If you've ever visited the "teething" aisle of your local baby store, then you know, it's a wall of confusion. I stood there staring at the wild wall of colors and shapes for at least 15 minutes trying to decipher what they all meant. It’s a teething toy, why so many different variations? What's most annoying, the same company would have 3 different types, with different colors, shapes, and textures, all for the same purpose! 

WHATTHEHELL???? 

After about five minutes, I realized there were three basic types of teethers:

1. For front teeth, 
2. Back teeth 
3. Both, front and back. 

With Ollie working on front teeth, I was able to eliminate the back teeth teethers from the running. This left me with only 4,065, toys and pacifiers to choose from. UGH!

I opted for a Dr. Browns Teething Pacifier, and a traditional Garanimals teething ring. (Shown Below) 






Dr. Browns Infant Teether
Rated for 3mos +
It's long, flat and has ridges.
I got this last month when Oliver was 4 months old.
At first, it was a no go, but the older he gets
the more time he gives it.
Now he only uses it if he gets it sideways,
but spits it out in 30 seconds or less.
At 5 months old, it's still a FAIL!


Long story short… Both were not right.  Oliver couldn’t have been less interested in the two.  So, like a good mom, back to the store I went.  (READ: He needed to chew on something other than my dirty keys and fingers. 

Long story longer… 

Fail again.

After enough fails, I finally realized there is no perfect teether out there, just thousands that promise to be. 

I’m going to go through each one of, each type of teether I purchased, and explain why it did or didn't work. There is good news, though, you probably already have the best infant teether hanging from your stroller! 

Garanimals Teething ring
Rated for 3 months +

 The beads are WAY too big.
At 5 months old, Oliver cannot get it into his mouth.
It's also hard and very heavy for a baby.
Oliver shook it like a rattle and hit himself in the head.
HARD!

This is an Epic fail.








ALEX YUM YUM Teether
Rated for 3 months +
This is near twice the size of my palm.
It is hard, and the rattle in the middle makes it heavy.
Oliver cannot figure out how to hold it, let alone chew on it.
It's much too complex for my 5-month-old baby.
The edges are also too big to get into his mouth,
and the pointed edges have made him gag.
Fail!


These are basic water filled teethers.
Optimal for infants: small, light and easy to hold.

I highly recommend a stint in the refrigerator, 
NOT the freezer,
 it's too cold for those little fingers!




Sophie!
We got Sofie at my baby shower.
Ollie Loves Sofie.
He shoves Sofie in his mouth every day.
The best aspect of this toy is that its soft and light weight.
Great for infants!



AND THE WINNER IS... 




These are basic "Links" and come in packs of multiples,for under $5!
Each has a different color, pattern, and texture. some even have a soft rubber around them! Most of all they are very light, safe and easy to hold.  Another plus is that they are very inexpensive, Five Bucks! And they have soooooo many more uses!


The soft monkey I added since Ollie loves to chew on him. All of these things are easy to wash and sanitize. Hands down the very best teethers for infants.



If I could I would return every one of the expensive "teethers." In my experience, infants do not have the ability to hold AND chew on the complex, heavy, large teething toys.  Possibly when your baby is older these complex toys will work. For now, stick to the (inexpensive) basics; plastic links and soft toys. 




                                                           

Two confused parents=One amused baby Hopelessly we are trying raise a baby who is clearly smarter than both of us. April is an award-winning writer and blogger. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more on April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com

8 comments:

Mrs. Loquacious said...

So our favourite (well, Baby Loquacious's favourite) teether of all time? A wet facecloth. No word of a lie, she can suck on that thing for hours, until her face is all red from the coldness of the towel rubbing against her skin over and over again. I've given up on buying her anything. Her silicone rings (which I already posted about) are hit-miss (but mostly hit) and every single bloody teether my mom bought is too friggin' heavy for her to hold. She likes the links too, but maybe not quite as much as your little Ollie.

Unknown said...

Yay we've got some of those links already!
We've also got a nuby (looks alot like your garanimals thingeemabob only bigger)but poor bub can't get it in his mouth lol. Will have to invest in some water filled toys though!

FirstTimeMomandDad.com said...

I believe it! A facecloth soaked in camamile tea and chilled is our new favorite-details in tomorrows blog. The links are multi colored and textured, he loves them for that. The fact that they fit in his mouth is a bonus. All of the teething specific things are either too heavy or too big for his little mouth or hands. We are not buying any more teethers until he shows interest in the 10 we already have!

FirstTimeMomandDad.com said...

The water filled are nice because you can chill them. But wait for tomorrows blog before you go to the store. I found the MUST HAVE!

Unknown said...

Oh cool, exciting!

Layes Landing said...

this was veeeery timely for us!! you saved us some money. Owie does love him a link so will just buy a few more.

FirstTimeMomandDad.com said...

Get the textured ones and call it a day! When Ollie shows some attention to the other teething toys I'll let you know. For now we just have links hanging from everything!

britmouth said...

My little one likes the water filled teethers, but he has a hard time retaining a grip on them. He LOVES Sophie the giraffe and seems to hold onto her for longer, but his favorite is the raspberry teether that looks like a bumpy pacifier. He has never taken to a paci, but he loves to chew on his raspberry and it is super easy for him to hold. We haven't tried the links yet, I'll need to get some of those. Thanks for the tips!