One of my pet peeves as a mom is that every company designing items for baby seems to think that babies require bright colors, happy faces, and perky puppies/kittens/trucks/flowers on everything. So I have to wonder: do these people even have children? My son can't be the only kid who is completely obsessed with my plain-Jane car keys and remote control. And my very non-cutesy iPhone? Don't even get me started.
Once he started teething, I caved and bought him various insufferably "precious" teething devices in an attempt to soothe his aching gums. The nimby-pimby Baby Einstein "Teeth and Tug Pal?" We have both the lion and the frog. He teethed on them for approximately 40 seconds each, then went back to stuffing his mouth full of anything unembellished yet terrifying – rocks, keys, a butter knife on one occasion. If only I had heard of the Toofeze Teether.
The Toofeze Teether (from "Oh That Baby!") is a decidedly chicer and smarter take on the basic teether. It's made of silicone and stainless-steel (Yay! No scary plastic!!), with a handle designed for little baby hands. It looks cool, and comes with glowing recommendations from various Pediatric MDs. But does it work? Having been burned by the Under the Nile Organic Cotton Teething Veggies (my son, even at 6 months thought they were the stupidest thing he has ever seen. Good thing I bought a whole crate) I decided to recruit a few new moms with little babies to test this thing out.
In short, it was a baby love fest. Little teething babies, especially babes getting their front teeth, couldn't put the Toofeze Teether down. The stainless-steel center is nice and cool, and, as one of our testers Robin pointed out, you could cool it off further in a matter of seconds by running it under cold water, as opposed to other teethers that must be frozen or refrigerated first. Also, because it isn't frozen (just naturally cold), it soothes their little gums better than the frozen solid kind. Did I mention it's dishwasher safe? Love that.
Our one complaint from all moms is that their kiddos eventually grew out of it. It's a perfect shape for babies, but once you have a toddler with molars coming in, they couldn't get the stainless-steel disc back far enough. Sooo…Toofeze creators, are you listening? We would like a toddler version with a longer handle!
But for baby #2 (when I get there eventually)…I'll go the Toofeze route. It will save me a ton of headache, and a whole lot of room on the shelf, once I get rid of the useless Crate-o-Organic-Veggies. And the Toofeze can be engraved! I'm trying to decide between a monogram (which will give it a sweet Southern Bell sensibility) and something like "Suck this". It's a tough one. In either case, it would be a cool shower gift.
The Toofeze Teether retails at Becoming Mothers in Boulder, CO (or in their online store) for $25.
xo,
S
omg! imogene had that organic bean and she bit a hole through it:) wish i had a teething babe to buy new style for… maybe i would engrave it simply “sucker”.
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A Cool, Modern Teether in Baby-Friendly Silicone and Stainless Steel is good for the baby. Parents must use such products. As a father i got a lot of information which i must share with my wife. May essayguard is one of the finest source which is good for us.