hylands teething tabs-what's the deal?

[tzs]

i had heard great things about hylands teething tabs here. plus, the lactation consultant who runs our baby group recommended them. and they sell them at target so they must be safe, right? so i started using them.

thing is...this week i hear a slew of contrasting opinions. that one of the ingredients is a nightshade, a sedative, and a household "poison."
that one friend's mom who's a crunchy ped had a patient "overdose" on a regular dose of it (bright red face, huge dilated pupils.) and that in no way should i give the recommended dose but just start at one tab and see how it goes.

then my friend's doc husband who won't buy them for their own babe suggested i take an adjusted adult dose to see how it feels and if i feel it's ok to continue giving them to her. thing is...put like that...there's no way i woudl take a bunch of that stuff. too scary. so why would i give it to my babe then?
i'm conflicted. she hasn't had an overtly negative reaction but i don't know how they make her feel. tylenol i know....this, i have no idea.

anybody out there have a negative experience?

[~Sarah~]

Belladonna/nightshade is like any other drug----take too much, and it's a poison. Take the right amount, and it's a cure. Tylenol will do the same. Only, Belladonna wasn't made in a lab, has been used for thousands of years safely, and is harder to overdose in Hyland's form than other drugs.

[texaspeach]

do you know how homeopathy works/is supposed to work?

the remedy so diluted that it's basically a sugar pill. that's it. some say that the dilution has the memory of the energy of the cure and that's why it works. we don't use them because I don't believe in homeopathy cures any more than I believe in the easter bunny, but it certainly isn't dangerous.

this was posted a few days ago http://www.hylands.com/news/teethinginfo.php

[texaspeach]

Originally Posted by ~Sarah~

Belladonna/nightshade is like any other drug----take too much, and it's a poison. Take the right amount, and it's a cure. Tylenol will do the same. Only, Belladonna wasn't made in a lab, has been used for thousands of years safely, and is harder to overdose in Hyland's form than other drugs.

just remember, this is homeopathy not herbal. and natural does not always mean better or safe.

[tzs]

Originally Posted by texaspeach

just remember, this is homeopathy not herbal. and natural does not always mean better or safe.

yep. i've always been one for regulation. might make me more of an outsider here but whatever.

i've just been thinking that it's interesting that i'm giving my kid something i'd be too freaked out to take myself (not that others wouldn't, i'm just not that comfortable with the unknown aspect of herbal stuff. it's a personal thing)

i guess at least i'm not going to dole it so freely and save it for those really hard days...although i guess i'd be more likely to do some tylenol at those times anyway. oh well.

[DevaMajka]

Originally Posted by tzs

thing is...this week i hear a slew of contrasting opinions. that one of the ingredients is a nightshade,

I think potatoes and tomatoes are nightshades as well.
The other baby could have been reacting to other ingredients in the tablet- are there colors or flavors in it?

That being said, I'm not sure how much of a believer I am when it comes to homeopathy.

[askew]

FWIW the homeopathy industry IS governed my the FDA. They have as strict of manufacturing standards as pharmaceuticals, and in Europe where most are made, are treated as such.

OP- We have had good results with the teething tabs, and the teething gel, and never seen an adverse reaction.

[karika]

they are completely safe and there is no way an overdose could occur in normal use. Most likely any rumor heard was just another way to cast doubt on natural remedies. If you read the page in the link provided by a PP you will see that a 10 lb child would have to ingest 1000 tabs to show any reaction to Belladonna. No one has ever died from them. About 450 people die yearly from Tylenol OD http://patient-health-education.suit...afe_painkiller Also, pharmaceutical drugs taken as prescribed are the fourth leading cause of death in this country, and it isn't talked about openly. The difference is money. It is in the healthcare industry's interests that you stay sick so they can make more money with drugs and treatments. Natural cures are helpful and harmless (when used properly). A person using them should read all the literature about the subject that they can of course, if they are using more than one remedy, they should know if there will be any interaction. However, a prepared remedy such as Hyland's is very safe. I use them, giving 2 tabs every 15 min until the child is relieved. Recently the pharmaceutical companies have begun a campaign to end natural remedies since they can't make money on them in the long run (by using them the patient creates wellness for themselves and so will not be needing the healthcare industry's sickcare any longer). Thankfully the latest bill proposed by Sen McCain was ended by him after he had a talk with a well known natural remedy advocate(and thousands wrote to the legislators about it)
.

[Aufilia]

I have a hard time imagining how you could really overdose on Hylands. There isn't really much in them, to be honest. The day we moved into this house I had left a bottle of them in a suitcase, and my DD (who was about 2 and maybe 25lb) found it, got it open, and ate maybe 100, maybe 150 of them. The poison control center suggested I give her some milk or else she might end up with indigestion. She didn't even have THAT. The only problem resulting form the entire incident was the amount she'd smashed into the lining of my suitcase.

[~Sarah~]

Originally Posted by texaspeach

just remember, this is homeopathy not herbal. and natural does not always mean better or safe.

I don't really remember making the distinction? Belladonna *is* a plant, and that's what the homeopathic remedy starts with (as well as chamomile and one other).

And I think we all know the adage about natural not necessarily being safe. But if there *is* a safe natural alternative to man-made drugs, isn't that preferable? I mean, if this thread was about letting them eat Nightshade berries, then okay. That's a different story.

[wombatclay]

I don't really remember making the distinction? Belladonna *is* a plant, and that's what the homeopathic remedy starts with (as well as chamomile and one other).

The difference between herbal and homeopathic is... well... it's a bit convoluted and interpretations of the difference vary based on your personal opinions about homeopathics. But I'll give it a go...

To produce a homeopathic remedy you take the original item and soak it in a mixture of alcohol and water to create a "mother tincture". This tincture is then diluted... for example, a 1c remedy means one drop of mother tincture to 99 drops of carrier liquid. A 2c remedy takes one drop from the previously diluted 1c remedy and adds that to 99 drops of carrier. A 3c takes one drop from the doubly diluted 2c and adds that drop to 99 drops of carrier. And so one. By the time you get to a 15c remedy the amount of "mother tincture" in the mix is so small as to be unfindable using something like a mass spec.

The reason homeopathic remedies work (if you believe they work) varies according to the person asked. Some people feel the resonance of the original substance is patterned into the carrier, some believe it's the placebo affect, some believe the remedy is making up a lack in the body or stimulating the body to fulfill a lack. But really, a homeopathic remedy does NOT contain anything that could cause harm unless one is sensitive to sugar or alcohol. Which is why some people feel that these remedies could not possibly work... if there isn't anything that could be harmful in large doses, then there couldn't be anything beneficial either.

There is a huge difference between this sort of massive, multiple, dilution and using an herb straight up or at "mother tincture" strength.

~~~~~~~
in the interest of full disclosure, I use homeopathic remedies but believe they work more as a placebo... my feeling is they can't hurt, might help, and are worth a shot before moving on to remedies that may be more effective but also more risky. I've had some pretty impressive "hits"... reducing mastitis inflamation, clearing a chronic eye problem in my dd2, etc as well as complete "misses". But like I said, I give them a try.

[mkksmom]

I personally don't use them. I tried once 5 years ago with my older dd, but I heard another mama say that her ped said they have sugar in them. I have no idea if that's true, but if it is, I'd avoid them. So far at 5.5 mo, we tried a half dose of Tylenol once and haven't needed anything since.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Health and Healing, as per the forum guidelines, since this seems to be a discussion on homeopathy

[karika]

Originally Posted by mkksmom

I personally don't use them. I tried once 5 years ago with my older dd, but I heard another mama say that her ped said they have sugar in them. I have no idea if that's true, but if it is, I'd avoid them. So far at 5.5 mo, we tried a half dose of Tylenol once and haven't needed anything since.

Tylenol has HFCS and other types of sweeteners. If you are seeking to avoid sugar, avoid tylenol. There is no HFCS or sugar in hyland's, or colors or lab created chemicals. The formula is produced in a base of lactose, which is milk sugar. Here are the ingredients of each


HYLAND'S
Formula:

Calcarea Phosphorica 3X HPUS - supports dentition
Chamomilla 3X HPUS - for irritability
Coffea Cruda 3X HPUS - for wakefulness and diuresis
Belladonna 3X HPUS (0.0003% Alkaloids) - for redness and inflammation
In a base of Lactose (milk sugar) NF.


TYLENOL


Cherry Blast
Acetaminophen
160 mg in each
5 mL = 1 teaspoon
Anhydrous citric acid, butylparaben, FD&C Red#40, flavors, glycerin, high fructose corn syrup, microcrystalline cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose sodium, propylene glycol, purified water, sodium benzoate, sorbitol solution, sucralose, xanthan gum.

We don't use HFCS, food colorings, preservatives, sorbitol or sucralose. or acetaminophen. If it grows on the earth, it is safer

[chattyprincess]

Tzs...is there a reason your not comfortable taking these? I would highly suggest that you take anything before giving it to your child. Especially if you are uncomfortable with it. When dd was teething the only thing that seemed to work was those little hylands tabs. Really in my opinion at the time it was ridiculous that it should work...but oddly enough they did. I hear from numerous moms that they are a "miracle cure" etc etc. However at the moment I am living in canada where gripe water is still made and sold and everymother I know adores that as well...both products are highly recommened to have on hand by the peds in this area. When I gave them to dd I wasn't even sure if "homeopathy" worked or not but I did know I was desperate and willing to try anything! And yep it worked better then the tylenol, motrin and that gel stuff.
Now that I "understand" a tiny bit more about homeopathy I still cannot say if I believe in it or not. I would suggest you do the math for your weight and take the proper number of the pills and have at it. My only reccomendation is that you take the pills before doing something besides sitting around the house "waiting" for something to happen...Like wait until dh is home and then take them and go for a walk so that you are distracted and less likely to sit there willing something bad to happen. I took mine when I was home alone with dd and had cleaning to do. Nothing happened...not a thing...so there you have it thats my experience.
I think horror stories for all medicines are common. I hear them about tylenol, motrin, homeopathic things, really and truly for every med on the market SOMEONE has had a strange weird/bad reaction to it. Thats just the nature of all medicine.