Grumble, grumble... I'm slightly irritated (okay, a bit more than slightly) that all my great plans to stock up on Hyland's Teething Tablets in order to supply any and all of our parents with them when they were needed/requested have been foiled. My orders - from 3 different suppliers - made within an hour of the FDA statement - have all been canceled with an "urgent" warning that they figure I must not know about...
In her post at Gaia Health, Heidi Stevenson notes that,
The FDA's goal of making the world safe for Big Pharma is made obvious by their attack on a product for which the possibility of harm is so far-fetched that it's laughable: Hyland's Homeopathic Teething Tablets. Well, it would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that an exceptionally safe product that's been used by thousands to ease their children's teething pains is now gone.And here is where my irritation resides. Rather than give consumers the facts and let them decide for themselves, a product, which was never 'dangerous' to begin with, has been removed from the market and the company given a bad name by those who haven't the slightest clue (mass media, bloggers, store clerks) what they are talking about. In fact, the FDA never tested Hyland's in the first place (as is commonly not done with homeopathic items). They clearly state:
The FDA has not evaluated Hyland’s Teething Tablets for safety or efficacy.Stevenson has already detailed many of the same points I was planning to make in response to the FDA ban, so I'll direct you to read her words here.
It seems, however, that until Hyland's appeases the FDA with a re-release of their teething tablets fully equipped with a child-proof lid (and some possible ingredient tampering) we're high and dry for teething tablets around these parts. All our local vendors are out, and while there is at least one Whole Foods Store that still has them for customers signing a waiver stating they read the FDA recall, it is a full 3 hours away...
My main concern? That the ingredients themselves will be changed, interfering with the effectiveness of Hyland's Teething Tablets before their arrival back on the market.
If you are searching for teething relief at your house, try any of the great suggestions brought up on this list of effective solutions. You may also like Humphrey's Teething Pellets (with the same main ingredients as Hyland's and equally dissolved in the cheek) or Washington Homeopathic Products' similar teething tablets here.
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I hate that this happened, but I am excited about the child-proof lids.
ReplyDeletehave you tried humprhy?s
ReplyDeleteWe're big fans of Humphrey's teething tablets at my house. The ingredients are similar to Hyland's, and they're available at CVS next to the diaper cream and other baby meds. As far as I can tell, Humphrey's tablets are not affected by the recall, but I've seen them at my local health food store, so shop around!
ReplyDeleteJust saw them in CVS. don't think they've pulled them yet
ReplyDeleteTarget makes homepathic teething drops that worked very well for my daughter.
ReplyDeleteI bought a package of Little Remedies brand teething tablets yesterday because I couldn't find the Hyland brand. But all the active ingredients are the same! The lid is different, but they are just as effective with my teething toddler!
ReplyDeletethis is a really sad notice! these tablets helped my baby a lot. me and my friends have ordered them all the way from Romania and we trully hoped we would be able to buy them. is there any kind of protest that may be done?
ReplyDeleteI second trying Humphrey's. All the ingredients are the same EXCEPT their inactive ones. While Hyland's uses lactose, the Humphrey's brand uses corn starch (non GMO) and sucrose. This is fantastic for those of us who have dairy sensitive little ones. And our Walgreens still had plenty of these in stock.
ReplyDeletePersonally - homeopathy is homeopathy. You can get those ingredients anywhere else. It really is a shame for Hylands though (but they are supposed to be back on the shelves in 2011). Mind - I have avoided most of these types of homeopathy things due to their lactose content (for ethical and moral reasons). We don't actually have that brand here - but we have Nelsons.
ReplyDeletei had 5 babies and never needed anything other than the breast and maybe a cold rag to get through teething, thankful every time i see another recall of another product moms have been made to b/l they "need" to take care of their babies. everything you need, you already have, ladies!
ReplyDeleteI was just at my local grocery store (Hannaford, for anyone in the north east) and they are still selling them, no disclaimer or anything. I have used Humphrey's teething pellets, they seem to work the same if not better, and they are lactose free!
ReplyDeleteThat's what i normally use: Humphreys! I can only get them at the Latino drugstores. weird!
ReplyDeletei like to eat 'em like candy ;)
ReplyDeleteHomeopathics can't really have an excess of anything; it's all diluted to less than trace amounts. One would have to take an excess (like a truckload) to acquire enough belladonna to be toxic.
ReplyDeleteI liked Rachael's comment on the pp FB page in response to someone asking about them:
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely no way two tablets could contain enough Belladonna to cause poisoning. The parent must have given way more than two to cause that extreme of a reaction.
http://books.google.com/books?id=CpqzhHc072AC&pg=PA779&lpg=PA779&dq=belladonna+toxicity+rates&source=bl&ots=-3k-_GE4BT&sig=ujfd0TAjSqpo_FQisghuAB5BBYg&hl=en&ei=P0_GTIaDOcqcnAfN3umNAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
I could find ZERO reports of any belladonna poisoning in the entire United States reported in the last 10 years.
The WebMD article clearly states that there were reports of symptoms, not actual poisonings. The symptoms could be any regular cold/flu symptoms!!!
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/news/20101025/hylands-teething-tablets-recall-possible-poisoning-risk?src=RSS_PUBLIC
http://www.hylands.com/news/teethinginfo.php
This is just due to parents leaving the bottles where toddlers could get into them and eat them like candy... which is harmful for ANY medicinal or homeopathic item that is over-consumed.
ReplyDeleteAnon - even if the kids got a hold of them, even if someone ate 1000, they wouldn't barely have any side effects.
ReplyDeleteWHO THE HELL LEAVES 10 PLUS BOTTLES OPEN FOR A BABY TO GET AT AND WHAT BABY/KID WILL SIT AND EAT 1000?
dumbest recall ever...
ReplyDeletehehe... my kids got into a full bottle once. They ate the whole thing in less than 2 minutes, snagged it right off the couch as I was trying to calm my youngest. They were just fine.
ReplyDeleteif this parent gave her child too much "orajel" or "infant tylenol" would they recall that? likely not. they want to strip away any natural remedies for us natural parents
ReplyDeleteI have been to 6 stores and have about 25 bottles from my scavenger hunt.
ReplyDeleteI felt like I was making drug deals at the stores... asking them to ring them up as taxable items. Walmart would not sell them to me and some CVS did and some didn't. I got most of them from mom and pop natural places that use their own sku noting systems. They wouldn't have a headquarters that marked the sku as unsalable in the whole system.
The manager at Walmart said to me "there is a recall on these and they aren't safe for people" I started laughing and said "NOT REALLY." I don't know what pisses me off more, THE BAN or the mindless following of the recall. GRRRR! At the first CVS I went to the guy said "Are you sure you want to buy these?" I said "YEP." That's the way it should be. Let me decide for myself. PERIOD!
my understanding is that there are varying amounts of belladonna from pill to pill and that is the reason for the recall. they want regulation of how they are made so that it's accurate to what they advertise on the label. also, there is the fact that they don't have child proof lids. which might not be a bad idea. if for no other reason than they dissolve in seconds and it's annoying to buy more. my own child got into a bottle once. any yes, she was totally fine.
ReplyDeleteThe reason they don't have childproof lids is because it isn't a dangerous product for kids. It would be like putting childproof lids on flax seed crackers.
ReplyDeleteYou can eat a whole bottle with NO side effects and homeopathic remedies are good for years- some 100 year old remedies have been found to still be potent!
ReplyDeleteIt is possible some of these babies had a 'reaction' due to lactose intolerance. The remedy is a pure lactose pellet.
It's the same BS with Stevia. The FDA is pitching a fit because they don't have complete power over it so they just wield their power over them. It's bogus!!
ReplyDeleteThe FDA wants to take your rights to alternative medicine away!
ReplyDeletehttp://gaia-health.com/articles301/000321-fda-bans-hylands-homeopathic-teething-product.shtml
It's the teething tablets now but watch, they will go for ALL homeopathic remedies next!
A while ago I read how they make the tablets...I would have figured that they would combine the remedy with the lactose and press it into a pill. They actually use the lactose pills plain and put them in a 'drum' and spray them with the remedy and roll them around for a while...that is my guess as to why the tablets would have differing amounts. But really...is 1 part out of a thousand that much different than 2 parts in a thousand? The people freaking out about this know nothing about homeopathy... obviously.
ReplyDeleteFear about consuming homeopathics is caused by ignorance about how homeopathics work. I won't repeat previous commenters. Educate about homepathics before you use them. If you still want to use homeopathics for your teething baby, try Hylands chamomile or calc phos. Both dissolve in the mouth, and both are indicated for teething. I had no clue about the recall til just now, and I'm glad I have a bottle in my cabinet!
ReplyDeletei agree its so stupid ..im glad they are back !.....i had a bottle id just bought a few months b-4 the recall and i used it !... no issues ..i had a neice who was 2 and she got ahold of a bottle of them her mom had just opened it the day b-4 and she ate them all .. she called the dr and the dr said she would be fine just watch her shed prob sleeep for a while but shed be fine and guess what she was and she was a tiny lil girl ... were talking about 22 pounds at 2 yrs old ...
ReplyDeleteso happy they are back !... oh and i have used humphreys ... but i have noticed that dont disolve nearly as good as hylands .... i dont put them directly in my babys mouth because of this but in the spoon of warm water and makesure they have disolved first then give them to babies ....
I just got hyland teeting tablets , at walgreens , I like them because they disolved in ur ba.bys mouth
ReplyDelete