Inevitably, your newborn’s teeth will start to cut the day after you feel settled in a routine. Often this is somewhere around 4-6 months, but it can also happen much later, around the 10-12 month mark even. When it happens, your kid will be miserable, drooling, leaking nose goop, putting everything into his/her mouth, and screaming often. The only non-medicinal help is a proper teether – something to gnaw on that keeps the mouth busy and puts pressure on the gums. (Note that our dentist, grandpa, suggests dipping a cloth towel in whiskey, freezing it, and letting the kid gnaw on that. It is both soothing and numbing.) Anyway, there is no such a thing as a best baby teether, but here are some of our favorites.
Sophie La Girafe
Sophie the giraffe is the classic teething toy. When you ask other moms what they recommend, it’s Sophie. If you pick up one of those Chicken Soup books, they’ll mention Sophie. If you check any list of the best baby teethers, at the top will be Sophie.
Note there are a variety of Sophies. Some have rings, others have different colored spots (because it’s hand-painted!). If it’s a Sophie made by Vulli or Callisson, you can’t go wrong. Sophie is phthalate and BPA free, and manufactured from rubber and food paint. The contrasting colors helps provide visual stimulation. Between the texture and the fact that Sophie squeaks, Sophie will become very recognizable to your baby.
Be sure to carefully follow Sophie’s cleaning instructions. As great as Sophie is, because it squeaks through a hole, it means moisture can get inside the giraffe. Where there’s moisture, there can be mold, so follow the manufacturer’s cleaning advice. Don’t worry too much about giraffe mold.
Comotomo Silicone Baby Teether
If you’re a bit more neurotic about cleanliness, the Comotomo teether is probably a better fit: it’s silicone, which means you can microwave it or throw it in the dishwasher to sterilize. Comotomo hypes this teether as, “designed to mimic those little baby fingers.” The ring is baby-sized for grabbing, and the fingers are long enough to reach the back molars.
As a silicone teether, the texture is a bit more resilient or tougher than rubber. Given the material, and that it doesn’t squeak, and that it’s sort of finger-like, the Comotomo can be a good way to wean off of thumb-sucking.
Infantino Baby Teether Cow
Arguably, the Infantino cow looks a lot like Sophie. Luckily, they also make a zebra, lamb, and lion for the same price in different colors. Like Sophie, Infantino teethers are BPA-free rubber, squeak, and are not dishwasher safe. Like Sophie, these teethers have an interesting texture. The Infantino is more stout than long; however, which means it’s perhaps less of a choking hazard, but also less likely to be useful for the back molars.
Green Sprouts Ring Cool Baby Teether
The Green Sprouts teether, unlike the previous bunch, contains water which you can cool or freeze in the fridge. The cold sensation is extra soothing, and adds a different effect beyond just pressure. The downside, if you can call it that, is you need to remember to put this back in the fridge or freezer between use so that you get the benefit. Given this thing contains water in a closed system, do not even think about microwaving it.
The toy itself is made from plastic and is free of PVC, phthalate, BPA and nitrosamine. In 1998, the Consumer Product Safety Commission found that many brown rubber pacifiers and feeding bottle nipples contained nitrosamine, which can be a potent carcinogen.
If you don’t like the beaded ring, you can also find this teether in fruit form – Green Sprouts also makes an apple, pear, broccoli, pumpkin, grapes, and strawberry.
Banana Toothbrush Baby Teether
The banana toothbrush is a silicone product that is another staple teether. As it’s a silicone product, it can be sterilized and given it’s a bit harder with silicone nub-like bristles, it provides a good intro to actually brushing teeth.
You can find the banana in a variety of colors, or if you prefer a vegetable, the same manufacturer (wait for it… Baby Banana!) makes a corn version. This toothbrush was developed by a dental hygienist, for what that’s worth (remember, our dentist recommended teething on a whiskey rag).
Note that Baby Banana makes both an Infant Teething Toothbrush, which is for teething during 3-12 months, as well as a Toddler Training Toothbrush, which is for 12 months or older, so be sure to pick up the right one. Displayed here is the infant version.
RaZ Baby RaZ-berry Teether
The RaZ teether is more like a traditional pacifier, but with a unique raspberry-like texture. This is another silicone product, and is freezable for extra sooth-i-ness (the nipple part is hollow). As it is like a pacifier, it can be hands-free. The bumpy texture is comforting to grind, and provides extra stimulation to gums.
Note that the raspberry nipple here is slightly bigger than a normal pacifier nipple, so it takes some getting used to. When our kids tried this out the first few times, they coughed and spat it out because it was both familiar and unusual.
Nuby Icybite Teething Keys
That’s right, a ring of freezable teethers. Clearly these serve a dual purpose: it’s a combination rattle toy, and teether. Of course a key ring isn’t terribly exciting, but when you compare this to a banana toothbrush, it puts things into perspective.
Unlike the Green Sprouts ring, which contains water, these keys hold pûrICE. I don’t in fact know what pûrICE is, but supposedly it stays colder longer than water. Nuby makes a bunch of teethers filled with pûrICE, like birds and bugs. Like the ring, don’t microwave or boil this thing, else you’ll end up with a pûrICE leak which is probably not good, even if it’s labeled as non-toxic.
Munchkin Twisty Figure 8 Teether
You’re going to fidget with this. It pulls and twists into various formations. When it starts to bore you, then let the kid gnaw away. The Twisty Teether has a variety of textures to keep things interesting, and also makes it easy for your kid to grasp it.
Cleanable BPA-free hard plastic is the main material in this teether.
Bright Starts Snuggle Baby Teether
To switch things up a bunch, we present to you a fabric baby teether. These plush animals have crinkly bellies, and textured gnawable feet. The animals are (supposedly) a mix of polyester fibers and plastic film, and thus are washable.
We’ve added these animals to point out that best baby teethers can come in many shapes, sizes, and, indeed, materials. We haven’t highlighted any here, but there are wooden teethers, amber bead necklace teethers, teethers the baby wears like a glove, and teethers attached to a blanket. These are all fair game. You just need to figure out what’s safe to put in your mouth, and ultimately what works for soothing your kid.
Ready to move from teethers to toys? Some ideas for what to consider when buying a toddler puzzle here.
