Product Review

My Daughter Has Rejected 7 Teething Toys. Here Are The 3 She Actually Uses.

I have purchased approximately one million teething toys for my daughter. She has rejected almost all of them. Here are the three she actually chews on.

My daughter started teething at four months old. She is now fourteen months old and has cut eight teeth, which means I have spent roughly ten months trying to convince her to chew on things that are not my fingers, my shoulder, the dog's ear, or the corner of the coffee table.

I have bought or been gifted at least ten different teething toys. She has rejected seven of them outright. Not just "eh, not interested" rejection. Full-on throwing-across-the-room rejection. One time she looked me dead in the eye while dropping a teether into the trash can. She was nine months old. She knew exactly what she was doing.

But out of the pile of failed experiments, four products stood out. Three of them she actually uses. One was a spectacular failure. Here is the breakdown.

The Contenders At A Glance

• Sophie la Girafe — $25 — 4.7 stars — 35,000+ reviews on Amazon
• Nuby Ice Gel Teether Keys — $4 (pack of 3) — 4.7 stars — 40,000+ reviews on Amazon
• Comotomo Silicone Teether — $8 — 4.6 stars — 12,000+ reviews on Amazon
• Itzy Ritzy Silicone Teething Mitt — $12 — 4.4 stars — 6,000+ reviews on Amazon

Sophie la Girafe — The Classic That Earned Her Spot ($25)

I know, I know. Sophie is expensive. $25 for a rubber giraffe feels ridiculous, especially when you could buy a three-pack of teethers for the same price. I rolled my eyes at Sophie for months before I finally caved and bought one.

Here is the thing: I was wrong. Sophie is popular for a reason and that reason is not just good marketing.

The first time I gave Sophie to my daughter, she was about five months old. She grabbed the giraffe's neck, shoved the head into her mouth, and made a happy little grunting noise. I had never seen her react to a teething toy that way before. Usually she would mouth something for thirty seconds and then drop it. Sophie got a solid twenty minutes of chewing before she finally dropped it to reach for something else.

The shape is the secret. Sophie has these long, thin legs and a neck that are perfect for tiny hands to grip. The natural rubber is soft enough to be soothing on sore gums but firm enough that they can really bite down and get some pressure. And the squeaker? My daughter figured out that squeezing Sophie makes a funny noise, so half the time she is not even chewing on it, she is just squeaking it at me like she is summoning a waiter. It is annoying and also adorable.

Sophie is made from natural rubber and food-grade paint, so I did not have to worry about weird chemicals. The downside is that natural rubber is porous, so you cannot boil it to sterilize it. You are supposed to wipe it clean with a damp cloth. Also, if you get water inside the squeaker hole (and you will, because babies are determined), it starts to smell a little funky after a while. Sophie on Amazon has 35,000 reviews and a 4.7-star rating, and honestly, it deserves them.

Nuby Ice Gel Teether Keys — The $4 Miracle ($4 for 3)

If Sophie is the fancy steak dinner of teething toys, the Nuby Ice Gel Keys are the peanut butter sandwich that hits the spot every time.

These are three little key-shaped teethers filled with a gel that you pop in the fridge (not the freezer, unless you want to give your baby freezer burn on their gums). After about thirty minutes in the fridge, the gel gets cold and stays cold for a surprisingly long time. The cold is what makes them magic.

When my daughter was going through the worst of her teething, when her gums were swollen and she was waking up crying every two hours, the Nuby keys were the only thing that provided real relief. The cold gel numbs the gums slightly, and the little bumps on the keys give them something to really dig into. She would sit there chewing on a cold key looking like she had just discovered the meaning of life.

At $4 for a pack of three, the value is insane. You lose one under the couch? Whatever. The dog chews one up? Buy another pack. They are dishwasher safe, BPA-free, and come in bright colors that babies love. With 40,000 reviews and a 4.7-star rating on Amazon, they are actually the highest-rated product in this whole review, and they cost the least. That is wild.

The only downside is that they are not very durable long-term. After a few months of daily use, the gel chambers can start to develop little cracks. That is when you throw them away and open a new one from the three-pack you already bought because you knew this would happen.

Comotomo Silicone Teether — The Early Phase Specialist ($8)

The Comotomo teether was our go-to during the early teething phase, before teeth actually broke through. It is a simple ring of soft silicone with little nubs all over it. Nothing fancy. But it works.

My daughter liked this one because it is soft enough to chew on without hurting her gums, but textured enough that it felt satisfying. The ring shape is easy for tiny hands to grab and the silicone has a little bit of give that makes it fun to bend and twist. She also figured out that she could hold it with both hands and bite down on different sections, which apparently was very exciting.

Comotomo is a brand that is probably best known for their bottles, but this teether deserves its own spotlight. At $8 with 12,000 reviews and a 4.6-star rating, it is a solid mid-range option that does not break the bank. It is also made from food-grade silicone, which means you can boil it or put it in the dishwasher. No weird smells, no porous surfaces.

I will say that once my daughter got older and her teeth were really coming in, she preferred Sophie and the Nuby keys over the Comotomo. The silicone is gentle, and sometimes she wanted something firmer to really bite down on. But for those early months when their gums are just starting to feel sore? This is the perfect teether.

Itzy Ritzy Silicone Teething Mitt — The Spectacular Fail ($12)

Okay, I have to talk about this one because I see it recommended everywhere on Instagram and it was a complete disaster in our house.

The concept is great. It is a little mitt with silicone chewy bits on the back that you put on your baby's hand so they can chew on it without dropping it. In theory, it solves the problem of babies throwing teethers on the floor every thirty seconds.

In practice? My daughter HATED having something on her hand. And I mean HATED. The second I put the mitt on her, she froze. She held her hand out at arm's length like I had attached a dead fish to it. She tried to shake it off. She cried. She looked at me with pure betrayal in her eyes. How dare I put a fabric thing on her hand. What was I thinking.

She never chewed on the silicone bits. Not once. She was too busy being offended by the existence of the mitt to even notice the teething parts. I tried three times, on three different days, hoping she would get used to it. Nope. Into the drawer of failed experiments it went.

Looking at the reviews on Amazon, I am not alone. The Itzy Ritzy mitt has 4.4 stars out of 6,000 reviews, but if you sort by recent, you will see a lot of parents saying the same thing: their baby would not keep it on. Some babies do great with it. Mine was not one of them.

The Verdict

Here is my honest recommendation. Buy the Sophie la Girafe as your main squeeze if you can stomach the $25 price tag. Buy the Nuby Ice Gel Keys ($4 for three) as your cold relief option. And buy the Comotomo Silicone Teether ($8) for early teething. That is $37 total for three teethers that cover every phase and every type of teething pain. Skip the teething mitt unless you have a baby who does not mind things on their hands, which I am told exists but I have not personally met.

Teething is miserable. There is no way around it. But having the right tools makes it slightly less miserable, and sometimes that is the best you can hope for.

Where To Buy: All four products are available on Amazon with Prime shipping. Sophie la Girafe ($25), Nuby Ice Gel Teether Keys 3-Pack ($4), Comotomo Silicone Teether ($8), and Itzy Ritzy Silicone Teething Mitt ($12).