Baby Teether Ball

Maybe at first glance, you'd overlook this orange or yellowish sea-mine-looking toy. But that would be a mistake. Some might have success with Sofie the giraffe or those teething toys that you put in the fridge. We had success with this soft, squeezable, phthalate-free, squeaking toy. Our son can--on some occasions--spend a half an hour being entertained by this.

What's really good about it are the tentacles/soft spikes that stick out. This allows your child to grasp it him/herself and try and jam one of the other tentacles/soft spikes into the mouth so that s/he can massage his/her gumlines with it. (Our son doesn't have any visible teeth yet, but he's probably close.) Some teething toys are circular, but they are too wide for the baby's small mouth to have any part of the toy actually reach the gums--which is frustrating for the baby. Particularly when s/he tries to massage the gums a little farther back from the front teeth area. But the soft spikes on this teether ball are long enough to get that area, but short enough that you don't have to worry about him/her having a gag reflex. Further, because s/he's picking it up and putting it into his mouth on his/her own, s/he is developing his/her motor skills and hand-eye coordination, as well as independence.

Also, as you know, the amount of baby drool when a baby is teething is ridiculous, so as with any teething toy, you will want to make sure that it is easily washable. This one is; just wash it like any other toy. No crevices that you have to worry about bacteria hiding in.

One thing that the Amazon description didn't tell me was that it is scented. It's not really a big deal; in fact, I think that may be part of the reason that my son digs it. The scent doesn't go away after multiple washings; and, it has a pleasant smell, so that is nice.

All in all, a wonderful toy. In fact, initially, my mom bought this so that my son would have something to play with at her house, and after the success over there, we bought one... which led to this being a gift for a lot of our new parent friends' children for Christmas. Needless to say, I recommend this product.

Our nearly 6-month old son received this as a Christmas gift and I just gave him a little preview playing session :) When it arrived, I looked for assurance from the packaging that it is free of dangerous chemicals since it is, after all, a toy designed for his mouth! The packaging didn't proclaim that it's safe, so I began to feel concerned.

Like another reviewer, our box is different from the one pictured on Amazon. The entirety of the writing on our box is: "6m+" "Teether Ball" "Wee Play" "Soft and squeezable!" "Easy to Hold" "Squeaks when squeezed!" "Great for teething!" "Toysmith" "Washable!" "Made of soft vinyl!" "A Soft and Squeezable Teething Ball" and "Surface washable. Clean with a damp cloth and mild soap if needed. Keep this information for future reference. Please remove packaging before giving toy to children. toysmith group Sumner, WA 98390 (c) Toysmith Group 2008 Made in China".

There is little on the web in the way of this company's presence from what I can tell, and I felt like we may be returning this possibly unsafe toy. Then I saw that the ball itself has some writing on it--it says, "NO PHTHALATE" "7/12" "WINTECH" "MADE IN CHINA". Being a new mother, I have heard lots about BPA, but was uneducated about phthalates. Here is a website which really helped clear the issues for me regarding the safety of plastics for babies and the rest of us:

BPA is used in hard plastics such as bottles, and phthalates are used in soft, squeezable plastics such as teething balls. But not THIS teething ball! So our son will get this for Christmas :) It seems safe and he really liked it during this testing play session--I'm planning to put it back under the tree when he loses interest in it today.

Like other reviewers' children, our little boy is exclusively breastfed, has never taken a pacifier, and--while beginning to teethe--only likes to gnaw on our fingers at this point... I'm thinking that will have to stop once his first tooth breaks through! He has a very easy time holding this ball and getting one of the nubs into his mouth. At the beginning, he tried to nurse on a nub and seemed frustrated that it didn't give him any milk. During a quick snack, he stopped nursing when he saw the ball and reached for it again!

I'm giving it four stars--not five--because of three downsides so far: while he had a nub in his mouth, another one poked him in the eye; the plastic is sufficiently hard that it takes some muscle to make it squeak--the intended audience can't make it work; and there is a large-ish hole on the ball similar to the hole in a rubber ducky--while that's what allows it to squish and squeak, it is also what makes it a bad idea to submerge while washing and since our son spits up a lot, I'm thinking about future washings.

He's happily babbling while playing with it again now, and I think it's overall a winner for us!

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I just got this for my 3 month old son. He's just at the beginning stages of handling toys, but he was able to hold this and get it into his mouth easily. My only issue is the color, I would like to have been able to pick another one. I do love this, however, and so does my son. (It's already been a great relief to me. He is nursing and won't take a pacifier, but with this he holds it and sucks on it so easily, he was able to soothe himself.)

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My son loves this toy. He knew instantly what to do with it, he holds on to one peg and chews on another, he pulls it out and looks at it, talks to it... just loves it. He got it at 5 months old, now is 7 months old and he has not yet figured out that it squeaks. It smells delicious too!

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I so wanted to like this for my son, it is well-designed, a one-piece teether that is very easy to keep clean and best of all it is one that he really enjoys. However, I recently found out that this teether ball is made from PVC, which is in my opinion a "poison" plastic. This item is sadly going in the trash :(