Verified answer

Hylands teething products, if they work at all, work either because the lactose base of the tablet makes the child happy (it tastes good), or due to sheer placebo effect. They have NO active ingredients whatsoever.

A homeopathic remedy is one which has been diluted to the point of being JUST WATER. Homeopathy is not a word that means "natural medicine" or "natural remedies"- natural remedies exist, homeopathy is a total scam.

For example, ginger is a natural remedy for some cases of upset stomach or nausea. If I sell ginger flavored lollipops, that's a natural remedy, and it might very well make someone feel better.

On the other hand, if I take ginger, mix it with water, give it a shake, and keep diluting it until its unlikely that even -a single molecule- of ginger remains in the bottle, and then sell it either as a liquid or in the form of tablets (with the "remedy" dripped onto usually lactose-based tablets), I have produced a homeopathic remedy. There's -nothing- but the placebo effect in that bottle.

Gripe water is not universally formulated in one particular way. Some gripe waters contain active and useful ingredients, like significant amounts of ginger or chamomile (or in the old days, straight up alcohol). Some contain "homeopathic" quantities of those things, aka claim to contain that thing but in actuality are either lying about being homeopathic or are really homeopathic and do not likely contain one single molecule of it.

The most notable feature about all sorts of gripe water remedies, however, is that they are -sweet-. As it turns out, dropping a few drops of a glucose/water mixture has -the very same effect- on calming a baby as does gripe water, and costs you considerably less money. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC129797...

To put it plainly: you don't know what you're talking about. Take off the tinfoil hat and come over to the dark side of evidence based medicine. You're probably not fit to be raising a child at all until you do.

Homeopathy not only does not work, has never worked, and will most likely never worked, but it's alleged function directly contradicts almost all known fields of science.

"Homeopathy is among the worst examples of faith-based medicine... These axioms [of homeopathy] are not only out of line with scientific facts but also directly opposed to them. If homeopathy is correct, much of physics, chemistry, and pharmacology must be incorrect... To have an open mind about homeopathy or similarly implausible forms of alternative medicine (eg, Bach flower remedies, spiritual healing, crystal therapy) is therefore not an option. We think that a belief in homeopathy exceeds the tolerance of an open mind. We should start from the premise that homeopathy cannot work and that positive evidence reflects publication bias or design flaws until proved otherwise... We wonder whether any kind of evidence would persuade homeopathic physicians of their self-delusion and challenge them to design a methodologically sound trial, which if negative would finally persuade them to shut up shop... Homeopathy is based on an absurd concept that denies progress in physics and chemistry. Some 160 years after Homeopathy and Its Kindred Delusions, an essay by Oliver Wendell Holmes, we are still debating whether homeopathy is a placebo or not... Homeopathic principles are bold conjectures. There has been no spectacular corroboration of any of its founding principles... After more than 200 years, we are still waiting for homeopathy “heretics” to be proved right, during which time the advances in our understanding of disease, progress in therapeutics and surgery, and prolongation of the length and quality of life by so-called allopaths have been breathtaking. The true skeptic therefore takes pride in closed mindedness when presented with absurd assertions that contravene the laws of thermodynamics or deny progress in all branches of physics, chemistry, physiology, and medicine." - Edzard Ernst