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| Photo showing the ‘Van Outen’ Gumigem teething heart pendant |
My sister-in-law was about to celebrate her daughter’s first birthday and as she loves to review things for My Mummy Reviews I put out a request on Twitter for possible 1st birthday presents for my niece. Jenny from Gumigem came forward and offered her a Gumigem teething necklace. We picked the Gumigem Heart Pendant called ‘The Van Outen’. It is a very pretty deep purple colour (made from a mix of red and blue colours) with a hint of slight sparkle. It is called the ‘Van Outen’ as Celebrity Denise Van Outen bought this design to use with her teething daughter Betsy.
The Gumigem necklaces are designed for teething children so this means you could possibly start using this from around 2 or 3 months. Gumigem don’t give an upper age limit but when they have all their teeth is when I would personally suggest you stop using it as a teething necklace. My daughter is 21 months old and I certainly think if she was given the opportunity she would try her utmost to bite chunks off it. I’m not sure if this is possible, as we haven’t let her have a go! 🙂 My sister-in-law had a bite on it before she gave it to her child – just to check it seemed safe enough for her daughter to gnaw on. She was happy with the Gumigem necklace and went ahead and gave it to her 11 month old daughter to chew. My niece was a bit skeptical about chewing on it at first but then after she’d had a go she decided she loved it!
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| Photo showing the ‘Van Outen’ Gumigem teething heart pendant |
Gumigem necklaces are made in the UK and they are made from a baby safe (non toxic) silicone material and carry the CE safety mark. The silicone material used is very similar to the material used in most teething toys you can buy on the high street. The silicone used meets FDA standards and is BPA, PVC, Lead, Latex and Phthalate free. The Gumigem necklaces can be put into the steriliser or dishwasher so you can rest assured that you can get them squeaky clean.
The Gumigem teething necklace is also available in a lightning design. Both the heart and the lightning design are available in a wide variety of colours. My personal favourites are the Van Outen that my sister-in-law received and the heart pendant in rusted (a mix of red and black with shimmer).
The heart pendant is bigger than I expected it to be and even prettier than it appears on the net. The pendant comes on a neck cord with a break away barrel clasp. If your child pulls on the necklace too much then the clasp will release and the necklace will fall off your neck. Personally I don’t think the clasp looks all that pretty at the back of your neck as it’s larger than your usual necklace clasp and it is made of plastic (which always reminds me of kiddie’s necklaces not adult’s). However if you have your hair down then no-one would see it and most importantly the clasp is a great safety measure. Even though I’m not keen on the clasp, I am pleased to see it on this Gumigem necklace. Please note that Gumigem do state that the necklace should only ever be worn by an adult and it should never be left with an unaccompanied child.
To be completely honest the big heart shape is not the kind of necklace my sister-in-law would normally go for but she has told me that she is happy to wear it out and about as she is delighted that it can help her daughter with the teething process.
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| Photo showing the break away clasp on the ‘Van Outen’ Gumigem teething heart pendant |
All Gumigem necklaces come presented in a lovely organza bag which makes them ideal to be given as a gift. It would make a perfect present for a birthday, baby shower, new mum gift, expectant mum, christening or Christmas.
The heart necklaces cost £12.50 and the lightning necklaces cost £10.00. The postage is only £1.00 for royal mail first class delivery or £2.50 for recorded delivery. I don’t think anyone can complain at being able to have the necklace delivered for only £1.00. I can’t see any info on the website about delivery charges but it seems that the postage stays the same flat rate price regardless of how many items you buy. I found this out by adding lots of things to my basket and it always came up with the same P+P charge. It is lovely to see such fair postage and packaging charges. Well done Gumigem! 🙂
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| Photo showing the side of the ‘Van Outen’ Gumigem teething heart pendant |
The website is nicely set out with categories and I love the polka dot background! But I’m afraid I have had endless problems trying to load the website. I don’t think this is a problem with my computer because all other sites are loading fine. I hope this is just a temporary issue as it would be a shame for Gumigem to miss out on customers because they couldn’t get the site to load.
I think the Gumigem necklace is wonderful as it allows you to carry on wearing necklaces around your child but with the peace of mind of knowing they can safely pull on it and chew it. When my daughter was younger and I breastfed her I always found she would absent-mindedly pull my hair or scratch me whilst feeding. The Gumigem would have been a great way of combating this problem as she could have fiddled with the necklace instead.
The lady behind Gumigem is Jenny McLaughlan and she is a mum of 2 who came up with the idea of the Gumigem necklace when she was on maternity leave with her second child, who was having a hard time teething. She invented the Gumigem teething necklace to look pretty for mums but to be safe for children to chew on. She spent a long time researching and developing the product and she thought the Gumigem would be much appreciated by mums everywhere….she certainly isn’t wrong. My sister-in-law and I certainly love it!
If you would like to support Mumpreneur Jenny then please visit her website to buy one of her fabulous Gumigem necklaces.