sucking on metal can't be good for your teeth!

Jayde LOVES... and I mean LOVES to chew on necklaces! Her Nana wears long dangley necklaces all the time, and it's the first thing that Jayde goes to when she's being held. She will grab onto those things and suck on them forever! I've had to stop wearing necklaces for this very reason which is sad. It's gotten to the point at church - I can't hold her if I'm wearing one because she will gnaw at them the entire time. I'm sure all that sucking and chewing on metal can't be good for her health.

I looked up online to see if there was anything that I could wear that she could teethe on. I found a version of this teething necklace for $18 bucks (not including shipping) on Etsy and thought, "Hey I could totally make that!" And you can too - here's how:

Buy some plain natural wood round beads in whatever size you want.
Mine came from Michaels for $3 a pack.
I bought two different sizes so I could make multiple necklaces.
The necklace above used eight 1-inch beads. The pack came with 16 in them.

Take the fabric that you want and measure out how wide of a strip you need.
I did this by rolling it around my bead and added about a half an inch, and made it about 40 inches long.

On the wrong side of your fabric sew it closed length-wise 1/4 inches from the edge.

Flip it inside out.
I did this by safety pinning a piece of firm rope and working it's way through.
Iron down your flaps so they are flat - this will make the bead go through easily.

Slide your first bead through until it reaches the middle of your necklace.

Tie a knot on both ends.
Continue adding beads to the sides of your necklace and tie a knot after each, until it's the length you want.
I used 8 beads.

Cut two pieces of ribbon (about the length of your necklace).

Fold down the inside of the end of fabric and pin your ribbon closed inside.
Sew across a few times until it's sturdy.
You don't want your baby yanking it off while you're wearing it.

Voila! You're done. How easy is that?!

Now hope that your baby will completely adore the fact that you made this just for them, and gnaw away at it after you put it on. Look at their blissful face because their teeth feel so much better. This is exactly what my daughter did NOT do. She wouldn't chew on it for the life of her, and still hasn't. Instead, she finds joy in flailing it around because it's fun to watch the ribbon whip through the air. We might have a future flag girl on our hands.

But hey - at least it only cost me 3 bucks after I returned the second unopened bag back to Michaels because I already had the fabric on hand.