7 Best Teething Toys of 2024
A teether gives your baby something to chew, offering relief from gum pain.
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A teething baby is often a cranky baby, so you want to make sure that your little one has something to chew on. Many of the best infant toys are able to be gummed, which is smart, because in about two years’ time, a baby cuts 20 teeth. But it can also be nice to have additional chew toys specifically designed to relieve a baby's teething. These work with pressure points, temperature and/or a shape that lets a baby manipulate the teether to nearly any spot on their gums.
The experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute Parenting and Toys Lab regularly test and evaluate all kinds of baby products, including teething toys, many of which are submitted for testing as part of our annual Parenting Awards. These are our current parent-tested faves.
Shaped like a half-unpeeled banana, this teething toy has built-in handles so your baby can manipulate it themselves. The white "banana" part has a textured surface that will massage your baby's gums and provide some relief. Unlike some others, this can go in a steam sterilizer or be sterilized in boiling water.
In addition to our best value pick, below, Nuby makes a Teethe-eez Teether with Bristles that looks less playful and more orthodontic but which, like the banana, gets a solid 4.8-star rating on Amazon from parents.
Ages: 3 months+ | Material: Silicone | Cleaning: Top rack of the dishwasher or warm soapy water. Safe to sterilize.
Throw this toy key-ring teether in the fridge and the gel in the keys will get nice and cool. They'll then feel heavenly on your baby's gums. The only thing to note is that with a teether that has cooling gel you don't want to sterilize it or put it in the dishwasher — just rinse it with warm, soapy water.
This teether toy is a true bargain and it has more than 87,000 five-star Amazon reviews. If you can't get it quickly from Amazon or Walmart, this one is sold in many pharmacies, like CVS, too.
Ages: 4 months+ | Material: BPA-free plastic | Cleaning: Wash with warm soapy water. Do not sterilize.
Munchkin Twisty Figure 8 Teether
This multitasking teether doubles as an intriguing toy that helps develop motor skills in a baby from 6 months to a year old. In reviews, parents say that their babies found it fun to play with even if they didn't chew on it — but it's got four different teething surfaces, so a teething baby is likely to find one they like.
In addition to twisting, this teething toy rattles when shaken. If you'd prefer a teether made of silicone with a wooden rattle, see the newer Munchkin Sili Twisty Bendable Baby Teether, which costs a few more dollars but is good for babies ages 3 months+.
Ages: 6 months+ | Material: BPA-free plastic | Cleaning: Top rack of the dishwasher or warm soapy water. Do not sterilize.
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A newborn or infant won't have the dexterity to hold a teething toy, yet some babies start teething already at 3 months old. The Itzy Ritzy Silicone Teething Mitt is a wearable glove toy so your baby can just maneuver their whole fist to their mouth to find some relief on the silicone teether.
Our picture shows the pineapple mitt but there are 10 other variations including a llama, unicorn and dinosaur.
Ages: 3 months+ | Material: Polyester, silicone | Cleaning: Hand wash only. Do not sterilize.
A winner of one of our Parenting Awards, this set of two popsicle molds helps you freeze a half ounce of breast milk, formula or puree. It's great for a treat, of course, but our consumer testers said the cold treats made particularly great teethers. The cold numbs a baby's gums, providing pain relief.
"They were simple to use and easy for her to grip and chew on," one tester told us. Freezing takes somewhere from two to four hours, so you need to have these teethers prepared ahead of time. The popsicle molds are dishwasher-safe but the brand does not say that they can be sterilized.
Ages: 4 months+ | Material: Silicone | Cleaning: Top rack of the dishwasher or warm soapy water. Do not sterilize.
A teether can be shaped like many things, so why not a pretzel? Or a bunny? Or a rocket? Mushie has the cutest silicone teethers that are also highly rated by parents. They make great gifts or gift-toppers, too.
Mushie teethers are another choice that's safe to sterilize. If you do run them (or any silicone baby thing, such as a baby bowl) through the dishwasher, our cleaning experts recommend using unscented dish detergent like Seventh Generation Dishwasher Detergent. Otherwise, silicone can take on the smell of whatever soap it's washed in.
Ages: 4 months+ | Material: Silicone | Cleaning: Top rack of the dishwasher or warm soapy water. Safe to sterilize.
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Keep the Mombella teether in the freezer so it's nice and cold for your baby. This one has a clip to keep it attached to your baby's outfit so your baby can't accidentally drop it overboard while in the stroller or car seat.
Bristles on one side of the "elephant" (it's a stretch to see the elephant shape, if you ask us) help with tongue and gum cleaning if your baby chooses to munch on that side. This is another chew toy that's safe to sterilize.
Ages: 3 to 12 month | Material: Silicone | Cleaning: Top rack of the dishwasher or warm soapy water. Safe to sterilize.
3 more teethers we've tested, but which may not be for everyone
• Sophie La Girafe is a classic rubber teething toy, pictured, that was all the rage for awhile until someone cut one open and reported mold inside. The bottom line is you do have to keep rubber teething toys clean by wiping them down, but they can not be sterilized or submerged. They're popular with babies because the rubber is so flexible, and we notice babies especially chewing on Sophie's ears. Rubber teethers are also attractive to parents who want to avoid plastics. And for all of her cleaning troubles, Sophie still has more than 30,000 five-star Amazon reviews. birth+
• LeapFrog Fruit Colors Learning Smoothie is also an electronic learning toy and a winner in our Toy Awards. The straw part is the teether and the toy plays music. It requires one 1 AA battery and can be a good choice for teething toddlers. 6 months+
- Bright Starts Snuggle & Teethe is a teething blanket, so your baby can hold it and stroke it like a lovey but also they can chew on the teethers at the bottom. A teether blanket has to be hand-washed. birth+
How we test teething toys
Experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute Parenting and Toys Lab look at teethers in the Lab and send them to homes nationwide so consumer testers can provide feedback. We find many by scouting for our annual Parenting Awards and Toy Awards. The parents who work at the Good Housekeeping Institute are some of our best testers and also provide us with feedback.
For teethers we lean into trusted brands and products that have proven themselves over time. We list a range of teether toys of varying shapes and different materials since every baby (and family) is different. As a final step we scour online reviews to be sure we aren't missing anything. We feel strongly that our final picks are popular with most parents and babies.
What to consider when shopping for the best teething toys
Babies will chew on any toy, as pictured. But teething babies will get more relief from a toy that's actually made for teething. When shopping for a good teether, consider:
✔️ Age grading: Teethers are usually marked for birth+, 3 months+, 4 months+ or 6 months+. Don't buy a teether that's for an age that's older than your baby. If it's marked for older babies, it probably means a younger one can't reliably hold onto it or manipulate it.
✔️ Material, and how that's related to cleaning: The chew part of the teether will be either BPA-free plastic, silicone, rubber or wood. They each have pros ands cons.
- Plastics: We hear from some parents looking to avoid plastics, though plastic makes for inexpensive toys. Most gel-filled teething toys like our value pick or these cheap, popular cactus-shaped teething coolers that you pop into the fridge or freezer are made of BPA-free plastic.
- Silicone: Most of the teethers on our list are made from silicone. Silicone is flexible and is usually able to sustain high temperatures, which helps you sterilize it. When you eventually toss it, silicone does not break down into microplastics. But silicone might cost a little more than plastic.
- Natural rubber: This is a traditional teether material. The good news is that rubber teething toys are biodegradable but the bad news is they can't be sterilized, tend to be a little more pricey and usually aren't in the bright colors of plastic or silicone.
- Wood: The oldest teether material of all! Our Lab pros have not had particular success getting their babies to chew on wooden teethers, and they're expensive. But lovely Montessori-aesthetic wooden teethers are out there. We like the $25 ones from Loulou Lollipop which combine wood and silicone (and we're betting that babies most often bite on the silicone).
✔️ Size: The whole point of a teether is for your baby to be able to hold it and direct it into their mouth to chew. Large activity toys that include a teething component might be too cumbersome for your baby to use as an effective teething tool.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
The Good Housekeeping Institute evaluates some 15,000 consumer products per year at the headquarters in New York City. Researchers look at the safety and effectiveness of wide range of commonly used products from smoke detectors to robot mops and, for newborns, items like car seat stroller combos.
Contributing Writer Jessica Hartshorn did the most recent update of this story. Hartshorn has reported on the baby-gear market for two decades, previously for Parents magazine and American Baby magazine. She is a mom of two.
Jessica (she/her) is a freelance writer with several decades of experience writing lifestyle content and evaluating home and parenting products. A mom of two teens and two cats, her previous work can be seen in American Baby and Parents.
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