Gummee Teething
- Clare
- Oct 19, 2018
- 2 min read
A Small shop feature
Gummee Teething
My son’s teething inspired my business
My name is Jodine Boothby (@gummeemummee) and I invented the Gummee Glove (@gummeeteething), The World's First Teething Mitten. We now have a full range of teething products to cover the entire teething journey, all designed by the Gummee family here in Cornwall.
In June 2011, my little boy, Jimmy, was 10 weeks old when he started constantly gnawing on his hands. I was a little worried because he seemed a little frustrated and uncomfortable and was making the skin on his hands sore. I started holding teething toys to his mouth, which seemed to bring him some relief. I never dreamed he could be teething at such a young age, especially as he didn't have the motor skills to hold a teether to his mouth yet. Do you know what we found out though? He DID have a tooth. A BACK TOOTH!
We took him to our dentist, who then sought a second opinion from another dentist, who said it was definitely a back tooth. He advised us that sometimes the teeth/bone can grow faster than the gum, but usually, the gum grows over the tooth and the tooth will then re-emerge at a later time. This is exactly what happened. So we had a reason for the constant hand chewing, but not a solution and I hated giving him medication at such a young age.
Of course, I did not mind holding traditional teething toys to his mouth, but you know what it's like in those early days - you have so little time, a 5-minute shower can feel like a weekend at a luxury spa!
Sometimes I just NEEDED to be out of the breast milk, sweat-soaked t-shirt & have a shower and brush my teeth, knowing my little boy was happy for five minutes!
One day, while changing Jimmy's nappy, I looked up and noticed that he had pulled the end of his sock loose on his hand (I could not find effective 'stay-on' scratch mitts, hence socks on his hands) and he appeared to be really happy, chewing & slobbering over the end of this sock.
That was the light bulb moment!
Gummee glove was born and we haven’t looked back. My husband and I both work from home running Gummee around our family. Life can be super stressful but we still absolutely love what we do and the freedom we have to run our lives the way we want to.
Find us at
My son Kal had this from 4 months old and he used it all the time. Thank you for the awesome invention and so lovely to read more about the mama behind it! Xx
My favourite teething toy for Finn. Would highly recommend to everyone! X
I had no idea you were a small shop when I bought my daughter one in those early days!! We couldnt have been without it! I even bought one as a gift for my friend when she had her little one x
Gummee glove saved our sanity!!
Lovely to hear your journey xx