Gripe Water - Oak Park, IL

I had the same situation and finally found that switching my baby's formaula helped so much. We actually ended up on the hypoallerginic formula and will never switch back to the regular stuff!!! Good luck - I know how rough it can be!!!!

We tried Gripe Water but it didn't do much.

There is a reason her baby has colic...tell her to try cutting dairy out of her diet (if she's Breastfeeding) and to stop vaccinating the baby if she's started. If her baby received the Hep B vaccine it could be a bad reaction to it. Who knows what's causing the colic, but these may help.

Also...taking my newborn/infant to the chiropractor when she was colicky worked wonders.

Good luck!

We SWEAR by Gripe Water!! It really seemed to help our
daughter when she would get into that "cranky" time, in
the evenings. Granted she did not have colick but there
were some nights that we could not get her to stop crying.
I read about Gripe Water on the Internet and we made the
decision to try it and it was wonderful! It really, really
calmed her down. Good Luck!!

Try infant massage (www.birthlink.com lists providers in the Chicago area, or you can pick up a book at the library). Some of the massage techniques help with gas and a loving touch will be very soothing to baby.

Also, if mom has a birth ball or exercise ball, lay a blanket over the ball and place baby tummy down on top and bounce or rock gently - with at least one hand on baby at all times! Or sit on the ball while holding the baby and bounce or sway gently. It's not a long term fix, but can give mom a break from the fussing.

Good luck
R.

C.

I have a 12 week old, and I try to give him gripe water everyday during the evening hours. Please feel free to give it.It is very helpful. My son was also in a alot of pain, and would cry alot. I couldnt understand why, started giving this and it helped quiet a bit. If the baby has gas, u can try this and also a combine the mylicon. both r safe for them. Also ask your daughter to massage the babies tummy. With warm oil. Rub the oil in her and around the belly button, that helps the most. Good luck.

C.:

I believe that baby's cry for a reason... it is our job, often not easy, to figure out why...

I see this a lot in my practice as a lactation consultant and it is my job to help parents find out what is causing the problem.

Harvy's book is a starting point all though he does not adress many other things that can cause fussiness.

Gripe Water is a bandaid... it will not solve the underlying problem.

P., RLC, IBCLC
Pres Lactation Support Group, Inc
www.lactationsupportgroup.com

Hi C.-

My daughter was quite colicky, too, and friends of ours brought us Gripe Water from a pharmacy in Canada & it worked wonders! It didn't cut down on all of her crying, but it definitely helped with her gas. My daughter had colic for about 3mnths & 1 bottle of Gripe Water lasted that long.

Good Luck & Congratulations on the grandson!

L.

We started using Gripe Water when my daughter was two weeks old. It really worked because she had such a hard time passing gas, burping, and she hiccuped alot. To get around the bad taste, we put the dose into one ounce of formula or breast milk so that the taste was masked AND so she would finish the entire dose...then I'd either breastfeed the rest of the feeding or give her a bottle of breastmilk. (My daughter had no problem going between the two.) She didn't care for the taste of first ounce too much, but she ate it because she was hungry. It really seemed to help her. Although, when we stopped giving it to her at around 8 weeks, we found out that she had reflux so the doctor put her on Zantac. Without the Gripe Water or Zantac, she would stiffen up while feeding, cry when I put the bottle to her mouth (even though she was hungry), reguritate well after a feeding and sometimes projectile vomited. The Gripe Water must have helped so much that we didn't know she had reflux until we stopped using it (good and bad I guess).

Our son had gas as well .... we tryed the "s' technique ... swaddling (he HATED it), ssshhhing ..... everything! Gripe water was a God-send. They have used it for YEARS in Europe .... it is all natural and does wonders above the gas drops you can get at the store ..... We would put it in our son's bottle and let him drink a tablespoon or two .... I highly recommend it!

It worked for me and i agree gripe water is used for decades in India and pakistan.It really helped and one thing to know even if ti doesnot help you it has no side effects.

Hi C.,
Gripewater is a very common thing in India and I remember as a child being given gripewater and my son who was born and is raised here also was given this regularly when he was an infant. I used to pick them up in the Indian stores and although he is 9 I still keep it on hand at home and if he feels like he is burping too much I give him a couple of teaspoons of it. It really worked wonder for him as a child and still works for him when he takes it occassionally.
Nitya

I tried the gripe water with my daughter (now 16 mo.) when she was a newborn...it actually made her worse...come to find out, she had a common newborn allergy to whey and cassein...2 of the elements found in dairy products. She was getting these thru my diet, because she was breastfed. I had to cut out ALL dairy, peanut products/nuts, and any foods with those ingredients in the first 4 ingredients for her first 6 MONTHS of life! It was no fun, but it made her feel much better. She is fine now and not lactose intollerant, but as a little baby, her tummy just couldn't process it.

You've gotten lots of great, helpful ideas! Gripe Water may help; it did for us. Every baby is different. She was bf, and I thought bf babies never got colic. HA! They do!! LOL They usually just have to grow out of it. Or it could be something else. Talk to your pediatrician. Don't let it get dismissed easily without the doctor checking the baby. Could be reflux or something else! Honestly, time, patience and lots of love will get you through it. I feel for you; two out of my four kids had it! It's very tough!! Good luck and remember, this to shall pass!
God Bless,
H.

My daughter too turned colicky at around 2 weeks. It was awful and I tried everything. We tried gripe water, but it was too hard to get an entire dose in her and she hated the taste. We used the generic Mylicon infant gas drops from Target and she was a new baby after one day on it. I gave it to her after every feeding (she was breastfed only).
Good luck! They do outgrow the colic. Once day you will all the sudden realize that the crying has stopped and you barely even remember it.
C.

Gripe water is used a lot in India and europe for decades. I used it on my daughter during her colicky days. It's very mild and even adults take it occasionally (including myself) when we feel our stomachs are upset.

You can find it at The Vitamin Shoppe or babies r us. It can safely be given with gas drops.

Other methods of calming her baby: swaddling, singing, taking a walk, putting him in a baby carrier, putting him atop a running dryer (or running a vaccuum cleaner) where the white noise is soothing. Also, a long car ride helps when all else seem to fail. There are great websites like www.babycenter.com that give great tips on how to soothe a colicky baby. Good luck with her and her son, and assure her that this will pass.

I have a VERY colicky baby - we are in week 10 and I'm praying everyday that she soon becomes happier... I've bought every kind of gripe water you can get... I also have the happiest baby on the block book, CD and DVD... the swaddling helps a little, but the CD did not help at all unfortunately. You may have better luck though because some parents swear by it. The first time I gave Alison gripe water it seemed to be a miracle cure... at the time one good day was enough to elate me. Now it does not really help, except with hiccups, they immediately disappear and I don't know how, but it is great! For gas try bicycling her legs, sometimes that helps also. Good luck!

Buy and read the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Dr. Karp. It was recommended to me through a request I made on here about two weeks ago and it has made all the difference in the world, especially when it comes to sleeping at night.

Colic might be a result of gas, but you should also know that it could happen for many other reasons. Figuring out a combination of 'soothing techniques' that works for the baby is a lifesaver for your sanity. The book suggests using the 5 S's: swaddling (nice and tight so the limbs can't flail), side lying, shhhing (seriously, just try saying SSSSHHHH near her ear!), swinging, and sucking (pacifier), all things that mimic the experiences in the womb that a baby may find soothing.

You might be just as surprised as I was to find that within SECONDS of using one or a combination of these simple techniques, my 5 weeks old baby calms down and stops fussing/crying.

I used Gripe water with my daughter, it worked. Also try mylicon...sometimes I did both.

Hi C.,

I personally haven't used it, but did see it at Babies R Us the other day.

Also, are you nursing? What you're eating could be making the baby uncomfortable. If you are, try and pay attention to what you eat/her symptoms. I din't use formula but do know some formulas won't agree with your baby as well.

Hang in there!

N.

It does help babies with Colic. Another great thing that works is a cd called "For crying out loud" it's got all that background noise tracks.. and if you can find one that soothes them, you just stick with it!

You can also try a chiropractor. They are great for things like that. Make sure it's one that specializes in peds though. We have one in plainfield..

Good luck!

Hi C.,

I tried gripe water because a friend of mine swore by it but my little one did not like the taste. I breast fed and supplemented each feeding with formula (similac) so the first thing I did was switch the formula to Nestle good start (with comfort proteins)and I used Mylicon gas drops. You can get the Mylicon gas drops at Walgreens.
This seemed to help.

Good luck in finding the right thing for her little one.
L.