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One of the common remedies that parents have used for colic is gripe water. Colic is common among babies during the first few months of life. Gripe water for babies has shown to calm and relax them during bouts of colic. However, the remedy has not been free from its share of purported side effects. Is gripe water safe for babies, and should you consider it for your little one’s colic?

Read this post to know the safety, benefits, and potential side effects of gripe water for babies.

What Is Gripe Water?

Gripe water is a liquid solution believed to be made of natural ingredients, which can help to soothe the discomfort caused by bloating, colic, indigestion, and hiccups. Gripe water is an over-the-counter herbal dietary supplement available for over a century. It was created in the 1800s to treat malaria fever. Later, its uses diversified to soothing common problems in babies such as colic, teething pain, hiccups, and other tummy troubles. The initial formulation contained alcohol. Currently, alcohol-based gripe water is discontinued due to the adverse effects of alcohol on babies. These days, most gripe water brands use sodium bicarbonate, sugar, and a few herbs such as dill seed oil, peppermint, fennel, chamomile, or ginger. They may also contain other artificial flavors.

It may be noted that gripe water is not regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since it is marketed as an herbal supplement and not a medicine. Hence, caution is advised before introducing your baby to gripe water.

Do you think it is safe?

Taking care of a newborn can be incredibly overwhelming. You have to understand when they are feeling sleepy or hungry, just by the way they are crying. Although crying is normal, but sometimes they do it incessantly without any reason, which clearly indicates that there is some serious issue. Mostly this happens when the baby is feeling bloaty or is colic an unexplained digestive difficulty.

In such cases, parents prefer to give a herbal remedy called gripe water, which is believed to be very effective and safe. Gripe water has been used from decades to soothe a crying baby. But the question is, is it really safe to give this concoction to the infants?

Is it safe for baby?

Gripe water has been used across the world for a long time and is believed to be quite effective, but the paediatrician does not support this claim.

As per Doctor, parents should completely avoid giving gripe water to their child.

They usually won’t recommend gripe water at all. The companies selling gripe water are not regulated. So they do not exactly specify the ingredients they use to process the liquid. You do not know if the ingredients are safe or not.

Although Doctor does not recommend gripe water, he said if you are still willing to give it then it is important to remember two things, that are:

1. First It should not be given to a baby less than three-month-old and
2. Second it should be homemade.

Even doctor added that gripe water is neither beneficial nor harmful. “Gripe water is just fennel seed water. Sometimes it even contains chemicals. So, we don’t advise parents to give gripe water to their child. It is useless.”

As per a study published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information, giving anything other than breast milk to the infants in the first six months may increase the risk of introducing bacteria, causing allergies and irritating their intestine. The same thing applies with gripe water.

Traditionally alcohol was used to prepare gripe water, which provides a soothing effect. But the study further revealed that the brands of gripe water available in the Indian market are alcohol-free but contain sodium bicarbonate. When sodium bicarbonate is feed in large quantity it may cause alkalosis and milk-alkali syndrome.

How Does Gripe Water Work?

There is not enough evidence regarding the safety of gripe water on babies. You may have to check the specific ingredients in a bottle of gripe water to determine if it is safe for your baby.

Gripe water’s effectiveness depends on the types of ingredients used in it. It is not fully known how does gripe water work but most of its effects are attributed to the herbs in it, such as fennel, dill, and peppermint.

These herbs may have the following effects.

• Releases gas
• Encourages bowel movements
• Reduces fussiness such as caused by teething
• Relaxes the baby to sleep
• Subdues the colic symptoms

Other ways to soothe a baby:

Doctor says that rather than giving gripe water there are other things that you can do to soothe a crying baby. Asafoetida and Probiotics may help to reduce or relieve excess gas and pain.

Asafoetida: You can take half-a-teaspoon of asafoetida and add a few drops of water to it to make a paste. Apply this paste around the belly button of the baby for relief.

Probiotics: Probiotics may also help to provide relief from pain in breastfed infants. Consult your doctor about it.

Burp your baby: After feeding your baby, try to make them burp. This is an easy way to get some uncomfortable air out of the baby’s belly.

Review your diet: Reduce the intake of nuts, soy, eggs, caffeine. These things may also cause bloating in baby.