Colicky baby? Have you had good experience with gripe water?
By astromama
@astromama (1221)
United States
May 15, 2007 8:26pm CST
My baby is almost three weeks old and lately he will turn red in the face and start crying mid-feeding, has lots of gas and grunts a lot... I never really knew what 'colic' was, but apparantly it's digestive troubles and I think my son's got 'em. I bought some gripe water but am reluctant to give it to him quite yet. I am not eating any dairy, soy, wheat, or citrus but I did have beans last night so that may be the problem! He cried all day today and wouldn't nap for longer than thirty minutes, which is strange, considering he's an infant and should be sleeping ALL the time! If you had a colicky/fussy baby, what worked for you? Have you ever tried gripe water?
3 people like this
6 responses
@Gemmygirl1 (2867)
• Australia
16 May 07
I dunno who told you not to have dairy, it's good for you!
I have a product here so i don't know if you have it there but it's from a brand called Brauer - it's just a liquid called colic relief, basically you just give them the dosage & it pushes the feed they had down, which releases the gas.
My daughter just never burped so that worked a treat - it's a baby safe brand as they only make for pregnant women, nursing mothers & babies.
Ask your pharmacy, they might have it or you may have a brand like that there that focus's just on babies.
I have no idea what gripe water is but the other thing that works is rubbing his belly clockwise, it worked for my daughter as well, apparently it helps to move the feed to the right which brings the wind up too.
I wish you well & hope he gets past this stage soon!
@mememama (3076)
• United States
19 May 07
I used gripe water, and I let everyone I know with a baby that it is the best! It works way better than mylicon! Another thing to do is to lay him on his back, take his legs and peddle them towards his chest, like he's riding a bike. That helps relieve gas too, my son as a newborn would fart like an old man when I did that lol.
@Stephanie5 (2946)
• United States
17 May 07
My daughter was the same way...I've never heard of gripe water but this is what worked for me....
Take a recieving blanket, put it in the dryer for about 20 minutes. Then take it out (you have to do this quickly) and fold in in half, then fold it over again so it's long and skinny. Wrap your baby's belly in it, and wrap it TIGHT, not too tight, but tight. Wrap him in another the regular way, pretty snug and he should go right to sleep without you having to hold him...
If that doesn't work, I put my daughter on her belly across my knees and would bounce my legs gently and pat from the top of her back to her bottom then back up again...somehow it makes them burp A LOT!
Good luck! I hope one or both of those work for you! Congrats on the new baby!
@samtaylorskykierajen (7977)
• Canada
16 May 07
My first daughter was very colicky for the first couple of months . I did use gripe water but didn't really find it helped all that much . Once in awhile I would find it would help but on the most part it didn't seem to make a big difference . With my last daughter I had picked up something else at Walmart for colic and babies with a lot of gas but can't remember what the name of it was . I did find it worked a lot better then the gripe water and I was more willing to try this when I found out that gripe water will eat through the furnish on a dresser if you were to spill it and not get it right away . My cousin did this with one of her children and didn't realize that some of it had spilled . When she went to wipe it later it took the finish right off the bureau and when we talked about this we got to thining about what this would do to the inside of our baby .
I feel bad for you as I know how tiring this can be especially when you feel you can't make your baby feel any better as my daughter was so bad that I started to believe somehow it was my fault . Best of luck and remember your baby will outgrow this but if you find it is getting especially bad and you are having a hard time dealing with this you could try bringing it up with you doctor to find out what would be the safest thing to give to your baby .
Best of luck !!
@lucky_witch (2707)
• Philippines
16 May 07
Try to make your baby burp... the best way is to hold your baby up... carrying him facing you... its like hugging him... his chin should be above your shoulder... support his back then let him stay that way for a 2-3 minutes, give him a soft pat in his back.. and he will burp...
Another position is lie him on you lap facing the floor...his stomach in you lap... you could put some pillow so he will be comfortable....
Lie him face down the bed or crib... his stomach on the bed... just make sure he can breath... its the best way to relieve collic.
I've read it in the baby magazine... and use it with my kids and its effective.
But I used the first one... hoding my baby up..
@coachflaps (683)
• United States
16 May 07
we used it and it seemed to help somewhat, I just wish it were available at more places. One thing which it did help immediately with is hiccups, he could have the hiccups and as soon as we gave him gripe water they were gone.