Gripe Water: Time-Honored Remedy for Colic or Myth?

If your child has colic, find a chiropractor that sees children. Most of the babies that I have seen have resolved their colic in about a week.

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My first grandchild had horrific MSPI (milk soy protein intolerance) and went through many different formulas including synthetic ones at $50 a can and a can lasted 3 days. After every failed attempt to find one that wouldn't irritate a newborn's intestines, we had to detox her body using Pedialyte 100%, then 75% Pedialyte 25% new formula, etc till we were at 100% formula. Nothing worked. Consults with pediatric gastroenterologists found nothing to work except Levsin which left the baby glassy-eyed and barely able to feed. My daughter went online, discovered "The British Nanny's Secret", Baby's Bliss, and it WORKED!!! At 11 months old, my granddaughter was eating chicken at a local restaurant and immediately began screaming in pain. We opened the ever present bottle of Baby's Bliss and she immediately calmed down. She inately knew it would comfort her tummy. I'm a believer in Baby's Bliss!

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Contrary to the impression this article gave that there may be little or no validity to the beneficial effects of gripe water, and that they might generally be only anecdotal, there is a good metabolic basis for the effectiveness of ginger and fennel extracts in gripe water. Ginger contains a substance that inhibits thromboxane synthetase in cells of the stomach lining and by inhibiting that enzyme it reduces or prevents to some extent the release of histamines in the stomach which can lead to aching or spasms. Fennel is also known to have active metabolic effects by inhibiting smooth muscle contraction in the stomach wall, another cause of stomach ache. I seem to recall that the herb, dill has a smooth muscle relaxant factor in it too. In little children, stomach muscle cramps are painful, and a spoonful of gripe water containing a mild infusion of these plants usually relieves or reduces the intensity of the cramps. Gripe water also contains sugar and small children typically enjoy tasting something sweet and may pay less attention to their cramps when being fed something sweet. This article would have been more informative if a bit of research had been done into the biological effects of the components of gripe water. Not long ago it was estimated that about half of the pharmaceutical preparations in use today derived from plants which were being used in common folk remedies.

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The first thing that must be kept in mind is that the pharmaceutical industry has little interest in exploring the validity of folk medicines because there would be very limited opportunity to profit in something that woudl be difficult to patent and could ultimately be made more cheaply at home.

The next thing that should be kept in mind is that people have been reasoning by analogy--effectively--for centuries before the science existed to support the conclusions already drawn. For instance, back in the days of sailing ships, British naval vessels made a point of keeping citrus fruits aboard because they were known to keep away scurvy--HUNDREDS of years before anyone discovered vitamins! This allowed voyages of longer duration and earned the British the nickname "Limeys". Point is, one need not have a complete understanding of the whys, hows and wherefores to make reasonable observations of the cause and effect relationship.

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I did not know about Gripe Water when my children were small. However, I love it!! My oldest daughter (she has 4 children) recommended it to me for my hiccups. When I get them they go away and return about every 45 minutes lasting for a whole day. The Gripe Water not only stops my hiccups immediately they don't return. Wonderful!!!

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Try eliminating all dairy and wheat.

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This article screams of ignorance. Whoever says that things like gripe water are an unproven remedy because they have never been scientifically tested needs to examine their head! If they actually looked at the ingredients in gripe water they'd see that the herbs listed are ALL proven remedies for stomach and intestinal troubles! Open up a book on medicinal herbs and you'll find that ginger and chamomile will soothe an upset stomach while fennel relieves gas and dill is good for anything from hiccups to diarrhea. Seriously people, stop comparing herbs that have been proven to have medicinal benefits to things like monkey bladders just because you have no clue about them!

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Agree 100%. My son was fussy on a trip to Ireland to see his grandparents as an 8-month-old. My mother-in-law bought a bottle of gripe water, gave him about a 1/2 tsp., sat him facing outwards on on her knee and rubbed his back. Within just a minute or two, he both burped and broke wind several times, and was perfect afterward. I brought the bottle home with me and used it (and another one sent over later from Ireland) with all three of my children. My brother was a young pediatrician - he laughed when I told him about it and said about the same as above - "Well, I don't guess it could hurt!" I have OFTEN commented to my husband that I couldn;t believe someone hasn't imported and sold both Gripe Water and Sud-o-Crem here in the US. He said the FDA wouldn't approve them for sale here. You think that's true? I was really surprised to see this article for gripe water here.
- safloytab

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I recommend Gripe Water to EVERYONE! It doesn't always work on all kids but my son was full blown 5hr colic and 1 1/2 months later i started giving him Gripe and it put him to sleep.Everyday the same hour he would start crying and if it wasn't for the Gripe water, it would have been worse.

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Doctors and consumer advocates would do better to focus on the fact that they can't thouroughly and specifically define and describe colic and what triggers it instead of having this conversation about a remedy that any of us who use it, know that it works.

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The reference to cryptosporidium in this artcle is quite superfluous and has no direct relevance to Gripe Water.
It is like writing an article about the nutritional value of beef and inserting a sentence that ststes hamburger meat has been found to contain E. Coli.

Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite that lives in the intestines of mammals, but can exit outside of a body.
It is usually transferred through water, but can also be contacted in fecies.

If it was found in a sample of Gripe Water, it probably came from untreated or improperly-treated water.
The protozoa has an an outer layer that is resistant to disinfection.

It may have also come from contaminated water used to make or wash the ingredients of Gripe Water, contaminated irrigation water and susequent lack of disinfection of the herbs, contact of the herbs with contaminated soil or fecies in the field without follow-up disinfection, or poor hygiene by workers along the way.

It is definitely not attributable to the Gripe Water, per say.
There was no need for the writer to include it in this article.

And no...., I am not affliliated with any manufacturer or marketer of Gripe Water.
I just dislike sensationalistic "journalism" and think the public deserves to know the facts.

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Sorry....., the words should have been "states" and "exist".

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