# Gripe Water



## cosy (11 Jan 2006)

I went to a chemist to buy some gripe water and was told that it is gone off the market and nothing to replace it.  Any alternatives for 6 week old breastfeeding WINDY baby.

Thanks


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## kazbah (11 Jan 2006)

Actualy it's only not available in Ireland.
Apparently they need a license for it and it was never renewed.
I got it in England over the summer - maybe you can get someone to bring it home or order it online.  It's quite heavy though so postage might be a lot.


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## Carpenter (11 Jan 2006)

cosy said:
			
		

> I went to a chemist to buy some gripe water and was told that it is gone off the market and nothing to replace it. Any alternatives for 6 week old breastfeeding WINDY baby.
> 
> Thanks


 
It's  more unusual for a breastfeeding baby to suffer from wind, I thought.  My wife breast fed our first child and junior never had any wind at all. You might check if the baby is sucking in more air than milk?  Hope you don't take this up the wrong way, I know my wife was sick of people telling her how and how not to feed her baby but her feeding technique (or the baby's technique I suppose) did improve with experience.  It's all in the "latch on" isn't it?


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## ClubMan (11 Jan 2006)

kazbah said:
			
		

> Actualy it's only not available in Ireland.


_Boots _told me that it's available in _NI_. However I guess it was taken off the market for a reason so it might be worth checking why this was.


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## kazbah (11 Jan 2006)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> _Boots _told me that it's available in _NI_. However I guess it was taken off the market for a reason so it might be worth checking why this was.


 
I believe it was due to licensing.


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## ClubMan (11 Jan 2006)

Sorry - I see that above now. I presumed that it was a health/safety issue.


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## paddyc (11 Jan 2006)

kazbah said:
			
		

> I believe it was due to licensing.


 

AFAIK it was due to the alcohol content of the gripe water 4.4%


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## kazbah (11 Jan 2006)

paddyc said:
			
		

> AFAIK it was due to the alcohol content of the gripe water 4.4%


 
I don't think there has been alcohol in it in a long time.
I think the most popular brand is Woodwards Alcohol Free & Sugar Free gripe water.

When I searched here:
http://www.wisechoiceuk.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=6542
I saw:


> This item presently unavailable due to FDA import ban.


 
Woodward's Gripe Water contains dill oil or dill water, sodium bicarbonate, alcohol, and other substances. Labeled for such medical uses as relieving baby's hiccups and minor stomach upsets, the product has been used in a number of other countries for years. In the United States, however, FDA considers it an unapproved drug. FDA also requires it to be detained at U.S. borders.


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## cosy (11 Jan 2006)

Carpenter

I see where you are coming from re unusual in breastfeeding, Its our 4th child in 7 years all breastfed,  he is a big hungry lad (ouch).  Can I give him anything as he gulps which makes him windy.


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## EPF (11 Jan 2006)

We used infacol for our windy (bottle feed) baby and it worked a treat


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## Carpenter (11 Jan 2006)

cosy said:
			
		

> Carpenter
> 
> I see where you are coming from re unusual in breastfeeding, Its our 4th child in 7 years all breastfed, he is a big hungry lad (ouch). Can I give him anything as he gulps which makes him windy.


 
Well I'm not the expert here, my wife is naturally but junior is being weaned off the breast after nearly a year (down to 2 milk feeds a day). My wife had problems initially (in the first month or so) with getting junior to latch on well and get a good suck action going (I'm sure this sounds quite amusing to other AAM readers out there!). But I think I can honestly say that junior has NEVER had wind! Plenty of gas alright, but that's quite funny!! Has this arisen with any of your other children in the past? (wind that is!)


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## ClubMan (11 Jan 2006)

Fair play to your wife for lasting a year! A colleague's wife did it for three (!) years. My wife and all the women other in my family were only able to keep it going for the first few weeks (no mean feat either).


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## Carpenter (11 Jan 2006)

ClubMan said:
			
		

> Fair play to your wife for lasting a year! A colleague's wife did it for three (!) years. My wife and all the women other in my family were only able to keep it going for the first few weeks (no mean feat either).


 
My wife came up against a lot of stick, especially from older female relatives on my side of the family: "Are you STILL breast feeding?".  I know of someone (a member of La Leche League, of course) who breast fed their child for a lot longer...milk and cookies anyone?


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## cosy (11 Jan 2006)

No all others wind free but plenty of gas.  He also throws up a little on and off after feeding.  I am also a male and jnr is a good feeder/latcher.  Just wondering did anything replace the famous gripe water.


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## kazbah (11 Jan 2006)

Carpenter said:
			
		

> I know of someone (a member of La Leche League, of course) who breast fed their child for a lot longer...milk and cookies anyone?


 
Yeah I've come across this too - odd!
Once you can ask you're too old IMHO.
I think 6 months would be my limit.


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## efm (11 Jan 2006)

We used infacol, coleaf (sp?), gripe water, big teats, small teats, warm bottles, cold bottles, sitting up, lying down, Cow and Gate, SMA and any other thing we could find on our first baby - nothing worked to relive the wind; he just had to grow out of it.

But, for what it's worth, we found the gripe water particularly useless (the other solutions had a temporary affect at least); but I have read that some people swear by it - I think a lot depends on the individual babies.  

Sorry I can't offer more constructive advice


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## Vanilla (11 Jan 2006)

Some babies are just more windy and possetty than others and no amount of gripe water or winding or positioning will do any good. I know V Jr ( also breast fed, 8 months ( !) ) was very possetty-and at times very windy, I found nothing to be of any use and she just had to grow out of it too.


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## ClubMan (11 Jan 2006)

Er, what does "possetty" mean?


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## Carpenter (11 Jan 2006)

Yes, I'm very curious as to the meaning of this word also


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## Vanilla (11 Jan 2006)

Ha ha, and I thought the language of parents was universal! A possett is when a baby throws up excess milk they have taken for comfort or sheer greed, but their stomach can't accomodate the volumn so they throw it up. Its not really a vomit as such.


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## ClubMan (11 Jan 2006)

Ah - you mean "pukey"!


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## Carpenter (11 Jan 2006)

Ah, very interesting that..I 've found this definition of "posset": "formerly, a remedy against colds, etc. made from hot milk, curdled by adding wine, ale, vinegar etc. and usually spiced" - I think I'd skip that remedy.


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## Sue Ellen (11 Jan 2006)

Hi Cosy,

If wife has a chat with your district nurse you will probably find that junior has a touch of reflux which causes the vomiting and I'm convinced the wind. Both of mind had reflux and severe colic despite being breastfed. I tried the gripe water with them but it did not do any good. Neither of these are serious issues but you both have my sympathy because it can be a very stressful time. In a lot of cases the colic disappears when they go onto solids and in many cases the reflux clears up at about 9/12 months. You will probably find also that it is at its worst after 6 p.m. because of a build up over the day.

IMHO the best way to get rid of the colic is movement. This is probably why one sees so many Mothers out walking the pram. My brother used to drive around at night time to get junior to sleep when the wind was very bad 

We have also had a previous thread on AAM on this very subject.


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## Crea (11 Jan 2006)

Hello,

BF my 1st windy boy and used Infacol. I helped but as another poster said some baby's are just a bit windy. I found that keeping him upright for a while after the feed helps - no idea why.
I can definitely sympathise.


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## Teabag (11 Jan 2006)

We had a collicy baby who was breastfed for 9 months. We tried gripe water and infacol put didn't perceive any improvement. The colic went naturally after about 4 weeks (lasted from 2 months to 3 months). 
I have since read that gripe water has been proven to be useless for colic. It's basically just sugared water.


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## Henny Penny (11 Jan 2006)

Have you tried lying the baby on his/her tummy for a couple of minutes ... then sitting him/her up ... it usually squeezes all the wind out.


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## Vanilla (12 Jan 2006)

Other positions that might help: try hanging the baby with your hands under his/her shoulders and supporting his/her head from the back- i.e. letting the weight of the baby hang from under arms down. Or baby on lap, back to your chest, your hands under babies knees bringing babies knees up against chest and/or cycling legs. Or baby lying chest down along your arm, head in your palm sideways, legs dangling around your elbow and walking around can ease wind. We went through about one month of bad wind every few days with V Jnr just like Teabag. It disappeared after that naturally.I think they say if wind is very bad, that you could raise mattress in cot on one side to keep babies head higher than body, and even the changing mat too.


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## Sue Ellen (12 Jan 2006)

"Plenty of gas alright, but that's quite funny!!"

Lowering the tone of the conversation now  but makes you wonder if the ones with severe colic were to take a leaf out of Carpenter's baby's book would they/their parents suffer a lot less.

Vanilla,

Considering options mentioned above just glad I wasn't your windy baby


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## DrMoriarty (12 Jan 2006)

sueellen said:
			
		

> Vanilla,
> 
> Considering options mentioned above just glad I wasn't your windy baby


Actually, I can vouch for pretty much all of those techniques too! Coping with a bout of bad wind when The Mama is temporarily not available can make a man very resourceful indeed...  

Even when it was available, I found Gripe water was never any great shakes for wind, but could help somewhat with teething pains/mild fever.


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## Vanilla (13 Jan 2006)

> Vanilla,
> 
> Considering options mentioned above just glad I wasn't your windy baby


 
Ha ha, and I wondered why V Jnr was possetting a lot!


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## kazbah (13 Jan 2006)

I think I was raised on gripe water and a bit of whiskey in the bottle


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