Gripe Water Side Effects

Let us begin with this,
Do not give gripe water to babies who are not 1 month old. Their digestive system cannot process it.

Ever since gripe water was concocted for the first time in 1851, by an American pharmacy apprentice living in England, called William Woodward, millions of mothers have blessed this magic potion every day and continue to do so even today.

Gripe water seems to instantaneously relieve intestinal colic in infants caused majorly due to flatulence and reflux. Gripe water works wonders when it comes to relieving baby teething pain as well.

The natural question that comes to mind is why do babies suffer from such acute pain just due to the formation of gas? Well, simply put, a newly born child's gastrointestinal system is still in the stage of formation.

For the first thirteen weeks after a baby sees the light of day, digestion facilitating muscles are in the process of developing fully and moreover, the beneficial bacteria found in the intestinal tract to aid gastric digestion, called probiotics, are yet to appear in a baby's digestive system.

So, gas is easily formed in the infant's stomach and gets stuck in the intestines. This further restricts the natural flux of gastric juices and as a result of this immense pressure, the stomach tends to dilate and swell up. Obviously, your baby cries to this swelling up of the stomach.

Now why does gripe water work in such instances? Simply because of the gripe water ingredients, such as aloe, angelica, anise seeds, blackthorn, caraway, cardamom, chamomile, dill, fennel, ginger, lemon balm, peppermint purified water, and glycerin.

All work in tandem to assuage the body of spasms and cramps, induce slumber, as well as work to facilitate the easy passage of gas. They also help the process of digestion and alleviate tendencies to vomit, in a baby.

But unfortunately, there are some gripe water side effects that every parent should know about, before investing in any brand of gripe water for babies.

Before you buy a particular brand of gripe water, it is of optimum importance that you check the ingredients used to make that particular gripe water variety. Gripe water pros and cons greatly depend on it. It is said that the earliest and original version of gripe water was made from alcohol, dill oil, sodium bicarbonate, sugar and water.

However, in 1982, the United States government prohibited the sale of this magic potion as it came to be regarded as an unsafe drug mainly due to the use of alcohol, sodium bicarbonate and sucrose. Even now some brands contain traces of these substances along with some others that may prove derogatory for your baby's health. These are:

Alcohol: Well, for obvious reasons, an infant is last person who should be introduced to the addiction inducing beverages that can cause long-term problems.

Charcoal: In certain cases, this ingredient may cause intestinal occlusion (blockage) and dehydration. Charcoal is also known to interfere with working of other drugs, thus hampering their effectivity.

Citric Acid: Not only can it cause nausea, loose motions and vomiting, citric acid can act as an allergen for some people, inducing tarry, blackened stool passage, tingly limbs, rashes, breathing difficulties and inflammation of the face, lips or tongue.

Dairy: Dairy products are sometimes known to give rise to intolerance in infants, mainly due to the proteins found in milk and milk products. Problems in the digestion of lactose can lead to further formation of gas.

Essential Oils and Herbal Extracts: Prior research has proven that certain essential oils are not suitable for ingestion at all. They can give rise to quite a few complications even if it is an adult who is consuming it internally. So, it is but obvious that babies mustn't be exposed to these oils and extracts orally.

Also, since the FDA does not supervise the use of these herbal products, seek the guidance of a doctor before using a gripe water with these ingredients.

Gluten: This is known to induce allergies in a lot of people and so must be kept away from infants. Gluten affects intestinal cells derogatorily, modifying them in untoward ways.

Simethicone: This substance does near to nothing when it comes to relieving intestinal gas. It joins together gas bubbles that are only on the upper portions of the stomach so as to allow its passage through burping the baby.

But in case the baby isn't made to burp soon enough, the entire gas blob descends to the lower areas of the alimentary tract, thus making the stomach dilate further. This makes the baby's colic to become worse.

Sodium Bicarbonate: That which we commonly address as baking soda is an alkali that can potentially cause long-term problems.

Not only does it tamper with the pH of the abdominal acids found in a baby's stomach, it also destabilizes the electrolytes in the infant's body which may then lead to problems in the hydration of the body, blood pH and critical nerve and muscle function. It also deters the baby's body from absorbing necessary amounts of iron and folic acid.

Soy: There exists certain kinds of soy, the consumption of which by children leads to brain defects, along with other health issues, such as behavioral discrepancies and neural impairment among others.

Also, soy contains compounds called "anti-nutrients" which restricts the body from absorbing other nutrients, which can lead to an acute nutrition deficiency.

Sucrose: Use gripe water which substitutes sucrose with lycasin, as this hydrogenated glucose syrup does not actively cause tooth decay in infants.

Yeast: Yeast tends to fatten babies up, storing fats in their bodies in a way in which it is extremely difficult to burn later.

Also, always buy gripe water from trusted and accredited pharmacies, as otherwise you might just end up with a contaminated product. In fact, there was a case in 2007 where the FDA had to deal with a particular brand of gripe water infected with cryptosporidium, which rendered the product life-threatening.

Gripe water side effects usually do not rear their heads if one opts for not only a homeopathic gripe water, one that has been approved by the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS) and adheres to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifications at the same time. Also, gripe water has a particular dosage that must be adhered to.

You may give 2.5 ml of gripe water mixed with 20 ml of expressed breast milk, before giving your baby a bath, or even with 20 ml water. The general recommended gripe water dosages are,

• 1 - 6 months: 1 tsp. thrice a day.
• 7 months - 2 years: 2 tsp. thrice a day.
• 3 years and above: 3 tsp. thrice a day.

Bottle recommendations often say that babies whose ages are between 1 to 6 months can be given 5 ml of gripe water for at least 4 times a day, do not give your baby gripe water without any reason.

Most babies stop experiencing gripes by the time they reach the threshold of 3 months. So, instead of weighing the gripe water pros and gripe water cons continuously in your head, you can just make your own gripe water at home. Just grind together a teaspoon each of fennel and dill seeds and then brew them in 6 cups of boiling water on a medium flame.

Once only about three cups of the solution is left, remove it from the stove, allow it to cool and then run it through a strainer. Add some sugar if you like but remember, you can feed your baby this concoction for only 24 hours. All leftovers must be thrown away after the period. Refrigerate it so that it doesn't get contaminated.

So, these are some of the gripe water problems that exist. But you obviously can keep all side effects of gripe water at bay by buying only good brands. The markets are flooded with gripe water brands, such as 'Colic Calm', 'Wellements Gripe Water', 'Baby's Bliss' or 'Colic Ease', but only buy that which adheres to your baby's needs best.

Make it a point to never buy any brand of gripe water which does not have its components clearly mentioned on the label. Remember, feeding your baby something to quieten her temporarily should not be your objective alone. Gripe water side effects can hamper your baby's health in ways that might prove to be irreversible.

So, choose wisely today to bring up a healthy individual for tomorrow.