Gripe water anyone?

[midnight armadillo]

My three week old son is suffering greatly from gas. A lactation consultant will be meeting with my wife in a few days to see if there's a problem there. The little guy is on Zantac for acid reflux too :(

Has anyone tried different gripe water brands? We've got baby's bliss but it doesn't appear to help much, so I'm looking to try something else.

[SoCalDem]

1. Wow.. That's one I have never heard of before..

Of course MY "baby" is now 27 :)

The doctors just told US to stay away from "gassy" foods while nursing.. stuff like broccoli, cabbage, beans, etc..

of course those foods are high in vitamins and proteins..so who knows?

My biggest problem with nursing, was that I drank iced tea, and my babies were very "alert"..:)

[midnight armadillo]

2. The stuff's been around for ages

There's like 20 brands on the market. It's very popular in some circles. I wouldn't bother except the little guy cries for 2+ hours sometimes because of gas!

[fight4my3sons]

3. All three of my boys had colic. I had heard of Gripe water, but

it wasn't everywhere like it seems to be now (it wasn't even two years ago). My pediatrician told me to use brown sugar in warm water (not medical advice) - might want to ask your doctor about that. My firstborn seemed to calm if I held him in the sling. The twins would calm if we put them in their swings near the oven with the exhaust fan on. We tried to massage their bellies like people say to do, but it didn't seem to work. We did end up putting them on some kind of drops, I can't remember the name (not Mylecon) it was something that the doctor prescribed.

I hope your little one is feeling better soon. I remember how helpless I felt while they cried, especially with the twins. :hug:

[Dora]

4. We liked gripe water, but Mylicon worked better. Diet also helps.

We used Baby's Bliss, and it seemed to help for minor gas pain. But the serious gas pain demanded Mylicon (simethicone) http://www.mylicon.com/. Really, IT WORKS. FAST. It doesn't eliminate the gas in your baby's gut - it turns the big gas bubbles into tiny gas bubbles so that they're easier for your baby's belly to pass. I always bought the Target store brand of simethicone - it is remarkably cheaper than the Mylicon brand.

I also eliminated ALL broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower from my diet. Because your wife is breastfeeding, I strongly recommend that she do the same. Any members of the cole family will cause your poor baby to have terrible painful gas. We learned this after a miserable night of endless crying, nursing for comfort, crying, nursing for comfort, crying... A trip to the drugstore as soon as it opened to buy a bottle of Mylicon fixed it. Baby D had gas until the broccoli left my system, and I wasn't brave enough to eat it again until he was nearly a year old.

For more info about what veggies belong to the cole family, you can visit http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/vegetables/colecrop.html. I also eliminated beans, caffeine, and any super-spicy foods until my son was 6-7 months old and his stomach had matured somewhat and I introduced cereal.

[mzteris]

5. Gripe water?

huh. Learn sumpin' new every day.....

But if you want something OLD......

My daughter was "very gassy" - especially whenever she was teething. Here was my routine:

1. stagger up in middle of night muttering imprecations against spouse refusing to get up; get baby.

2. turn on heating pad (low)

3. put on kettle for hot water

4. lay down on couch with heating pad on my tummy and baby on HER tummy on top of heating pad. Rub her back.

5. When kettle whistles, get up, put tea* in cup, add water, steep. Pour ~1/4-1/2 (depends on size - the smaller the baby, the more diluted) into sippy cup (you could use a bottle, but she hated bottles!); - add cool water so you have "tepid temperature" - and reduced strength. Give to baby.

6. Resume position on couch with heating pad sandwiched between you and baby and rub rub rub until baby falls asleep.

7. Get up and CAREFULLY replace baby in bed.

8. Stagger back to bed. Make sure you make enough noise, movement to wake up spouse and be sure to put COLD feet on spouse just because he NEVER gets up!!!

* TEA to use - CATNIP tea. (No, not Hartz mountain catnip - the kind you can get in a health food store. IMPORTANT to dilute to 1/4-1/2 strength. This acts as a mild sedative so they can sleep, too.

If you don't have Catnip tea, you can substitute Chamomile (only dilute 1/4) - it works pretty well, too.

FYI - Daughter is now 25!

***

Also what the other poster said, if you're nursing - eliminate "gassy foods" from Mom's diet.

If not nursing - well, try short feedings punctuated by frequent burpings. Oh - and slightly elevate baby's bed at the head.

[abelenkpe]

6. baby's bliss...

gripe water, chamomile tea, mylicon, warm compresses for the tummy, we tried it all with our son. I cut out every suspected gas causing food from my diet, too. Nothing really worked as well as the zantac did. (Our little guy also had reflux, although it was diagnosed at around three months.) It did take a little while to see results with the zantac. So perhaps you will see some results soon. Definitely try the other remedies. They may work more for your son than they did for ours. A couple other things that helped ease his tummy gas for us was keeping him at an angle. We propped up his crib and bassinet and I held him a great deal, either in a sling or a front carrier, or just letting him nap on my tummy. The bouncer was a great source of comfort for him as well. He didn't really need the vibration, it was not lying flat that made him more comfy. Don't worry too much about having him on zantac either. We eased Connor off of it around age one and he has been eating well since then with no reflux problems. So it's not for forever. But while you do have your son taking it, try not to miss a dose. Staying on schedule helps make all the feedings more pleasant for him, if you are very late or miss one you will see he is not so willing to drink or eat. Good luck!

[midnight armadillo]

7. New zantac dose today

The poor little guy wound up in the ER last night for mild dehydration due to too much crying, not enough eating yesterday. The ped has bumped up his zantac dose and my wife is taking him to see a lactation consultant today. The lc thinks he may be having some latch troubles.

I'll give the chamomile a try, I was thinking of trying some rooibos tea since that's also a good tummy soother and is recommended for infants in Europe.

Now, once the gas is a little under control we'll work on getting him into the Amby baby hammock I got for $120 over the weekend.

Thanks everyone!!

[wildeyed]

8. Poor angel.

I hope you two are holding up ok, too.

I hope the Amby thing helps. I seriously considered it for my second who had some sleep issues. Let us know how it works out.

[SoCalDem]

9. My middle son preferred sleeping in his car seat

:shrug:.. when he would get fussy, we would set up the playpen in his room, and put the carseat with him in it, and he would snooze for hours..He hated laying flat in his bed.. Even when he was older, he would skootch himself into the weirdest sleeping positions..but never flat-out..


he was my "trial-child"..didn't sleep through the night til kindergarten :scared:..and he wandered too. We had to put slide locks on all the doors..up high, and a safety gate across his bedroom door..found him on the table in the kitchen..in the dark with a KNIFE..cutting a banana in the dark.. he was about 16 months old.. :eeeeek... That child..

[wildeyed]

10. The resolution to my son's sleep issues was relatively simple.

He was a tummy sleeper. For a while he would sleep in the infant seat, but after a month or two, he couldn't anymore. Once I started putting him down on his tummy, he started to stretch out and slept through the night with some regularity by the time he was 7-8 months old.

I about died of anxiety though. I had been taught that you don't put babies down on their tummies cause the could die :scared: I finally did it with the pediatrician's blessing, but it was not an easy decision.

[phylny]

11. Something that worked for us with regard to colic, gas, and breastfeeding

is that I stopped drinking milk.

The difference was remarkable. No colic, no gas, happy baby.

Good luck.