Gripe Water
After the doctor told us that it sounded like Sophia had “colic”, which I’ve since discovered is an umbrella word used for all overly fussy babies, I started doing mega research to see what I could do to stop said overly fussiness in my baby. I found that totally cutting cow’s milk from my diet help in our case. We noticed the difference right away and it was like night and day. Sophia’s doctor congratulated me on finding the only food that has been found to have any connection with colic. Unfortunately I’m having a hard time staying away from all dairy. I’ve been able to get away with things like cheese cake and the occasional cup of hot chocolate but we went out to dinner a few days ago and I had Chile Relleno (there are many versions of this dish, but in this case it’s a poblano pepper stuffed with cheese). Things didn’t sit well with Sophia, so thankfully I also researched the gripe water suggestion of a commenter.
What is “gripe water”? If it really works, what’s in it that does the job? The brand the commenter mentioned was Baby’s Bliss, so I looked it up and found the ingredient list.
- Deionized Water
- Vegetable Glycerin
- Sodium Bicarbonate (15 mg)
- Organic Ginger Extract (5mg)
- Organic Fennel Extract (4 mg)
- Fructose
- Citrus Bioflavonoid Extract
- Citric Acid
- Grapefruit Seed Extract
Water, Glycerin (A byproduct of the soap making process usually used in cosmetics – Though I don’t usually see it in the things I consume I think it’s pretty harmless), Sodium Bicarbonate (Also known as baking soda), Ginger Extract (Something exotic to make you think it’s an ancient Chinese secret), Fennel Extract (Pleasant smell and flavor), Fructose (Just a teaspoon of sugar to make the medicine go down), Citrus Bioflavonoid Extract (Fancy way of saying pulp and rind of citrus fruits or vitamin C), Citric Acid (Something acidic to react with the aforementioned baking soda – think of the volcano experiments in high school science class with baking soda and vinegar), Grapefruit Seed Extract (A preservative that leaves me with a less than fuzzy feeling).
When I read Sodium Bicarbonate on the ingredient list I thought of the taste of baking soda and it reminded me of the couple of times I used Alka-Seltzer. You know, “plop plop fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is”, Alka-Seltzer. I looked up the ingredients for Alka-Seltzer and sure enough Sodium Bicarbonate and Citric Acid appeared on the list. Gripe water is just baby-seltzer. The big difference between the two is that Alka-Seltzer also contains Aspirin, so don’t think you can get away cheap by using the adult version on your baby. The other difference is that the baby version already has the water added and therefore doesn’t have the fun bubbly fizz that’s created when the baking soda initially combines with an acid (I’m guessing the extra fizz wouldn’t do well with a baby’s immature system), but the babies do get sugar (hardly seems fair).
Because I don’t care to use anything with Grapefruit Seed Extract and Baby Bliss recently had a recall on their apple flavor gripe water I sought out a different brand. We went with Wellements Gripe Water. Here is the ingredient list:
- Agave fructose
- Citric Acid
- Chamomile (flower)
- Ginger extract (root)
- Fennel extract (seed)
- Glycerin
- Sodium Bicarbonate
- Purified water
Agave fructose (Sugar derived from the agave plant – Agave is a succulent plant probably best known for making tequila), Citric acid (The acid that will spark the following sodium bicarbonate), Chamomile (Known for its general soothing properties in tea), Ginger extract (Exotic stuff), Fennel extract (Pleasantly smelly stuff – I call Sophia “Fennel Face” after giving her a dose), Glycerin, Sodium Bicarbonate, and water.
December 20th, 2007 at 1:45 am
I remember all your Grapefruit Seed Extract research of months ago, when you were looking for a safe cleaning agent for Gandalf’s cage. I chuckled when I saw it appear here. I think it’s coming after you!
Nice compilation of your research. And I’m so glad you’re able to have a bit of dairy in your diet without making Sophia’s life unbearable. Nice resolution.