Saturday, December 4, 2010

Gripe water...

We've started using gripe water with Levi because we suspect that his fussiness has much to do with gas.  It seems to work, but it also seems that whenever it wears off, he's fussier than before.  Or at least less consolable.  So here are my questions...

-  is being more fussy afterward normal?
-  did gripe water work for your kids?
-  is it supposed to bring on burps and foofs?  Cause it doesn't necessarily do that...just makes Levi more calm for a while...
-  Is drowsiness a side-effect?  Yesterday Levi slept for 3.5 hours, with one feed in the middle, during the afternoon/evening then went to bed at 9:30, no problem, and slept for 6 hours straight.  (He usually naps for 30-45 minutes during the day and sleeps for 3-4 hours at night)
-  how often can you give your kid gripe water.  I know what the bottle says for his age (5mls, four times a day) but can this happen every day?  Can I keep my boy constantly hopped up on gripe water?

update: I should probably also mention that we have the alcohol free gripe water and that Levi really isn't very fussy as far as fussy babies go.  He does have his moments, but only once has he been truly inconsolable.

5 comments:

Stacey said...

Are you using alcohol free gripe water? You might want to check into that. I just remember using it a couple times when my little babies were screaming. It did help them sleep better, but I didn't use it very much.

Does he scream a lot?

Josie said...

I don't have an answer to all of your questions, but I do know that I was strongly cautioned by my doctor and midwife to avoid the gripe water that contains alcohol. We found that the alcohol free gripe water worked just as well as the other stuff.

Chelsey said...

I used gripe water with all my kids (alcohol free). My first seemed to really like it - to the point of becoming dependant on it. We would have to dip her soother in it several times for her to go to sleep. I wouldn't say sleepiness is a side effect, he's just possibly due for a growth spurt and the sleep is a fortunate side effect. The other two didn't seem to really respond to it (at least not faithfully), but we would use it to cure some mild hiccups, etc. With the one who was dependant we purchased tiny 1mL droppers so twenty droppers seemed like a lot and the dosage goes up at a fairly young age. Finally, in response to getting more fussy after it wears off - my oldest was my difficult child so it would be hard to say definitively that she got fussier after the gripe water but I theorized that she liked the strong taste of the gripe water and would fuss until she got what she wanted. Summarizing all that babble I would say you can't hurt him with gripe water, and it's our jobs as moms to keep them happy and comfortable so follow your mommy instincts. Good luck :)

Kelsie-Lynn said...

I can't remember if we talked about this already but we try it but we found it made Alexis way to sleep (we used alcohol free) and like you said it made her way grumpier when it wore off. We found Oval worked much better for us. Our pharmacist recommended it and it was awesome for Alexis. Hope you can find what works best for you soon!

Anonymous said...

Oval all the way!