Gripe water = scene from the Exorcist - is that right?

[Anglepoise]

Not sure whether this is the right place to post this, bearing in mind it was basically the opposite of breastfeeding but anyway

DD is four weeks and like many babies suffers badly from wind (or maybe reflux?) in the evenings - turning red, going rigid and screaming while feeding and desperately trying to keep sucking because I think it helps her. We've worked through a bottle of Infacol, which might have helped a bit, and thought we'd give gripe water a go since she's now over a month. Last night she screamed and screamed and screamed after a feed so I thought I'd try giving her some gripe water. Hilariously, in retrospect, I daintily attached a bib under her chin, thinking she might dribble a bit, and tipped most of a teaspoon of gripe water down her. There was then a brief hiatus while I undid the bib and took the teaspoon into the kitchen. She stopped screaming and I thought "Gosh, it really does give instant relief". When I came back into the living room, she seemed to be bubbling slightly, and then opened her mouth and unleashed the most spectacular ropes of vomit. My yelling got DH into the room just in time for round two. On the plus side, she seemed extremely cheerful after that (chatting and smiling away), but it did lead to an awful lot of washing and clearing up.

Is this the effect that gripe water is supposed to have? She isn't a particularly sicky baby I don't think (no previous experience) - the occasional mouthful and two really impressive episodes in a month (the most memorable of which involved a complete change of bedding for us and DH having to go for a shower).

I don't really mind as long as it makes her feel better, but will know to put down the rubber sheeting next time ...

[ilovetochat]

sometimes when a massive burp comes up they do a massive vomit aswell as all the milk comes back with the burp, lovely eh

[Anglepoise]

Aha - thank you. In that case I will make sure DH always gives it to her in future

[moomaa]

We used it with DS, the doc said try infacol first, if that doesn't work well for your child, use gripe water. He said they do the same thing but gripe water is a bit more 'violent' and less gentle on their insides. We found it give massive burps but didn't get vomit. He did 'bubble' though.

Do you wind DD part way through feeds? That can help avoid sick.

Also, if you suspect reflux it's worth talking it through with HV or GP. DS was diagnosed with reflux and using infacol and gripewater just masked symptons a bit.

[sb6699]

My 3 all suffered badly with wind and as moomaa said stopping to wind once or twice during the feed rather than when they were finished really help.

Also infacol helps more after you've been using it for a while as the effects are progressive.

[CandleQueen]

We never got the hang of infacol as you have to give it before a feed and DS2 feeds/grazes a lot. Gripe water works a treat on him and we've only had occasional violent possetting. But we do wind him a lot between feeds.