Is gripe water bad for babies?

[Cherry85]

Our 7bweeknold had bad colic and we used infacol for a few weeks before switching to gripe water when infacol stopped working. I was actually more comfortable with this as it was natural ingredients rather than chemicals.

Issue now has resolved itself so not using regularly but was speaking to a friend the other day who said her midwife said to only use gripe water when they are REALLY bad.

I'm confused as I thought the natural remedy would have been safer - alsonmy doctor thinks it doesnt actually do anything.... so why would it be a last resort after drugs?

Just asking if anyone knows the logic out of interest!

Traditionally gripe water contained gin. My mother tells me we all loved it and it worked to 'settle' us really well. Explains a lot.

Nowadays I don't think it contains anything much beyond a few drops of herbal oil and a load of E numbers.

Sounds like she's talking rubbish, gripe water is mostly just water.

Is she thinking of the old version that nannies used to like to take a swig of?

Its perfectly safe, I've used it on all 4 of my DC. I do find it works better if you dont use it with every feed. I also discovered eventually I could add it to the bottle when making it up rather than trying to syringe it to them which resulted in a sticky mess.

Gripe water is mostly for your benefit so you feel like you're doing something. Colic, by definition, doesn't really have a solution other than time.

Which does suck, but it will get better.