How best to administer gripe water to a 7 wk old who hates it?

[gingerkirsty]

Hello

DD suffers from trapped wind and gripe water is the absolute business for her - however she has got wise to me giving it to her and will do anything to avoid imbibing it - I have tried to explain it's for her own good but she won't listen!

I have tried the following methods:

Spoon - stupid idea, flappy arms and moveable head make this messy and impossible
Shot Glass - she won't sip/swallow and ends up gargling the stuff
Baby Syringe - she won't suck the syringe and just spits it back out or chokes - not good
Bottle - tried this as a last resort and she will suck on the teat but again she spits the stuff back out and I am not convinced she is taking very much in at all!

The only other trick I can think of is to mix it with some expressed milk in the bottle and see if that fools her.

Does anyone have any other tried and tested tricks? For one so tiny she is very powerful and I need the combined forces of MN to overcome her!!!

Thank you!

Bump - anyone?

Have you tried aiming the syringe at her cheek when in her mouth? Meant to be easier.

Ohh I remember when DS2 had colic it was hell, we tried everything. HV recommended colief and gripe water added to his milk. So I would say put it in a bottle with expressed milk in for her

Thanks ladies - yes she is v crafty at spitting it back out even if i put it in her cheek!

Will try mixing with expressed milk then it's worth a try

OK it worked BUT as am feeding her every 3 hours I will need to express 8oz a day which frankly I can live without - so any other ideas would be most welcome!

Thanks ladies

Give up! All the studies have shown that Gripe water / infacol etc don't actually work - Colief will only work if she has a problem with lactose. Try going dairy free yourself for a couple of weeks to test this out. Other causes of colic in a bf baby can be a very fast letdown making them take in too much air - try expressing off the first fast flowing milk or feed them "uphill" ie face down on you so that gravity can slow the flow. It might also be worth seeing a cranial osteopath to see if they can find any problems resulting from her birth.

Hi
I had a similar problem with my ds-I found using a dropper was better than a syringe as you can control the amount and give a couple of drops at a time..

Try infacol instead. It's orange flavoured and you don't have to give as much. 1ml if i remember rightly! I wouldn't take gripe water myself, it's revolting!

I was gonna suggest Infacol too, both ds1 and ds2 have been given it and always suck it off the syringy thing before I can dropper it in

Hello, thanks for all the ideas!

I tried infacol for a whole week to no effect, but as soon as i gave her gripe water it worked like magic - provided i can get it into her! It makes her do a proper manly belch which seems to get all the wind out.

Bert2e you have given me loads of helpful ideas - if gripe water works does that suggest it ISN'T a lactose intolerance?

You could well be right re fast letdown - if she unlatches at the beginning of a feed there is a spray of milk - fine, but a spray none the less. Will certainly try uphill feeding - when I've done that in the past she has been squashed against my boob and had trouble breathing - any tips to alleviate this?

I have also tried a dropper but she just spits it out!

Been to cranial osteo already, could go back i guess... will try giving up dairy in case that helps.

Thanks again your help is much appreciated

If the gripe water helps then I'd say that it probably isn't lactose intolerance - look on kellymom.com to find out more about over supply and fast letdown!

For uphill feeding, have a stack of cushions behind your lower back which you lean against meaning that your nipple points upwards. My DD was still able to latch on quite easily in that position.

As for adminisitering gripe water, could you use the infacol dropper to do it? Also, if you buy baby nurofen it comes with a syringe with a flat end (ie there isn't a smaller bit pointing out the end as there is with a normal syringe) meaning you can get it further into their mouth/cheek without worrying about grazing them. Apparently stroking their cheek or under their chin is supposed to help the swallowing reflex.

Its also worth bearing in mind that this may be a short lived problem. DD was really windy and we tried infacol which led to massive burps after each feed. About 5 days after I started giving her infacol, I went out for much of the day and forgot to take it with me and had to feed her twice and she still did huge burps. It seemed to me that she had learned what she needed to do with the assistance of the infacol. Since then, I haven't used it.

can't type onehanded but thank you both!!!

I used an old infacol bottle and use the dropper from that. If you haven't got one I think you sometimes get droppers in medicine kits? Also have you tried it mixed with water and given in a bottle?

BTW just thought I would tell you the best thing for colic. It worked wonders with DS.

Give a dose of infacol before the feed and a dose of dentinox in the milk if you are bottle feeding or in the mouth if breastfeeding. Then feed half the bottle or halfway through the breastfeed burp him and give the other half and burp again. Leave it for 10 minutes and give the maximum dose of gripe water, wait 5 mins and burp again.

wouldnt hold out much hope with the gripe water ,they took all the useful ingrediants out years ago !