How Does Gripe Water Help a Colicky Baby?
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Base Ingredient
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Gripe water, an easy-to-make home remedy, is typically a combination of alcohol or water, soda bicarbonate, and various herbs. There are commercial versions, often sold as supplements, but the ingredients are readily available from grocery and herb stores.
Alcohol is the original base ingredient for gripe water, but purified water is often used, or a combination of purified water and glycerin. Glycerin makes the mixture sweet, which makes it more appealing to baby's taste buds. Both alcohol and water serve as carriers of the other ingredients, which provide the colic relief; alcohol, of course, also produces a calming effect. It's not the best choice for infants, though, so if you want to buy or make gripe water, do so with the purified water version.
Bicarbonate of Soda
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Bicarbonate of soda, another of the ingredients of early versions of gripe water, can actually aggravate the symptoms of colic. Soda does have a temporarily calming effect, however, because it is an alkali and counteracts the acid in baby's stomach, which often causes the pain and gas of colicky babies. The temporary relief is not worth upsetting the pH balance, however, so modern versions of gripe water should not include bicarbonate of soda.
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Herbs
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A gripe water recipe made of purified water, glycerin, and herbs is essentially a very strong herbal tea, or infusion, with glycerin to make it more palatable. The most commonly used herbs for gripe water are dill, fennel, chamomile, peppermint, ginger, caraway, anise, lemon balm, blackthorn, cardamom, and aloe. Most gripe waters do not contain all of these herbs, but a combination of some or, in other cases, only a single one, such as dill or fennel. The herbs are reputed to have various stomach-soothing, gas-relieving properties. Infusing the water with the herbs produces a tea that contains these properties and can give baby some relief from a colicky tummy.
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