Can You Overdose on Gripe Water?

Video Transcript

"My name is Christine Marquette, and I'm a registered and licensed dietitian with the Austin Regional Clinic, and I'm going to answer the question, can you overdose on gripe water? For the most part, you cannot overdose on gripe water, it really depends on how it's made. Most versions of gripe water contain a purified water and then various levels of different herbs, such as chamomile, fennel, dill, mint. Those particular herbs in general, you're not going to be able to overdose on. The one problem may be if a person actually makes their gripe water with alcohol. Now if there's alcohol in it, it can definitely be overdosed on. Particularly because gripe water is used in babies for the most part, so you want to be very careful with the type of gripe water that you're using. Gripe water can actually also be purchased over the counter. So if you're purchasing an already prepared gripe water, again, very important that you make sure that it does not contain any alcohol in it, because it would be very easy to give a baby an excess of amount of alcohol through the gripe water that will cause an overdose in their little system. So the most important thing to avoid any overdose is just make sure there's no alcohol in it. The herbs themselves will not cause a problem, because they're generally used in very small doses, and two, if you're using the recommended amount on the bottle, you shouldn't be giving your baby an overdose of gripe water."