Spitting up in babies is a very common issue that parents need to face every day. You might have heard about different things that you can do to help with spit up. One of those things is gripe water. Some parents and grandparents swear by gripe water and its great benefit. Does it really work? Does gripe water help with spit up?
The cause of spit-up
Let's look at the most common causes of spit-up.
Almost all parents have seen spit-up in babies. Spit-up most often happens because the baby's digestive system is still developing. You are most likely to see spit up after feeding your baby.
A good thing is, as babies grow up, they will become much and much better at keeping the food down. Most of the time babies will grow out of spit up on their own.
Some factors can cause excessive spit-up. They are:
Overeating:
If you feed your baby breastmilk or formula milk too much or too quickly, it can cause your baby to spit up more.
You might notice that where you put your baby down, your baby will spit up most of the time.
What you eat
If you are breastfeeding, some things that you eat can transfer to your milk. even though the amount of whatever things you ate in your breast milk he's very low, as your baby's digestive system he's still developing, your babies can be very sensitive to it.
Gas
You would likely notice that your baby spits up more when he eats too fast. The reason is that when he eats too fast, he will swallow more air than usual. The air can cause a hiccup, and create a spit-up.
GERD
If your baby is spitting up a lot, it can be a side of gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Allergies or food sensitivity.
If your little one he's having solid food, and you noticed that sometimes he can have more spit up than normal. It could be a sign of allergies or food sensitivities to a certain type of food.
Lactose intolerance
Some babies can be lactose intolerant to breastmilk or formula. If this is the case, your baby would likely have spit up a lot.
When does gripe water help with spit up
As you can see above, there are a lot of reasons that can cause spit-up in babies. and if you want to help with spit up, you have to know the reason causing it before deciding to use gripe water.
If your baby has spit up because of gas or hiccups, that's the time when gripe water can come to rescue.
Otherwise, gripe water wouldn't do any help with your babies' spit up.
Gripe water and spit-up: experience from 7 mamas
We have interviewed 7 mommies who are dealing with spit-up and hiccups in their babies. Let's see what they have to say.
Jessie Mama of three said:
Spit-up is normal in babies when babies overeat, swallow too much air, or have hiccups. Too fast and too much are usually the cause. I find that burping in the middle of feedings works wonders. What's more, if the bottle tilts at more than a 60-degree angle. Then the nipple will be too full. and your baby will swallow milk too fast. This is the most common time when my baby has spit-up.
I have tried giving my baby gripe water, but except for helping my burp once in a while. It did nothing with spit up.
Caroline, Mama's of a 2-year-old boy said:
Gripe water is a lifesaver. My son used to have so much gas and feel so uncomfortable every time after feeding. Spitting up is a common thing after every meal. Gripe water works instantly to relieve him. So now we are giving our son gripe water two times a day almost every day.
Jackson’s Mom said:
My baby has spit up but it doesn't seem to bother him. He only has it up a little bit, is not projectile spit up so I am not so worried about it.
When my baby seems to have too much gas, gripe water helps to relieve gas. but every time I gave him gripe water, I still noticed spit-up.
London Mama said:
In my opinion, gripe water has nothing to do with spit up. If you really want to do something with spit-up in your babies, you should keep your baby in an upright position after feeding for about 20 to 25 minutes. and definitely give good burping.
USA daily life said:
My doctor recommends using gripe water to help my baby when he has gas. However, he also warned that gripe water is not FDA-approved so only use it when my babies seem to be very uncomfortable. Spitting up in my baby is a common thing, so I still give him gripe water because I believe that's the reason he feels so uncomfortable. And I find out that it helps greatly.
Kyle’s mom
We use Mommy's Bliss Gripe Water. It helps our baby burp and it seems to reduce spit up a bit.
Maria’s mom said:
My daughter had a lot of spit-ups when she was young. And turns out that she has gas reflux disease. At the time we had to try gripe water, burping,... but nothing helped. Once she was prescribed some Zantac, she got better.
Mia, mother of twins:
Only one of my twins had a spit-up issue. We switched formulas, tried gripe water, and burped him in the middle of feeding,... And it seems to help. However, we are not sure if it is because of the formula or because of the gripe water.
Can gripe water prevent spit up?
As you have seen some of the mamas share the experience above, gripe water seems to help some of them with relieving gas from their baby, it doesn't seem to help with spit up.
If the reason for your baby's spit up is due to gas, then gripe water can help to reduce it a bit.
However, sadly that gripe water cannot prevent spit-up. And in fact, there is nothing that is guaranteed to prevent spit-up.
Does gripe water help with spit up? Conclusion
Even though many parents and grandparents swear by gripe water, it seems that gripe water cannot do anything with spit-up. However, before you have to take your baby to doctors because of those projectiles spit up, you can try some natural remedies yourself by burping your baby in the middle of feedings, keeping your baby in an upright position after feeding for around 20 to 25 minutes, and make sure that you do not overfeed or let your baby eat too quickly.