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Have you ever heard of homemade gripe water?  It’s really amazing!

Here’s the scoop…

Does your baby seem gassy or fussy?

Does she spit up a lot or act fussy after feedings?

If so, she may need something to ease her digestion…

Homemade Gripe Water to the Rescue!

If you have never tried making gripe water to relieve your baby’s digestive woes, you are in for a pleasant surprise…

Not only is gripe water super easy to make, but its calming effect on digestion, will make you wish you tried it much sooner!

How to Make Homemade Gripe Water for a Happier Baby!

If you have a fussy baby due to gas, colic or reflux, you know how hard that can be!

There is nothing you want more than to help your little one find relief!

What if there was a drug-free solution that would ease her digestion?

Better yet, what if you could quickly whip up that solution yourself and save lots of money!!

Well, you can!

In this post, I’m going to show you just how easy (and affordable) it is to make this soothing home remedy that provides fast relief for your baby’s digestive woes.

Here’s how…

How Gripe Water Can Help

Gripe water is a centuries-old, traditional folk remedy that has gained popularity in recent years as an alternative and natural solution for infant colic.

It is also known for alleviating symptoms of other gastrointestinal disturbances such as gas, hiccups, and infant reflux.

Gripe water can be purchased at most pharmacies and online, but it is fairly expensive and most brands contain preservatives and flavorings that your baby just doesn’t need!

I have, however, found some great products that I would recommend, that leave out the preservatives and other “nasties”.

These are my favorite brands: Catnip and fennel extract,  Baby Magic Tea, or Mommy’s Bliss.

I don’t recommend Mylicon drops, mainstream brands of gripe water, or other over-the-counter gas remedies because they all contain questionable ingredients such as sugar, propylene glycol and disodium EDTA …

No thank you!

 

 

What Makes Gripe Water So Effective?

The active ingredient in most solutions is fennel seed. Fennel seed is an aromatic herb used for centuries as a digestive aid. There are many other medicinal uses for fennel too, as you can read here.

Does fennel really work?

In a recent 2003 study, infants treated with fennel seed oil, had 65% fewer crying episodes than those treated with a placebo. Many mothers, grandmothers, midwives and doulas 😉 can also testify to its effectiveness!

The use of fennel for expelling gas and relieving digestive complaints is often recommended by many holistic healthcare practitioners as well.

Likewise, ginger has similar digestive benefits. It soothes digestion and is known to relieve stomach upset and nausea.

The two together make an unbeatable combination providing soothing relief to your baby’s tummy woes!

 

Homemade Gripe Water is Easy to Make!

How about making your own? I have found various recipes online, but mine is the easiest!

For all you penny-pinchers out there, mine is also VERY economical… Let’s see… water… jar…tea bags…voila! Gripe Water! (or should I say… taddah!)

If you buy the Alvita boxed tea bags, there are 24 bags in each box, so you can make 24 cups of gripe water (aka… fennel/ginger tea) for the same price as a 4 or 8 oz ready-made solution…. hmm.

 

How to Make Gripe Water in 5 Easy Steps…

Step 1 – Buy Tea Bags.

Please buy organic tea.

This is your tiny baby. She or he does not need the extra pesticide residue from commercially-raised foods. If he is experiencing digestive issues, the extra chemicals in his tummy are not helpful.

Here is what I recommend: You can buy organic tea bags online and get them in a couple days. Easy peasy!  organic fennel tea bags and organic ginger tea bags

 

 

 

 

Step 2- Find a small jar with a lid.

If you don’t have a canning jar, just use an old jelly jar or other small jar that you can reuse. Make sure there is a lid.

Step 3- Crush the fennel Seed

The fennel seed in these tea bags comes already crushed, but I like to slightly crush them again to help release more of the essential oils from the fennel seed before brewing.

It’s simple to do. Take your empty jar and simply press down on the tea bag a few times to crush the seeds. Be careful not to tear the bag while doing this.

 Step 4 – Add your Tea Bags

Place one tea bag of the crushed fennel seed and one tea bag of the ginger root tea into the jar.

Step 5 – Cover with Boiling Water

Pour 1 cup of boiling water (preferably filtered) over the tea bags and seal. That’s it!

 

*Important*

When making homemade gripe water, it’s important to cover the jar to prevent the essential oils from escaping in the steam. We want those essential oils to remain. (That’s the medicinal part!)

Allow the solution to steep for up to four hours to extract the maximum benefit from the fennel and ginger.

You can definitely use some sooner, but let it brew the entire four hours before you remove the tea bags.

After removing tea bags, store jar in refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Since there are no preservatives in homemade gripe water, mom should drink up the leftovers and make a fresh batch every day for baby!

Dosage

There is not an established safe dose for infants at this time. That being said, many advocates of gripe water would recommend 1 teaspoon given 2-3 times per day. This is best given using a medicine dropper or syringe.

Perhaps the safest (and easiest) method of administering to a breastfeeding baby is for the mother to drink it. The benefits can easily be passed along through her breast milk!

Additionally, fennel is also known to boost milk supply, so drink up, Mom!

 

*Disclaimer – The information in this post is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be medical advice. If you are concerned about your baby’s health or if you have a baby that cries excessively, make sure that you talk with your baby’s doctor.

It is also recommended that you talk with your baby’s doctor before giving your baby any supplements or medicines such as gripe water.     

 

More Great Reflux Remedies

Gripe water can be very helpful for reflux babies.

There are also many other great tips for helping a baby with reflux. I have some great tips for dealing with infant reflux in this post.

 

Do You Have a Fussy Baby?

There may be other reasons that your baby is so irritable, especially during the evening hours. It’s not always due to pain!

In fact, if you and your baby suffer from the “witching hour” woes, you may be dealing with a case of a chronically over-tired or over-stimulated baby!

Many babies get easily overtired or overstimulated.

Read this post for more ideas of how to help a fussy baby!

 

I also have some other great tips in my post called, “23 Solutions and Natural Remedies for Crying Babies.”

 

Want to learn more about colic? Here is a great article here written by one of my favorite holistic doctors.

 

Please let me know if you decide to give this homemade gripe water recipe a try!  I’d love to hear your feedback!