Colic - Gripe Water V Infacol

[Chezza]

Morning Ladies,

I have a 4wk 4 day old little boy who is suffering terribly from colic. I was using infacol from 2wks and it appeared to be helping a fair amount - it wasn't taking all the pain away, but it was helping - and he didn't mind taking it either.

I swapped to gripe water this week, seeing as he is now old enough - and he has been taking it since Monday - he hates the taste and it is a struggle to get him to swallow it - so we are wasting a lot...

Secondly, he appears to have a lot more pain, especially after eating - he is always pulling his legs up and his flatulence is terrible - he strains quite a lot when passing wind / going for a poo - going terribly red in the face and crying - its absolutely breaking my heart!!

We always wind him thoroughly and also "cycle" his legs if required - and I have taken to laying him on his front on my chest, as he seems to really prefer being on his front.

I wonder if I should switch back to infacol - and if there is anything else I can do to help ease his pain?

Thanks so much in advance for your help/advice xxx

 

[LoopyLouize]

I used to put the gripe water in a bottle as when my LO was this age she would also spit it out if I put it on a spoon or syringe. X

Sent from my GT-I8190N using Tapatalk 2

 

[babybee]

I could be wrong but I think infacol helps to prevent trapped wind whereas Gripe Water helps to release trapped wind?
I'm not 100% sure though.
Xxx

 

[HopesDreams]

As far as I remember Infacol also needs to build up in the system. I could be wrong though.

 

[Leah04x]

We've never used gripe water, so no advice there! But we did use infacol until Ethan was a few months old and it helped loads! I think it's all trial and error as to what works better for your LO xx

 

[MrsV]

Hey Chezza,

I feel your pain. I tried Infacol, Gripe Water, Colief and finally Comfort formula. In the end we ditched everything except the Comfort formula as her pain turned out to be Silent Reflux instead of Colic. The two are often confused apparently. The change of formula really helped with her constipation and wind though. For the SR we have now been prescribed some proper meds after initially being fobbed off with infant Gaviscon. Hoping these work for her soon, as it too breaks my heart to see her in pain each feed.
I attach a useful article on Colic v SR just in case...
xx
PS: Ada also hated the Gripe Water and would spit it out. I then became concerned about all the E numbers in it, so soon gave up on it. There's also another one called Detinox I think. Seems to be trial and error with them all unfortunately. Hope you find way works best for JJ very soon xx

http://www.cheerfulcherubs.co.uk/colic-or-silent-reflux-the-burning-question-1386/

 

[MrsV]

Hey Chezza,

I feel your pain. I tried Infacol, Gripe Water, Colief and finally Comfort formula. In the end we ditched everything except the Comfort formula as her pain turned out to be Silent Reflux instead of Colic. The two are often confused apparently. The change of formula really helped with her constipation and wind though. For the SR we have now been prescribed some proper meds after initially being fobbed off with infant Gaviscon. Hoping these work for her soon, as it too breaks my heart to see her in pain each feed.
I attach a useful article on Colic v SR just in case...
xx
PS: Ada also hated the Gripe Water and would spit it out. I then became concerned about all the E numbers in it, so soon gave up on it. There's also another one called Detinox I think. Seems to be trial and error with them all unfortunately. Hope you find way works best for JJ very soon xx

http://www.cheerfulcherubs.co.uk/colic-or-silent-reflux-the-burning-question-1386/

 

[Jem1]

My son suffered really bad with it so I sympathise! I tried everything and I felt it was a case of finding what worked. I used all of the above and then tried dentinox colic drops which you put in their milk so they don't taste it and combined it with comfort milk and it helped no end. Don't get me wrong it didn't go but it made a vast difference. It took my son about 2 months to grow out of. Another thing to look up is the colic massage on you tube and this helps work the wind out of their intestines and out. Xxx

 

[Sue Clare]

I always put gripe water in Max's bottle but found that
it didn't really help, so I changed his formula to comfort which has really helped him.
He's 9 weeks now so hopefully he's over the worst of it xx

 

[Hunnie]

I do think there is a difference, infacol gathers the trapped wind and gripe water soothes? I've never used gripe water though as there was a shortage when my LO was born and it sold out everywhere!

I double dosed with infacol every feed and there was a huge difference from when I had used it and when I hadn't in terms of LO bringing the wind up.

Also for soothing a sore tummy try fennel water (fennel seeds strained through a Muslin cloth with boiling water into a bottle and leave to cool. A few sips should work and its a natural remedy for tummy ache! X

 

[Hunnie]

Colic massage is also a help!! I never got round to going but Ive heard attending baby massage classes can be helpful too xx

 

[Chezza]

Brilliant - thank you very much everyone! I think I may ditch the meds for now and try comfort formula to see how we get on...

Thanks so much xxxxxxxx

 

[Jem1]

Oh and another thing I did which Im not sure if it helped but I changed his bottles for a while from tommee tippee closer to nature to dr browns anti colic bottles while he struggled with his wind. Again im not sure what worked but the whole package helped a lot and then when it went I used the tommee tippee ones again. If your going to use comfort milk his poo might go green and explosive (did in my sons case but it didn't bother him) and I had to get bigger teats as I found the cow & gate comfort was thicker than normal milk.

 

[LYLLJellyTots]

Infacol takes about a week to build up and start working Hun but if it was working for you then go back to using it xx gripe water can be placed in the bottles afaik so that might help more x as others have mentioned baby massage can help and so can comfort milk but I would say to anyone reading this thread with similar problems 'colic' isn't always colic. don't be fobbed off by your health visitors and docs etc into the one size fits all colic answer. My son was allergic to milk and they fobbed me off for months, it's colic, it's reflux, it's this it's that even though I knew it was an intolerance. At the time I was a first time mum and thought they knew best, surely they must do? It's their job etc etc. sometimes mummy does know best. He's now four and still allergic to lactose. There are usually slight differences between colic / reflux / intolerances but you usually have to try and treat for one before moving on to the next. I'll write the differences I know below but they are only from my experience so please don't take them as gospel x

Colic - discomfort when lay down after feeds, drawing legs up in discomfort, usually relieved when baby is upright but as soon as baby is lay back down discomfort starts again. Pain when expelling wind but not particularly 'sicky' or diarrhoea stools.

Reflux - pretty much the same discomfort as with comic, when lay down in a lot of pain etc but reflux is usually accompanied by a lot of bringing feeds back up / being sick. Usually only considered by hv / doc when treatments for colic have failed.

Intolerance - same symptoms of colic, with sickness (usually projectile) very loose stools, usually every stool. Very unsettled baby, sleeping through exhaustion more than comfort. Sometimes has hiccups about 30 minutes after each feed etc sometimes babies will intolerances don't always have every symptom, some could have more sickness some could have little but still have water diarrhoea stools etc.

As far as remedies colic is one of those things where it's trial and error, if infacol isn't working after a week then it's prob not going to work x gripe water is the same, some people swear by it some people think it doesn't work x lifting the crib / Moses basket mattress at the top with a blanket underneath so that baby is lay at an angle rather than flat can help, just make sure it's not too much of an angle. Winding for an extra twenty minutes after feeds, colief drops, comfort milk, dr browns bottles, baby massage etc etc. Hopefully using one / a combination of these will help x if it is reflux you're then on to using baby gavisgon / medication but these can only be given by your doctor. And if you suspect an intolerance you need to get your gp to send off a stool sample to check, not always easy if you don't have a sympathetic gp but like I said don't be fobbed off, my son suffered for ages because of doctors not listening and when he eventually saw the paediatrician at the hospital at 6 months old he was horrified. He said if he was his son he'd have been on lactose free milk since birth and the HV / GP was a fool. Sorry for going on lol x

I'm going through this all over again with my (nearly) 3 week old, just had a stool sample sent off to check for lactose intolerance as she has constant water diarrhoea stools and because of the family history x if I was you Hun I would switch back to the infacol and maybe try a couple of other things x

Hopefully it will go by the time buba is a few months old xxxx big hugs xxxx

 

[CARNAT22]

Infacol made James constipated. Gripe Water worked much better for us.

xxxxx

 

[Chezza]

Thanks so much ladies! HV has suggested sticking with the same milk, but trying colief - she is pretty sure it isn't reflux as J is never sick - he is showing classic signs of colic apparently...pulling legs up, discomfort on his back, a lot of flatulence.

So, we will get some colief this afternoon - and try it for a week. If that doesn't work, we are moving to comfort milk.

I just want my little man to be sorted out now and not be in pain! xxx

 

[Chezza]

Hey Chezza,

I feel your pain. I tried Infacol, Gripe Water, Colief and finally Comfort formula. In the end we ditched everything except the Comfort formula as her pain turned out to be Silent Reflux instead of Colic. The two are often confused apparently. The change of formula really helped with her constipation and wind though. For the SR we have now been prescribed some proper meds after initially being fobbed off with infant Gaviscon. Hoping these work for her soon, as it too breaks my heart to see her in pain each feed.
I attach a useful article on Colic v SR just in case...
xx
PS: Ada also hated the Gripe Water and would spit it out. I then became concerned about all the E numbers in it, so soon gave up on it. There's also another one called Detinox I think. Seems to be trial and error with them all unfortunately. Hope you find way works best for JJ very soon xx

http://www.cheerfulcherubs.co.uk/colic-or-silent-reflux-the-burning-question-1386/

That article was really helpful MrsV - thank you. I always assumed that with any type of reflux the baby was sick? I have an appt with my GP next week, so will chat with him then about the possibility of it being SR - just in case.

Thanks again xxx

 

[clairebear22]

Harry had colic from week 2-8. He cried every waking hour. We tried everything to comfort him and the only time he was happy was on his tummy. He's slept on his tummy since he was 2.5 weeks old and will not sleep any other way now. I'm not suggesting you try this but it certainly helped him. We also changed to Dr Browns bottles and added infacol to every single feed. We also winded him up over our shoulder and patted him pretty hard to get his wind up. Slowly slowly he got better and now at nearly 13 weeks he's an angel, he still has terrible wind from both ends and still has the infacol in every feed but he's not in pain anymore.

Like others have said it's trial and error to see what works best for your LO. I hope he's better soon x

 

[Chezza]

I have been thinking about putting him on his tummy to sleep...can you offer any advice as to the best way to do this? Bit nervous about getting it wrong!! xx

 

[Lynds77]

when LO was wee we tried Dentinox which did nothing and then moved to infacol and colief.

then a few months back her windy problems returned and infacol was great, but then she stopped taking it so we moved to dentinox as you can put that in her bottle. it was ok.

anytime we have used gripe water, its seems to have caused her more pain? She hated the taste of the Woodwards one and the apple Boots one. We used to put the 5ml in a teat, and then pop the teat in her mouth and she had sooked it before she knew what it was. Only way we could get her to take it.

it never once made her burp