{"id":"f2ca5f44922759eaa4d15ea8a7992624","slug":"does-gripe-water-actually-help-6-week-old-baby-colic-or-is-it-a-waste-of-money","question":"does gripe water actually help 6 week old baby colic or is it a waste of money","answer":"Gripe water isn't well-supported by the research on colic. The sources point to more effective options.\n\nIf your six-week-old has colic, a synbiotic—a combination of beneficial bacteria and their food—showed real promise in recent research, with parents reporting dramatically better outcomes within just one week and babies crying significantly less overall. A remedy containing simethicone (which reduces gas bubbles) paired with beneficial bacteria also showed strong results, with nearly 90% of babies crying at least 50% less after four weeks. For breastfed infants specifically, probiotics like Lactobacillus reuteri and fennel preparations each reduced crying by roughly an hour a day.\n\nThe sources don't mention gripe water as an effective treatment for colic, and gas drops alone didn't help much in the research. Your pediatrician can discuss which of these evidence-supported options might be worth trying for your baby—many are safe and some show results within days rather than weeks.","sources":"[{\"pmid\":\"39557731\",\"title\":\"A synbiotic mixture for the management of infantile colic: A randomized trial.\",\"journal\":\"European journal of pediatrics\",\"year\":\"2024\",\"url\":\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39557731/\",\"score\":0.8},{\"pmid\":\"35936812\",\"title\":\"Efficacy and Safety of a Colic Relief Remedy in Infantile Colic.\",\"journal\":\"Global pediatric health\",\"year\":\"2022\",\"url\":\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35936812/\",\"score\":0.79},{\"pmid\":\"41225617\",\"title\":\"Efficacy of a mixture of simethicone and tyndallized bacillus coagulans in infant colic: a pilot study on behalf of Italian Society of Pediatrics (SIP).\",\"journal\":\"Italian journal of pediatrics\",\"year\":\"2025\",\"url\":\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41225617/\",\"score\":0.79}]","thread_json":null,"topic":"colic-and-crying","view_count":0,"created_at":"2026-09-09T23:01:50.559Z"}