Rooibos Tea for Treating Infant Colic

When my daughter was a baby, she would often enter those spells of inconsolable, colicky crying that dominate the first three months of life. Although her colicky spells were never officially diagnosed as "real" colic, they were too severe to manage without some kind of help. After trying several gripe water formulas and gas-relieving remedies, I tried rooibos tea--an African medicinal plant used for centuries to relieve colic.

If you're interested in using rooibos tea to treat infant colic, here are a few points that you need to understand and consider.

1. Rooibos is naturally sweet. A very large, well-designed investigation looked into the efficacy of gripewater other home remedies for infant colic. The authors determined, remarkably, that there is one single active ingredient that reliably relieves colic: sugar. Sweetness actually has an analgesic (pain-relieving) effect in young children, but it's not a good idea to overload a colicky baby with sugar. Fortunately, rooibos is naturally sweet but sugar-free, so it can relieve colic without the cavities, stomach problems and other side effects of sweetened gripewaters.

2. It's caffeine-free and low in tannins. A traditional colic remedy, used most often in (where else?) the Southern U.S., uses iced, sweetened black tea as a remedy for colic. Rooibos is far preferable to black tea for many reasons. Unlike black tea, it does not contain caffeine, which will make a colicky baby even more anxious and fussy. It is also much lower in tannins, which are acidic compounds that can cause stomach cramping and lost nutrients.

3. Rooibos is hypoallergenic and estrogen-free. Two of the most common herbs used in gripe water, chamomile and fennel, can have unpleasant or even life-threatening side effects. Fennel is a natural source of anethole, a compound similar to estrogen, which can disrupt a baby's hormones and lead to premature breast development. Chamomile, another gripe water ingredient, can trigger life-threatening allergic reactions. Rooibos is far safer than these herbs because it does not contain phytoestrogens or allergenic compounds.

4. It's easy to administer. There's really not risk of overdose with rooibos, because it is a nutritional, rather than truly medicinal, herbal remedy. A good way to give rooibos to a colicky baby is to prepare one rooibos teabag in eight ounces of boiling water, allowing it to steep for two minutes. When the tea has cooled to a lukewarm or tepid temperature, measure one milliliter of the rooibos tea in a medicine dropper. Place it directly in the baby's mouth, a few drops at a time. Repeat as needed.

5. Talk to your baby's pediatrician. Before giving your baby any natural remedy for calling, always double-check with his pediatrician. Although rooibos tea is safe and effective, it's always best to get the go-ahead from an expert before self-treating colic or any other condition in your child. No natural remedy can replace the common-sense need for expert evaluation.

Source Used:

J R Soc Med 2000;93:172-174