A bottle of baby gripe water sold online to Washington families is being pulled from shelves after federal testing found it secretly contained ethanol, methanol and isopropanol — three substances never listed on its label. Pacific Health Sciences, based in Oxnard, California, issued the voluntary recall on Tuesday for a single lot of its Babies' Magic Tea brand Baby Sleep Gripe Water dietary supplement.
The recalled lot, numbered 25122BW with a best-by date of December 2028, was sold nationwide, including in Washington state, according to a report from The News Tribune. FDA testing identified ethanol, methanol and isopropanol in the product, and measured levels came out to roughly 8.3% ethanol, 0.35% methanol and 0.48% isopropanol, according to WKRN. The outlet reports the product was distributed through online retailers including secretsoftea.com and Amazon, with Secrets of Tea selling it nationwide.
The gripe water came packaged as a 4-ounce amber bottle inside a blue cardboard box, with the boxes also including oral syringes, per the same account. Pacific Health Sciences said it had not received any reports of adverse events tied to the recalled lot as of Tuesday.
Why Hidden Alcohol Is Dangerous for Infants
Federal officials warn that the undeclared ethanol, methanol and isopropanol may pose a risk depending on how much a child consumes and that child's age and body weight, the station notes. At recommended amounts, the substances can induce drowsiness, incoordination, behavioral changes, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain; at higher amounts, the risk escalates to respiratory depression and other serious adverse health consequences. Organic alcohols are known to impair the normal functioning of the central nervous system, and ethanol exposure specifically can lead to long-term developmental consequences in infants.
Poison-control experts back up those concerns about children and alcohol more broadly. Alcohol depresses the central nervous system and causes low blood sugar, according to the National Capital Poison Center, which adds that children who drink alcohol can have seizures and coma, and could even die. Because children are smaller than adults, it takes a much smaller amount of alcohol to reach the same blood alcohol concentration in a child as in a grown adult.
Gripe Water's Shaky Track Record
Gripe water is marketed as an over-the-counter remedy meant to relieve colic, gas and fussiness in babies, but there's little research to suggest it actually works, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Ingredients vary by manufacturer but typically include sodium bicarbonate and herbs, and the Missouri Poison Center notes that today's formulations no longer contain alcohol, though some do contain a sweetener such as agave. Many brands of gripe water have been recalled over the years because they posed dangers to babies, the Cleveland Clinic reports — one earlier recall was tied to a 6-week-old infant contracting a Cryptosporidium infection, while a separate case, a 2019 recall of DG Baby Gripe Water by Kingston Pharma, involved an undissolved citrus-flavonoid ingredient rather than contamination.
What Parents Should Do Now
Pacific Health Sciences is urging consumers, parents and caregivers to stop using any product from the recalled lot immediately. Anyone with the affected bottles should discard the product or return it to the place of purchase for a refund.
The company is offering recall assistance by phone at 310-457-1775 and by email at [email protected], with phone support available from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
