Newborn Hiccups – Knowing More about Infantile Hiccups to Avoid Confusion and Fear

Hiccups happen to everybody, may the person be an adult, infant, or even the babies inside their mother’s womb. First time moms are often surprised when their babies have hiccups. But newborn hiccups are regular hiccups which are like the ones being encountered by adults, so there is really nothing to worry about.

Hiccups and Its Causes - Newborn Hiccups

Hiccups occur when there is a sudden contraction of the diaphragm, which is a muscle that assists in your baby’s breathing. The sudden contraction of this muscle is stimulated when your baby swallowed too much air when he or she sucks into the feeding bottle, thus resulting to newborn hiccups.

Newborn hiccups could also be caused by other factors like GERD or sudden temperature changes. GERD, or Gastro Esophageal Reflux, induces hiccups because the food brought about by the reflux irritates the diaphragm.

The sudden drop of your baby’s temperature could also cause hiccups because the sudden temperature change prompts the muscle to contract, thus resulting to bouts of hiccups.

Remedies for Newborn Hiccups

Home remedies and techniques could be applied to hasten the disappearance of hiccups. Patting your baby’s back is effective because it soothes your baby while expelling the air in your baby’s stomach. You could also redirect your baby’s attention from the stomach by putting a pinch of sugar on your baby’s tongue. Redirecting your baby’s attention from the stomach is helpful because it eases the diaphragm’s contraction.

If your baby is drinking milk using a feeding bottle, check if the nipple’s hole is too wide for excessive air intake whenever the baby swallows during feeding results to hiccups. In checking the size of your nipple’s opening or hole, hold the bottle upside down and observe the flow of milk dripping from the nipple. If the milk is dripping fast, then the nipple’s opening is wide. But if the milk is slowly dripping from the nipple, then the nipple’s opening is small and it is just right for your baby.

Hiccups can be very scary for first time moms and even to babies themselves. But newborn hiccups are nothing to be scared of for it goes away on their own. Hiccups can also be very annoying to both moms and babies. So, to lessen the probability of hiccups to occur on your baby, position your baby properly while feeding and be sure to burp the baby afterwards. Also make sure that the feeding bottle’s nipple has the right size that suits the swallowing capacity of your baby so that your baby would not swallow too much air.Newborn Hiccups