How to Stop Hiccups in Newborns
Newborn and hiccups
Having a new baby is a blessing, but stressful. You lose sleep, they eat usually every 2 hours or so. Being a new mom is hard in any sense of the word. I was a new mom, a young mother and my son had constant hiccups. I was stressed enough having a new baby, just turned 20 and barely married. Having him hiccuping all the time scared me, I thought it was something I did. I was afraid that there was something wrong with him.
How to get rid of newborn baby hiccups
Turns out he was fine, just prone to having the hiccups. Everything I would do never seemed to work. I started to question my fitness as a mom, questioned what I was doing wrong. He was always hungry, but I was afraid to feed him when he had them. After he ate he had them again. He refused to burp for me, gorge himself and spit up because of it.
I started to question some of my parent friends on ideas. Eventually he just grew out of it, and by that time I was about to have his brother. By that point I started keeping up to date with remedies and cures for the hiccups. The following are ideas that have been known to cure the hiccups. Now not all of these will work with every baby.
Why do newborns get hiccups
Newborn hiccups are extremely common. Most babies start hiccuping in the womb while the mother is in her 2nd trimester. It’s more noticeable during a mother’s 3rd trimester, they feel like rhythmic beat within the belly. After the baby is born they are also prone to having them.
All my babies had them a lot as babies, and my eldest daughter it was everyday all the time. I swear she grew up thinking hiccuping was normal. Although the baby will get it dr’s don’t usually worry about their hiccups until after the first year. If they are still hiccuping as often after 1 year of age then they will look into it a bit more and worry.
As common as it is newborn hiccups after breastfeeding aren’t looked at the same as bottle feeding. Usually if my newborn had gotten the hiccups while breastfeeding it was because she was too full. I’ve found that if I burped her more often they were less frequent.
Also I would check her latch and learned if I feed her twice as often and half as much it would work too. When the hiccups got to bad I would wait a while before trying to feed again. I’ve also learned while breastfeeding try to relax. If you’re stressed while baby feeding it can cause it too.
Hiccups and bottle feeding
Newborn hiccups after feeding are just as common with breast as it is bottle. While I was bottle feeding some of my children I also had this problem. Again they are prone to getting them a lot when younger.
When my son would eat to fast he would get it, so I pause feeding. Wait for him to calm, and try again. I again checked his latch, and how much air he was taking. I would burp him often and feed him less more often.
Newborn hiccups everyday
When my children got to excited they would get the hiccups. Newborn hiccups everyday, I’ve noticed at least with my children are normal. This was a daily occurrence, I would try and calm them. I started noticing what would cause their hiccups, in some cases it was their siblings.
Sometimes it happened while sleeping, in that case unless it woke them I would leave them be. My eldest daughter would get them so bad during the day sometimes that she would spit up. Proving the point of she was just to full. She was quite the eater at the time, 5 years later that kind of eating hasn’t changed.
What are some newborn hiccups cure
Every child is different for cures. If you gently rub their back along with a soft pat it has been known to help. Pacifiers work for those babies who take them. My oldest son and youngest daughter hated using a pacifier. It did work for my youngest son and oldest daughter, though.
Just let it run it’s course, which is where I would use first. After the about 5 mins if it didn’t sound better I would try something then. Sitting the baby up for about 20 to 30 mins after eating also worked. This also works if my baby had problems with spit-up. As hard as it can be at times try to avoid activity after eating. If, like me, you have more than one child it’s easier said than done.
Newborn Hiccups Remedy
Some of my children didn’t do well with the regular cures. I started looking into homeopathic remedies for ideas. Feed the baby, sometimes it happens because the baby is just hungry. Giving my baby a bottle, breast or soft solids (when at solids stage) did help. Burping my baby often worked with most of my children. I did have a child that just didn’t like to burp which made that part really hard.
Now I didn’t try this next one myself but I have heard from fellow mothers it worked. A little sugar on your finger and give to baby. This can be regular sugar, syrup or sugar water. Keep the baby warm, sometimes my kids would just get it because they were cold.
I again haven’t tried this one but I know parents who swear by it. Grip water, this calms the baby’s hiccups fast, some parents always have a bottle of it at home. After feeding my baby I would let her or him stretch if they got the hiccups and that worked wonders.
I have also heard Anise seed works. 1 cup water, 2 tablespoons anise seed and boil for 10 mins. Strain the seeds out, cool and feed to baby. Now I’m not sure how well this works and again never tried. I’ve been told it’s safe for the baby but I’m personally skeptical.
