Today we will talk about hiccups in newborns. What to do if an infant hiccups often? How to help him? How to prevent a similar phenomenon in a baby? These questions are often asked by young parents, excited that their baby regularly starts to make characteristic sounds right after feeding or just during the day.
Often a hiccup baby is probably breastfeeding incorrectly
To understand exactly what the frequent attacks of hiccups in your baby signal, you need to carefully watch him. If they are regularly repeated after or during feeding, then the reason is worth looking for in this most important process for the baby.
Hiccups are an involuntary contraction of the muscles of the diaphragm, at which moment the glottis is closed. Directly, this, it would seem, has nothing to do with feeding, but nevertheless your often hiccuping child does this from overeating and after too much sucking.
In the latter case, the blame is on air bubbles that enter the stomach and, stretching its walls, press on the diaphragm. Her muscles in the newborn are still too weak, so feeding ends with hiccups.
To avoid this from overeating, do not keep a healthy baby by the chest for longer than 25 minutes! During this time, he manages to satisfy both hunger and the need for communication with his mother.
And at the time of active sucking, and always after eating, you need to swear the crumb vertically, stroking the back to allow the gaziks to go outside. With artificial feeding, you also need to worry about making the hole in the bottle small: then the baby will suck more slowly and will not swallow air.
Maybe a hiccup baby is often unhealthy?
If your miracle begins to hiccup on the street, then most likely it has frozen. The baby urgently needs to be brought into a warm room and be sure to feed, even if it will be an extraordinary meal.
If you find that the heir hiccups from the presence of strangers, noise, harsh sound or loud music, then try to create a quiet and peaceful environment for your child, protecting him from visitors, as, most likely, he is an impressionable person.
But if you do not succeed in understanding why a newborn baby often hiccups , then it is better to turn to specialists for help. The reasons may lie in serious neurological disorders, such as encephalopathy, neuritis, problems with the intestines or metabolism. True, in such cases, the baby is anxious, often spits up, his temperature rises and other painful symptoms appear.
What if you often have a hiccuping baby?
Basically, hiccups are a common physiological phenomenon that can be dealt with without medical intervention. To help the baby at such a moment, offer him some water, because quite often the crumbs hiccup just because they are tormented by thirst. And if the hiccups came from an emotional shake, take the baby in his arms, hold him close and talk to him in a quiet and gentle voice. The baby will feel your warmth and protection and calm down. Even if all of the above does not help, do not panic, wait, and the hiccups will pass by itself.
But in cases where it lasts more than a day and is accompanied by other disturbing symptoms, be sure to consult a doctor. Be healthy!