hiccups

[ktcl]

DD, who is 4 weeks, has had hiccups her whole life. She had them in utero as well. I know people say that the hiccups don't bother babies, but she really does seem bothered by them. The routine usually goes something like this: she eats, she burps (maybe), she spits up, then she starts hiccuping. Often at some point in this routine, she starts crying...making me assume the hiccups are bothering her.

Anything I can do about this?

[Llyra]

I don't think there's much you can do it about it, other than give her some time to mature. My DD1 was my hiccuping baby, and it was just like you describe. Somewhere between two and four months, the problem eased up a LOT. Their little digestive and nervous systems mature so much during those few months. The spitting eases up, and they learn to burp themselves, too. All of that makes for much happier babies.

In the meantime, finding ways to soothe her during the bouts of hiccups can be a big challenge. I used to put DD1 in a front carrier, facing me, and walk briskly in a nice steady rhythm around and around the block until she would finally settle down and sleep, and the hiccups would stop.

[MeredithK]

My DS was like that, too. He is now 10 months and still gets the hiccups, except now they really don't bother him. Sometimes Gripe Water helps or I found that if I gave him some milk from a regular cup, that would help. But, the biggest help is nursing him. That seems to cure them right away for us.

It's the spitting up that does it for us. Once I figure out how to curtail the spitting up a bit, that helped, too.

Good luck, I know how helpless you can feel when they are stuck in hiccup mode.

[CrystalCloud]

I have a 15 month old that always had the hiccups as an infant and a 5 week old that also gets them a lot. Both had tons of hiccups in the womb. Gripe water usually helps with it. I like Baby Bliss' brand.

[Plummeting]

This is probably going to sound weird, but if you're eating dairy, I'd give it up for a few weeks and see if the hiccups improve. Hiccups are actually a common symptom of dairy intolerance. I get hiccups if I eat any dairy. My daughter does, too. As a baby, she had hiccups ALL the time, until I quit dairy completely. Then she got them occasionally, as all babies do. Hiccups are also a common symptoms of being a newborn (lol) so it might be nothing at all, but if you think they're bothering her, I'd try eliminating dairy to see if it helps.

[ann_of_loxley]

I know people say that the hiccups don't bother babies

Who says that?! ....most babies I know are terribly annoyed by them! lol
Hamish gets them all the time (out of the blue - they don't tend to happen in any connection with anything). There isn't much I can do about it. They eventually go away - but he does get terribly annoyed by them!

[ksnow82]

My ds is 6 weeks and he does the same routine: breastfeed, burp, spit up, and then hiccups. My mom was staying with us in the beginning and her advice was to breastfeed him some more. She said it would give the baby something to focus on other than the hiccups and make them go away. She said it worked wonders for all of her kids and it works for us 9 times out of 10. Since he has just eaten, there is the rare occasion that he won't want to latch back on and continues hiccuping, but most of the time he seems pleased to presented with with something to do and after a minute or so of eating the hiccups are gone. Good luck!