Helping the hiccups

[clairebear3]

My DD is just 10 weeks and has been plagued by the hiccups almost since birth.  2-3 times a day lasting upto about 20mins.  she gets really agitated and you can see her poor little chest jerking up and down and the only thing that helps a bit is being held and her paci.

One sure fire cure is to let her drink a little bit but as i'm coping with low supply I don't always have milk on hand and it seems silly to mix formula just for a few sips.  I know that she can't really drink water at this age but would a few sips really be bad?  I'm thinking 10-15ml.  They used to sell fennel tea crystals here for babies over 3 months to help with stomach cramps, this is also essentially water.  I have a pediatrician appointment in a few weeks so I might ask him.

Does anyone have any other hints or tricks that might work, I feel so bad for her.  She starts vocalizing these weird noises and then I know within about 2 mins she will have the hiccups!

[skycheattraffic]

I would mix one bottle of formula for the day as small as possible, say 3 or 4 oz (however the mixing is easiest) and when the hiccup strikes, offer her a 1oz bottle. Mixed but untouched formula is good for 24 hours in the fridge so that one small bottle should last you all day as long as you take a bit in a new bottle to give baby. The extra bottle washing would be a pain but at least you wouldn't waste a lot of formula. Alternately you could try spoon feeding or cup feeding but sucking from a bottle may work better. FWIW the only thing that helps my DD is nursing. Hopefully once your supply issues are under control it will be easier. Unless you're EPing, you can still put her to the breast to see if nursing helps. The extra stimulation will be helpful to your supply even if baby can't extract much. Good luck :-)

[clairebear3]

Are you allowed to mix formula in advance?  I was under the impression that you had to throw it away after an hour?

My supply issues don't seem to be getting any better, i hate it :(

I'm such an air-head I completely forgot that I could put her to the breast, i've been EPing for a while and I forget that I can still do that!  Thanks for the tip!
 

[skycheattraffic]

The one hour rule is for a bottle that baby started. For example, if you make a 6 oz bottle and baby only drinks 2oz then the remaining 4oz is only usable for the next hour. The reason is due to bacteria in baby's mouth; the bottle she drank from has been exposed to these bacteria and shouldn't be left long while they multiply. Formula in a clean bottle is good for 24 hours. My brother and SIL formula fed my niece and they mixed all the formula for the day in the morning in a special pitcher and poured it into bottles. The only formula they had to dump is the stuff she didn't finish in the individual bottles she drank from. So if you need a little formula for the hiccups then just pour a little into the bottle you will offer her and keep the rest in the fridge. But if she is willing to take the breast then that is SO much better and easier :-). HTH

[skycheattraffic]

Btw, have you seen an LC to help you try to get baby back to the breast? Direct nursing is MUCH more efficient than even the best pump so even if you're falling short EPing, there is a good chance baby could get plenty of milk. How low is your supply and how was it diagnosed? I ask because I EPed for 10 weeks then successfully got baby back to breast full time. By about 6 weeks I was falling short with pumping by 6 to 8 oz a day and with a short course of domperidone and lots of direct nursing, my supply rebounded. After the transition, DD only got the occasional bottle while grandma babysat and she's still nursing strong at 15 months. I hope I'm not raising a sore point but your story seemed a close parallel to mine in the beginning. I wanted to offer you my experience and support and if I can help just message me :-))

[clairebear3]

Thanks :)

Well at about 2 weeks old I started pumping because DD wasn't gaining enough weight, maybe if I had kept breastfeeding and supplementing my supply would of increased but I was getting too stressed breastfeeding her, then supplementing, then pumping.  By the time I got around to pumping it was nearly time to feed her again so I didn't have much milk to BF her.  She would fall asleep, not drink properly etc and I obviously didn't have enough for her and she didn't drain my breast.  A LLL consultant told me over the phone to stop pumping and just put her to the breast all the time.  It was a horrible few days and I ended up switching to EPing and supplementing so at least I knew how much she was getting.  The doc suggested giving her larger bottles, she will drink from 130ml-180ml in one go which I will never have in one go!  I guess I would have to go back to nursing every two hours even if I had enough milk. 

I'm still on Dom and a variety of herbs, I can only pump 600-700ml a day, she drinks 900-1000.  I think maybe the window for getting her back to breast has passed?  I try sometimes, just because I miss it, and she drinks until the milk comes in, then it's more using me as a paci but getting annoyed that she's not getting any milk.  I have had a visit from a LC but she couldn't come up with a solution, just the same tips you read online really.  I'm taking goats rue (for about 10 days), just added MM+ and Fenugreek (all tinctures) a couple of days ago to see if that helps.  I was pumping 6 times a day, then after reading that everyone else is pumping for more I tried 7 times for a few days but I just didn't get anything done!  She sleeps a lot at night so all but one pumping sessions and in the day.  Today i'm going back to after each feed but I am going to pump for longer than 20 mins.

Thanks for your post!
 

[skycheattraffic]

600 to 700ml pumped is a very good average supply. The average baby drinks about 700ml a day when nursing, about 30ml each hour. So if it's been 3 hours since last feeding then she should have roughly 3x30ml or 90ml. 180 ml is a really big bottle and its impossible to keep up with that demand. The problem now is that baby is used to the fast flow of the bottle and is impatient at the breast. The window to get her back to the breast isn't gone yet, I started around 10 weeks but it wasn't until about 14 weeks that my DD was exclusively breastfeeding.

If you would like to try, start offering smaller bottles, about 60 to 90 ml and slow down the pace of feeding. Make sure you only use the slowest flow newborn nipples on the bottles and tilt the bottle close to horizontal so it takes longer to drink and baby has to work harder for it. Try to make a bottle last 10 to 15 mins if you can so it more closely mimics breastfeeding. Also, try to feed her in the breastfeeding position to help her transition. The fact that your baby is willing to latch on is a great head start. I had to spend hours coaxing her to even latch on. Next time you feed, offer the bottle, then offer the breast. As time goes on, offer the breast earlier and earlier until hopefully you can just start with the breast. Your goal right now is to get her used to slower, smaller, more frequent meals (every 3 hours or so) so that breastfeeding won't be much different. In the beginning transition is very hard, definitely more work than EPing but I think with a healthy baby that is drinking well and latches on, your chances are really good. I'm very very happy I stuck with it and urge you to try; it will make things so much easier in the long run. You can just count baby's wet diapers to make sure she is getting enough.

Here are more details:
http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/back-to-breast/

Again it's more work but SO worth it.

[clairebear3]

Good average supply, I nearly did a back flip when I read that

Sorry if I'm repeating myself because I have posted about this in other threads.

I just don't know what to do.  I'm so angry at the doc who said to give her such big bottles.  I counted up what she drank yesterday and spread over the 6 bottles it's about 160ml each time.  I would love so much to go back to BFding but i'm afraid.  Afraid that she won't drain me, won't gain weight and my milk supply will get worse because of it.  I'm afraid she will be screaming with hunger and I will just cave in.  She sleeps so well at night now i'm not sure i've got the guts to go back to feeding every 3 hours in the night!

We are going to the UK to visit family in two weeks so I think whatever I decide to do has to wait until after then, it would be too stressful to change all that and go away as well.  I do keep offering her my breast now, just at the beginning of each feed for a few mins so that she doesn't forget how.  So maybe when I get back I should try to get her to drink less with her bedtime bottle and then set my alarm for every three hours to try to get her to drink little bits through the night again?  When I pump I have 90ml every three hours but i'm just not sure she will be happy with this.  Worst of all if she doesn't drink at the breast properly I will be back at square one again, oooh it's all so complicated, I wish I had had more support in the beginning...

Thanks so much for your post!