Wendy and Matt Swezey
know firsthand how to deal with a baby
with hiccups their six-month-old son
Wyatt has had hiccups off and on since
well before he was born when we came
home from the hospital it seemed seemed
he would have the hiccups on daily and
sometimes 10-15 minutes
other times I we saw him pick up from
one feeding to the next Peter
even though hiccups are not dangerous to
an infant they can still be upsetting
more so for the parents than the baby it
made me feel very uncomfortable
when Wyatt would get hiccups there was
nothing that I could do but just sit
there and watch his little tiny body
shake and it was very disturbing for me
I would sit up for hours and watched him
while he slept with hiccups because you
know as a new mother I didn't know if he
could choke or or something because he
got them quite frequently the question
is are they dangerous and the answer is
No are they annoying yes are they
frightening generally know unless they
lead to the baby spitting up or throwing
up and then then it becomes somewhat
annoying rather than anything that is
dangerous in adults and children alike
hiccups are caused by frequent
involuntary contractions of the
diaphragm muscle that sits below the
lungs what causes these contractions
nobody's really sure but there are a
whole host of theories including eating
too much too fast drinking carbonated
beverages swallowing air being startled
feeling stressed and even falling ill if
your baby is bottle fed you should also
check the nipple on your bottle a baby
may swallow too much air and hiccup if
the hole in the nipple is the wrong size
when you turn the bottle upside down you
should get a drip drip drip of formula
that gradually stops as a further
precaution some pediatricians suggest
using bottles that have disposable
plastic liners which allow you to
squeeze the air out before feeding they
also collapse as the baby drinks hoping
to
and the intake of air which can cause
painful gas practicing good burping
techniques can also help infants who get
hiccups frequently the first and most
common way to burp a baby is by holding
him upright with his head on your
shoulder while supporting his head and
back with one hand you gently Pat his
back with the other a second technique
is to sit the baby on your lap
supporting his chest and head with one
hand while patting his back with the
other a third technique is to lay the
baby on his stomach on your lap while
supporting his head so it's slightly
higher than his chest you gently Pat or
rotate your hand on his back regardless
of which technique you are using always
make sure to burp your infant after
every meal even if it takes a while to
get the aera it may be time consuming
and a bit frustrating but it will help
prevent hiccups and lessen the chance of
your baby spitting up
I do burp Wyatt after every meal and I
am religious about keeping him up for 20
minutes because he was a spitter when he
was a newborn and the doctor recommended
that we keep him up for 20 minutes after
each feeding
and even though he's a little bit older
I still do that
every baby is somewhat different and the
need to burp gets less as time goes on
because babies learn to swallow and suck
appropriately and know that when they
begin to swallow and suck they can take
these little breaths which allows it the
the amount of air that is necessary for
oxygenation and that changes this babies
go on and that is why what is present at
age 10 days is not going to be the same
that's it three or four weeks of age
even baby Wyatt is starting to come
around now that Wyatt is a little over
six months I have found that the hiccups
have reduced a lot
as babies grow and change so will their
eating habits when they're introduced to
solid foods for instance most children
will begin experiencing fewer and fewer
bouts of hiccuping and for most children
life will progress smoothly from there
despite the occasional hiccup