When something is wrong with the baby, it always excites the newly made mother. For example, a newborn hiccups. What is this happening for? Is there any cause for concern? How to help your baby get out of this condition? We will answer these and other questions in the article.
What is it?
Hiccup is one of the rather harmless states of the new inhabitant of the Earth. Like an adult, it is a reaction to external and internal stimuli. The newborn hiccups after feeding, hypothermia, overeating due to contractions of the diaphragm, thus reacting to these factors.
Some pediatricians believe that the condition causes the vagus vagus to become excited in infants for no reason. It is he who directly affects the diaphragm, causing it to contract, which causes hiccups in the baby.
Note an interesting fact that the child begins to hiccup in the womb. So nature prepares his diaphragm for new conditions of life.
In a newborn, both the digestive and nervous systems are not yet fully developed. Therefore, it is normal that, along with the hiccups of a baby, regurgitation, loose stools, colic and gas overcome. Such conditions are characteristic up to 2 months of life.
Why does the newborn hiccup?
There is not one single factor that would explain this state of the child. In most cases, hiccups do not have any terrible reasons and do not cause the child significant discomfort.
It may be a consequence of the following:
- A child is thirsty.
- The kid is very cold.
- The little man is very scared - he is disturbed by bright light, sharp sounds.
- Why does the newborn hiccup after feeding? Most likely, he, along with milk, managed to swallow air.
- Hiccups are also a sign of overeating. Food in this case stretches the stomach, which, in turn, acts on the diaphragm, causing it to contract. As a result, hiccups appear.
Is it dangerous?
A newborn often hiccups - this is a normal process. By the year and even earlier, this state already ceases to bother him and his parents. Hiccups are the natural physiological state of infants. It is caused not only by the above reasons, but also by the imperfection of the digestive system of a small person.
The older the child becomes, the less hiccups will make themselves known. But such a condition more often does not bother him, but his parents. Forget about the old method to scare the baby so that he stops hiccuping. This is just the same dangerous psychological trauma in a child.
Dangerous signs
A newborn hiccups for about 15 minutes in a row. And it is not dangerous. After the designated time, the hiccups pass on their own.
If time is delayed, then the condition may become an occasion to contact a doctor. Long, often repeated, debilitating hiccups torment the child. She can also talk about a number of functional, organic disorders, diseases that affect the diaphragm in any way. For example, this is one of the symptoms of spinal cord injury, pneumonia, and digestive system diseases. Encephalopathy can also cause hiccups, which simply prevent the baby from breathing.
Thus, the reason for contacting a pediatrician can be a frequent and long-term (more than 20 minutes) hiccups in a child. Most likely, it is associated with a malfunction of the digestive system (from a cyst, a throat tumor to gastroesophageal reflux). Sometimes even frequent hiccups can be a sign of diabetes mellitus or renal pathologies.
It is also worth paying attention to situations where such a condition can cause a child to have breathing problems. In this case, the newborn needs ventilation. Sometimes hiccups are associated with pathologies of the upper respiratory tract, a decreased respiratory rate. Here the child needs help as soon as possible!
Watching the hiccups
Newborn hiccups - what to do? If this is bothering you, the first thing to do is:
- Record the start time of hiccups and the duration of this.
- Note whether the process is related to feeding.
- Analyze the recordings to find the cause of the hiccups and eliminate them.
How to help a child?
When the newborn hiccups, the mother wants to help him get rid of this condition as soon as possible. We present a number of effective recommendations:
- Most often, the baby begins to hiccup when it swallows air while feeding. How to help him? Hold the baby to you, holding it in an upright position, walk around the room like that. It is this position that helps get rid of swallowed air as quickly as possible.
- If the baby often hiccups after feeding, then its nipple or bottle should be replaced. The reason is that the baby enters the mouth too quickly and, in order not to choke, is forced to swallow it with air.
- If the baby hiccups after breastfeeding, then try to change its position during the procedure.
- For long and frequent hiccups, invite your child to drink water from a bottle. You can start an extraordinary breastfeeding. Liquid often helps to stop this condition faster.
- When the newborn hiccups, touch its arms and legs. If they are cold, everything is clear - the child is cold. Warm your baby as soon as possible so as not to cause more serious consequences.
- Hiccups can also be caused by annoying factors - loud music, unpleasant light. Eliminate them, calm the child - hold him close to you, walk around the room with the baby, talk quietly with him.
- Fright - a large number of strangers - also causes hiccups. Try to gradually expand the surrounding world of the baby, allowing him to adapt without stress. This is especially important in the first months of life.
- Often from hiccups, a strong infusion of chamomile or lemon juice helps. The liquid should be instilled under the tongue crumbs.
- And another common cause of hiccups in newborns is overfeeding. If it is observed constantly, then, accordingly, hiccups will turn into a chronic form. You can understand that the child is overeating by abundant regurgitation. The best advice here is to feed your baby often, but little by little.
Proper feeding
When a newborn baby hiccups after eating, you must first organize this process correctly. Based on these rules:
- Switch to fractional nutrition - in frequent, but small portions. Eating a lot in one sitting, the child not only hiccups, but also spits up food. His stomach simply can not cope with large volumes of milk, begins to put pressure on the diaphragm, causing these processes.
- Do not forget to pause during feeding. This is necessary so that the child has time to burp. Both during breastfeeding and when using the bottle, 2-3 such pauses are needed.
- If hiccups appeared during feeding, then stop it, give the child 5-10 minutes. After that, you can again start eating.
- Lunch should be started only when the child is completely calm.
Against swallowing air
A newborn hiccups after feeding also because it swallows air. Therefore, it is important for mom to prevent this, so as not to cause a new attack:
- Listen to how the child eats. If he does it quickly, then there is no doubt that the baby swallows air as well. Stop feeding until the baby calms down.
- When breastfeeding, the baby must capture not only the nipple, but also the areola around it.
- When feeding from a bottle, hold the container at an angle of 45 degrees. So the air in it will rise as high as possible from the bottom, which will not allow the child to swallow it.
- In between meals, it is worth holding the child a little in a semi-vertical position. It is also useful to do this within 20 minutes after feeding. This position reduces the pressure of the stomach on the diaphragm.
"Edible" means of stopping hiccups
Let's see what needs to be given to the child to eat in order to stop the hiccups that suddenly started:
- Breast milk. The most common cause of hiccups is diaphragm irritation. You can get rid of it by saturating the baby’s stomach with a small amount of mom’s warm milk. Most often, when feeding, hiccups will disappear on their own.
- Sugar. Put some granules under the baby’s tongue. Starting to swallow them, he will make some physiological efforts, which will lead to relaxation of the muscles of the diaphragm. If the child is completely crumb, it is better to dip a dummy in sugar.
- Food. The method is good for older children. Offer them fruit or vegetable puree, porridge.
- Water. No need for large volumes. Most often, it is enough for the child to swallow only a spoonful of water so that his hiccups stop.
"Inedible" means of stopping hiccups
It is not necessary to fight hiccups with food alone. We will present you the proven methods that can stop the tormenting baby attacks:
- Vertical state. If the baby will be in this position for about half an hour, his hiccups will leave by itself. Therefore, it is useful to take a break during feeding and hold the baby upright.
- A game. Another good tool is to distract the baby. Make him laugh, play with the rattle, start singing a song. Give a toy to chew. You will see, hiccups quickly change to high spirits!
- Pat. If the child begins to hiccup, gently pat him on the back. Such actions will help relax the diaphragm.
- Expectation. Often enough to wait a dozen minutes for the hiccups to go away by itself. Doing nothing at the same time. Of course, the method is not suitable for cases when the baby is strangled for hours by hiccups. In such pathological conditions, there is only one way out - consult a doctor as soon as possible.
So, we have found that hiccups are absolutely natural and harmless to the baby’s body. Its appearance is determined not only by external causes, but also by the time the imperfect condition of the digestive tract of the little man. Now you know how to prevent hiccups, to fight them if the condition caused swallowing of air, improper feeding, fear, hypothermia. Remember also that prolonged, frequent and debilitating seizures are an occasion to see a doctor.