The appearance of a child is a huge happiness for parents. That’s behind the birth, mom and baby at home. And the panic begins because of every sound and movement made by the baby. And if the newborn hiccups after eating, then the young mother is trying to figure out why this happens.
What is hiccups?
In order to take measures aimed at preventing hiccups in a newborn, it is first necessary to find out what is meant by this word.
The thoracic and abdominal regions are separated by a diaphragm in both adults and children. The diaphragm is a thick septum of connective tissue and muscles. When breathing, it helps regulate internal abdominal or chest pressure.
When sharp contractions of the diaphragm occur, a person begins to hiccup. But if in adults this phenomenon rarely occurs, then in newborn children, due to the immaturity of the diaphragm, hiccups appear regularly.
Causes of occurrence
A newborn baby constantly hiccups after eating, which causes a panic in a young mother. She begins to worry and cheat herself, having read forums for mothers or having heard the advice of more experienced women. And let us, to support mothers, we list here the main causes of hiccups in babies:
Binge eating.
Swallowing air.
Gases in the intestines.
Reaction to lower temperature, severe fright.
We will deal with each cause and ways to eliminate it in more detail.
Overeating and swallowing air
Combine these components in one subsection, because the solution to these problems is identical.
A newborn often hiccups after eating, overeating is the main reason for this. If the baby is on artificial feeding, then you need to choose the right portion. The baby eats too much, the walls of the stomach are stretched, pressure on the diaphragm begins. She loudly indignant, begins to contract and provokes hiccups in the child.
When breastfeeding, this does not happen very often, because the newborn himself regulates the amount of food consumed.
If the newborn constantly hiccups after eating, you should pay attention to the intervals between feedings. When they are too large, the child eats with greed, in a hurry and swallows the air, which is one of the causes of hiccups.
How to help the baby?
Why a newborn baby hiccups after eating, we found out. The main reasons that cause the diaphragm to contract sharply, causing hiccups, are overeating and swallowing of air during feeding. To avoid such problems, you must follow some rules:
When you put the baby to the chest, it should capture not only the nipple, but also most of the halo. The baby sucks the breast, and the mother watches him and listens, so that the baby does not make any extraneous sounds, except for swallowing.
When finding a newborn on artificial feeding, strictly count the portion. In between meals, do not feed the baby, even if he is capricious. Give a dummy, pick it up, drink some water.
A carefully selected nipple is the key to success in feeding. The hole in it should be so small that the food comes out drop by drop. If the mixture flows, the baby will not have time to swallow it, will rush and take in air.
After eating, regardless of whether the baby is breastfeeding or is on an artificial mixture, it must be kept upright for at least 15 minutes. The kid burps the air, and if he does not do this, pat on the back, patting him a little.
The intervals between feedings should not be too large. Now many pediatricians recommend giving breasts by the hour, as well as the mixture. But over many years of experience it has been verified that there is nothing better than feeding at the request of the crumbs.
Colic
What to do if a newborn hiccups after eating, young mothers now know. But not only overeating and swallowing air provokes hiccups. This phenomenon makes itself felt when a child suffers from intestinal colic.
The digestive system in newborns is just beginning to function. The walls of the intestine are not yet ripe, there is no necessary microflora. The system is still learning how to work, and colic becomes a side effect of such "activities." The problem is typical for children aged 3 to 12 weeks.
Solution to the problem
If a newborn hiccups after eating, intestinal cramps may bother him. In this case, the young mother should reconsider her own diet. Any fatty, fried, pickled and smoked dishes, cabbage and bean products, sweets are excluded. This also includes mineral sparkling water.
It is recommended to keep a food diary in which to note the reaction of crumbs to breast milk after she ate a particular product.
When the baby is on artificial feeding, he needs a special mixture for sensitive digestion. It is noticed that if it is correctly selected, then colic is practically absent.
Now many young mothers do not listen to the advice of their elders, believing that this is yesterday. Can her own mother advise something modern when she gave birth 20-30 years ago? Even as it can, because some things in caring for babies are always relevant. More than one generation knows about the benefits of dill water for colic and tummy massage. Try and you are a proven scheme of action to help the baby. They also recommend putting a warm diaper on his stomach.
Annoying environmental factors
The newborn hiccups after eating, although all the above tips are strictly followed, and the mother begins to give up. Wait upset, maybe there is a reaction to external factors. As already mentioned, with a decrease in air temperature, the crumbs begin to hiccup. This does not mean that they freeze. It’s just that skin receptors respond to temperature changes and notify the baby’s brain. And that, in turn, immediately starts the muscles in work, causing them to contract. His diaphragm, which causes hiccups in a baby and fright in a young mother, does not bypass its attention. Put on the baby warm socks, wrap in a blanket, pick it up in your hands. See how quickly his hiccups pass.
Do not forget that the first two months the baby adapts to new living conditions. And it’s worth creating the most comfortable conditions during this period, because loud sounds, bright lights, strangers in the house, too cold or warm the room in which the baby is located, all this affects his nervous system.
When to sound the alarm?
The main reasons why the newborn hiccups after eating, we have examined. In very rare cases, this phenomenon becomes an indicator of various diseases. If the hiccups are accompanied by an unreasonable, prolonged cry, the baby's nasolabial triangle turns blue - a serious reason for going to the doctor.
The reasons may be as follows:
How to calm a child
A little strange name for the subsection, because the article is about hiccups, and not about ways to calm the crumbs. Meanwhile, the lack of experience in this matter very often becomes the reason for the reduction of the diaphragm. How so? The thing is that when a child screams, a young mother tries to calm him by all means. And one of them, the most common one, is to give breasts.
This can not be done if the baby fell into a cry. Starting to suck, he grabs air and begins to hiccup. By the way, a loud and long roar is quite capable of causing oxygen trapping. The child screams deafeningly, not wanting to calm down. It turns red, and after a while, frequent hiccups begin.
What to do to a young mother if the baby sobs inconsolably:
Pick up, start rocking.
If measured swaying does not help, take the baby upright, stroke the back, soothing. Gently talk with the offspring.
Is the crying going on? Try to put in a crib and swing it.
Some children calm down in the fresh air. Put the baby in a portable cradle, take it to the balcony.
A newborn can scream from pain in the intestines. How to defeat colic is described above.
Sometimes children just manipulate their mothers, getting hysterical. It is worth picking up, they immediately calm down and fall asleep blissfully. You can not reinforce this behavior, no matter how sorry for your baby. He must understand that mom can not always be near, and do not manipulate her, screaming into the whole house. If the parent understood this technique from the crumbs, just ignore his screams the next time.
Grandmothers and grandchildren
If the newborn hiccups after eating, the reasons may be different. We examined each separately, as well as screams to hiccups in order to attract maternal attention.
Parents are also people, they need rest. Dads are easier in this regard, they are at work, distracted from their offspring and their crying. Moms, on the other hand, are forced to be with their child 24 hours a day, without holidays and weekends. And when the child also screams so that the neighbors are running away, then the nerves just can’t stand the parent.
Do not be afraid to ask grandmothers for help. It seems that they do not understand modern approaches to raising children, but this is not so. Grandmother is the first assistant in raising a child, she gives rest to a young mother. Therefore, if you feel that the nerves are stretched like guitar strings, hand the offspring to granny.
Conclusion
Recall again: the main answers to the question why a newborn hiccups after eating is overeating and swallowing air. How to avoid this is described in detail in the article.