Ways to Cure Your Newborn’s Hiccups

Everyone indeed has experienced hiccups in their life. For us, as adults, they are just minor discomforts. However, for you little one, it may be a startling experience.

Hiccups, just like a sneeze, cannot be controlled or stopped. Although there is a lot of ambiguity about why hiccups occur, many doctors believe that it is triggered by a nerve connecting the brain to the diaphragm. It can be caused due to various factors like eating a lot, swallowing too fast, etc. In order to soothe your baby during a bout of hiccups, you can do the following things:

Burp them

Take regular breaks in between feeding to burp your little one. It will get rid of any excess air trapped in his/her tummy and prevent them from hiccupping. You can also try gently rubbing or patting their backs to ease the hiccups.

Try a pacifier

Babies can have hiccups even when they are not feeding. At such times you can try giving them a pacifier to suck on. This helps to relax their diaphragm and may also help in stopping the hiccup altogether.

Give them gripe water

Gripe water is a go-to solution for all colic-related troubles. It is a combination of various herbs like ginger, chamomile, fennel, etc. and most Indian moms swear by it for curing intestinal discomforts. Try feeding your baby a few drops of gripe water to stop their hiccups.

Leave them be

Usually, hiccups subside on their own, and there is nothing to worry about. As long as it isn’t bothering your newborn, you can just wait for it to subside naturally.

Check the feeding bottle

Your baby bottle could be the reason behind all the hiccupping. If the bottle is trapping in more air than required, then you may have to change to a different brand.

Remember, hiccupping is normal in babies, and the instances will lessen as they grow older. However, if they have severe bouts of hiccups accompanied by vomiting or other symptoms, then do let your paediatrician know.

Author Bio: Prapti Chauhan is a content writer by her profession and has over 11 years of enriching experience into blogging and article writing. Over the years, she has gained popularity as a content creator who specialises on topics such as pregnancy, parenting and new-born childcare. However, her forte is on writing articles on cord blood banking, stem cell preservation and more.