My Lovely Son has the great hon our of having 3 Grandparents and 2 Great Grandparents alive. You see, I’m the first daughter just like my Mum is and my Son the first great-grandchild.
I never was alone on my motherhood journey. There was always someone to help. Fast forward to a day my grandparents came visiting and my son had hiccups, the next thing Grandma said was to cut off a thread from the clothing I was wearing. I didn’t think anything of it. I cut it off and handed it to her.
Only for her to place it on my son’s fontanelle and claim it would stop the hiccups. I cringed. Yoruba
people and tradition. That incidence is one many new mums will experience. To prevent it from happening here’s all you need to know about Infant Hiccups.
Hiccups are caused by sudden irritation or stimulation of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle. Think of it as the barrier between the respiratory tract and the stomach. When babies feed too fast either from a bottle or from the breast, they tend to take in the air. The air allows baby to become too full and it begins to irritate the diaphragm. When this happens, hiccups arise.
They are more of a discomfort to Mum than Baby. Hiccups are Preventable. A good way of preventing them is to feed baby once he begins to show early signs of hunger. The moment your little one begins to cry, that’s a late sign and he may gulp in a lot of air trying to rush to feed.
For mums who bottle feed, always practice paced bottle feeding. This ensures the baby doesn’t gulp too fast. Hold the bottle horizontal to baby’s mouth and pause in between swallows. If Baby eventually gets hiccups, burp! Burp! And even more Burping! Burping allows the trapped gas to be released.
Hiccups are generally nothing to worry about. However, if baby hiccups a lot, has spit ups, shows
sign of abdominal discomfort and is not interested in feeding, please see your Doctor. This may be
indicative is something more serious.
Oh, I forgot to add. The thread didn’t stop my son’s hiccups. Grandma insisted that it would have
stopped if the thread was white. I didn’t argue. How white thread and hiccups are related, I still
don’t get.
Till next time, follow @breastfeedingng on Instagram
