… and don’t come back another day!

Well, if Nico can already walk right now, he’ll be carrying a signboard with that message and walk around town to rally against hiccups!

Look at his face, isn’t it obvious how much he hates his hiccups? Why would he like it? It’s a somewhat mystery ailment without a purpose at all! Well, that’s aside from the fact that it’s really irritating.. arggh!

Experts say that hiccups are particularly common in infants less than a year old. They even claim babies started to hiccup in their Mom’s womb! Hmmm… now that explains why I can feel some “air” moving in my tummy!

Hiccups actually have nothing to do with breathing. They are but sudden contractions of the diaphragm due to irritation or stimulation of that same muscle, particularly when the baby gets excited, sucks milk rather fast or just after a feed.

I read that this condition will last for a few months at regular intervals. Oh no! Nico is having it almost 3 times a day (well, my baby likes his milk so much he sucks it really fast!) and it’s not a very pleasant moment. He doesn’t only give that angry face, he also gives an angry wail, very angry wail (yup, he shouts like a one year old!). He really hates these hiccups, I wonder if I can do something about it.

The sad news is that there isn’t a lot I (or any Mommy or doctor) can do to stop the hiccups in a newborn baby.  I certainly can’t apply the old wives-tale solutions for adults to my little baby! It’s actually funny to think about Nico getting a scare, hahaha! Sigh, the only thing I can do is to patiently wait for the hiccups to go away. Oh well, nursing Nico takes it away but there are times he’s not hungry when the hiccups come. I might as well just try to comfort or distract him while it persists.

One article said that at the end of the day, parents are the only one who get bothered by baby’s hiccups, and that the baby aren’t bothered at all (hmm, could Nico be wondering why everyone else doesn’t hiccup?). Yeah, the only thing I can do is give Nico a well deserved TLC.

Opppsss! Don’t mean to scare you there.. But this has got to be the most “no-sleep” and the most tiring night (and dawn! and morning!) of my Mommy life that I’m afraid I look much even worse than that scary Mom

I was actually up till 12:00 midnight since I have to finish an article that needs to be submitted this morning. I just finished nursing little Nico (11:00 PM) and he was sleeping (looking so cute) on the bed, when @ exactly 12:02 AM (as I was wrapping up the article) Nico’s angry wail seems to wake the whole neighborhood (the dogs even complained, huh!). I was able to nurse him after a struggle (yup, he puts up a  fight when he’s in the mood) and he was asleep after 25 minutes or so. I said to myself “Ah, rest at last!” I spent 5-10 minutes watching my little angel’s innocent face then I dozed off only to be awaken again around 1:05 AM. I thought “What’s going on?” as I scrambled from my bed and turned to where Nico is wailing and kicking and waking the whole neighborhood again. “What now?” I asked myself. I gently lifted up my angry baby and held him close to my chest. I didn’t know he was hungry again! I realized he was when he started nipping and sucking on my blouse. Oh my! Didn’t I just nursed him less than an hour ago?! So I willingly gave him what he wanted just to pacify him. And what do you know, he just wanted to make a pacifier out of me alright! After “fakely” sucking for 30 seconds or so, he fell asleep on my arms. I told myself “What a sweet baby, he just wants to be near me”. So as a treat to his sweetness, I swayed for 15 minutes just to make sure he was really asleep before I put him down to bed. But guess what? Yup, you got it right, he woke up, eyes wide open, when I put him down! He looks like he’s gonna wail loudly again so I hurriedly scooped him back to my arms (yeah, babies can be that intimidating). So I put him on my lap with his head on my arms and I rocked my body (sitting down on the bed, I dare not stand, I’m so sleepy I might drop him). He was asleep in an instant, my clever boy. I was afraid to close my eyes because Nico is in my arms so I fought sleep. After a few minutes, I gently stood up and decided to put him down so I can sleep. What do you know, he woke up! And now he’s genuinely hungry! I nursed him for about 30 minutes since he won’t let go that easily. Again I swayed him to the music because he was fussing around, kicking and throwing his little fists in the air. I was still carrying him in my arms when I happened to look at the clock. Gosh! I can’t believe it’s almost 4:00 AM!

Waaaahhhh! I wanna sleep! I successfully put Nico down on the bed and I thought I’l have my sleep at last when Nico made little sounds. Oh no! The hiccups! He hates his hiccups! So yes, he was awake again and I have to carry him again, when I noticed he soiled his diaper. Yup, he pooped this time. Arghhh! I quickly opened his diaper only to find out that he’s just getting started and will be needing my help to finish up because he seems to be having difficulty “pushing” it out. It was 5:00 AM when I finished nursing him (again, yup, he gets very hungry after pooping) and so I let him sleep in my arms until 6:00 AM, which is actually the time I have to turn my PC on and start working.

Sigh.. Is this just the beginning of many nights and dawns and mornings like this? I hope not! But what can a Mommy do? This is my life now, it’s difficult to adjust to this change, but then again, I love my little boy very much, that all I can say is … “Bring it on!”