Interesting thread. One other thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the fact that many babies hiccup, spit up, burp and fart because of the immaturity of their digestive systems. I like to tell parents that this is normal behavior for their young infants because of this immaturity - I always get a laugh when I point out we as adults with our much more mature digestive systems, would get some mighty strange looks if we exhibited this behavior, especially in public. In regards to sneezing, coughing, gagging and spitting up, another reason very young babies do this, especially in the 1st week or so, is the attempt to clear fluids and other birth- related "junk" from their systems. This is particularly reassuring to parents who think that they have already given their baby a "cold". So...it all boils down to good ongoing assessment before, during, and after feedings to correctly interpret baby's body language and behavior cues. Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,CLC Clinical Lead, Lactation Services Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Barrington, IL USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html