1) I have never had a baby hiccup all that much but I found this info for you:

The exact reasons for newborn babies suffering hiccups more so than other, older, infants is not generally agreed upon by the medical profession, but undoubtedly much has to do with the relative immaturity of your baby’s internal organs. As your baby develops and matures, so too will the hiccupping reduce in intensity and frequency.

There isn’t a lot you can do to stop the hiccups in a newborn baby. Certainly the old wives-tale solutions for adults (such as standing on your head, breathing into a paper bag, getting a scare etc.,) should not be tried on your infant. In fact, probably the only thing you can do is to patiently wait the hiccups out and try to comfort or distract your baby while the hiccups persist. Frequent burping during feeding may decrease the instances of hiccups, but once they start there is very little that you can do.

Hiccups can last for anything from a minute or so right up to half an hour or an hour at a time but they do not harm your baby in any way. You may find however that as your baby gets older, he/she will tend to get frustrated during periods of hiccupping. By this stage however your baby should be easier to distract and keep occupied and hopefully this in turn will make it possible for you to help your baby stop hiccupping once he/she starts.

Remember, at the end of the day it is only really the parents who get bothered by baby’s hiccups. They don’t bother your baby at all (in fact he/she probably wonders why everyone doesn’t hiccup!), so the only things you need to give your baby each time hiccups develop are a little bit of patientce and a lot of TLC.
http://www.burpingbaby.net/baby_hiccups.htm

2) Ashley had hiccups a lot when she was younger, I had almost forgotten about it. My pediatrician said the best thing for them to do is to relax and suck - unfortunately, his tip was to feed her...which, after you're done feeding is definitely not that exciting, but it seemed to work well once we got through the first through laughable sucks as she was still hiccupping. The pacifier does seem to stimulate the same kind of sucking to help ease the hiccups. Brad was always great about just helping her relax, but as that article says, it really doesn't bother the baby as much as it bothers us...and he will outgrow it - you're doing great!!

3) Dylan always had the hiccups as a baby, and now almost every time she laughs she gets the hiccups. She is just starting to grow out of it. :)

4) We're right there with you! Jilly gets hiccups a lot, too!

5) I guess that I'm doing what I should. He will suck on his paci and I rock him and them put him back in the crib once the hiccups have passed. Thanks!

6) Merritt, Both of my kids had hiccups daily in utero and both a lot as babies. Roman still gets them daily (he's 6.5 weeks) and while it looks like it may bother him, I know it'll pass. His body is still growing and changing every day.

7) Gripe Water by Baby Bliss is a miracle cure for hiccups! I thought all mothers had Gripe Water. The guy at the health store said it was a must have for new mothers and it is completely natural and safe. You can get it at babys r us as well as health food stores. When Driggs gets the hiccups I give him about 1/4 of a teaspoon through a syringe and they immediatly go away and he likes the taste. Feeding hi also makes them go away I have found. By the way, I got The Baby Whisperer, and Driggs is doing beautifully on it. Great Book.
-bek

8) I have some Gripe Water, but I was scared to use it until I asked the dr. I assume that it is the same Gripe Water that you are talking about. Medications are sometimes different up here. I'll have to look and see who makes it. Also, I wasn't sure how to give it to him since it is in a bottle and doesn't have a dropper. I'll have to look for some sort of dropper. I also looked for The Baby Whisperer. I couldn't find it at the book store near me and haven't looked again. I'm glad that it is working for Driggs! I'll have to look for that book again and check it out.

9) I know all doctors are different, by mine told me not to give Hayes Gripe Water. Something about the sodium bicarbonate in it throwing off electrolytes. That being said, everyone I have talked to swears by it!

10) That's also why I'm hesitant to use it.

11) I'd mention a cure I heard years ago but you probably can't feed a spoon of sugar to a baby. :) Supposedly hiccups are the result of an irritation that causes the body to do that. The grittiness of the sugar creates another irritation (though mild) that distracts the body and it stops the hiccups.

12) I actually heard that today, Linda. A friend tried it and said that it didn't work for her. Her mom suggested it and she's a nurse. Maybe I'll try it, but not in the middle of the night!

13) My mom always made us take a spoonful of sugar to get rid of hiccups too (when we were quite a bit older tho). She always said that it was because the sugar would force your diaphragm to slow down. Always seemed to work. And apparently she's not the only one who thought so: "A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that swallowing a teaspoonful of dry sugar immediately stopped the hiccups in 19 out of 20 cases." What a smart mom!

14) I was actually told it by a biology instructor in college. Of course he also stood on his head and drank to prove to us that swallowing has nothing to do with gravity and nearly choked. I think that was an accident and you really don't need gravity to swallow. :)

15) Merrit, Gripe water should be fine as long as it is alcohol-free. I've given it to my kids and it's worked some of the time. My doctors have never mentioned any concerns about it. You might see it called Grippe Water in some places.

16) I've never even heard of grippe water--but then I haven't had a baby either (unless you couldn't 4-footed ones in the equation).

17) Thanks, Pam. I knew that someone else could help me out. Mine is alcohol free. We've already had one round of them today. I may try it with the next round just to see if it works!

Maybe you could try to give it to your animals, Linda, when their tummy hurts!