Why hiccups occur in the baby and how to avoid it
The hiccup It is a natural response of the organism of the newborn that can occur from the first hours of life, even when still inside the womb of the mother, the fetus can present hiccups.
It is usually more annoying for parents to see how their child suffers from hiccups than for the baby itself, since hiccups are not harmful and are not painful for the baby.
The hiccups are caused by the immaturity of the nervous system which lacks adequate control during the first months of the baby's life, which causes irregular and sporadic contractions in the diaphragm.
Why is it produced?
When a baby has hiccups can be for several reasons, the most common is the desire to eat, when a baby is very hungry swallowing a lot of air when drinking milk or in some cases the hiccups also occurs by sudden changes in temperature .
As we have mentioned, the hiccup is not painful but it is uncomfortable for the little ones, but we must accept that it happens and disappears on its own.
The baby can react with the crying if he has hiccups, since it is somewhat uncomfortable, so if your child has a hiccup very often it is convenient to take some measures to avoid its frequent occurrence.
One of the guidelines that recommend that hiccups do not appear is to feed the baby when he is not too hungry and calm, because if the baby is too hungry he will eat and swallow more quickly not only milk but air.
Do not worry if the baby has hiccups, it is a natural phenomenon that disappears with the same one that appears.
How to remove the hiccups of the newborn?
As we indicated, we must first take into account that hiccups is a reflex that occurs in the nerve located in the diaphragm called phrenic.
And, precisely, the immaturity that still has the baby's nervous system causes these irregular and sporadic contractions when you have swallowed air while feeding or by some change in temperature.
It may appear even before the baby is born, so It is totally normal that during the first 4 months of life your baby has hiccups especially after eating which is when you may have swallowed air.
The hiccups occur in 80% of newborns so mothers should not worry if the baby has hiccups very often, it is best to try to avoid it or prevent it before it appears with some techniques that we will mention below.
If your baby hiccups every time you feed him or at some other time you can try several techniques like:
- Make him burp every time you feed him, the air he swallows during the shot can cause hiccups.
- If the hiccup occurs without having fed it, try to warm it, as you may be too exposed to changes in temperature.
- Tap on the back or in circles after each shot
- Making him sneeze will cause the air that has been left inside his belly to escape.
