How to Help Prevent and Stop Baby and Newborn Hiccups
It’s not unusual for your newborn or older baby to get the hiccups from time to time. Most babies do! Hiccups are usually harmless and go away on their own after a few minutes; but read on to find out how you can try to help your baby or newborn with hiccups and get rid of them, and to find out what causes them in the first place.
What Causes Hiccups in Newborns and Babies?
Babies get hiccups from time to time. You may have even noticed quick rhythmic jerks of your little one hiccupping while they were still inside your tummy. In any case, hiccups are usually nothing to worry about.
What causes hiccups is your baby’s diaphragm ‘twitching’. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of your baby’s chest, under the lungs, that relaxes and contracts to help your baby breathe.
When a hiccup occurs, your baby’s diaphragm involuntarily and suddenly contracts, quickly causing air to get sucked in a little more forcefully than a usual breath. When this force of air hits your baby’s vocal cords, they close suddenly, which is what makes that well-known ‘hiccup’ sound.
Why Do Babies and Newborns Get Hiccups?
It’s not always obvious why babies (or adults for that matter) get hiccups, but it may be triggered by eating too fast or too much, or perhaps if your child is feeling excited or nervous about something.
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Newborn and Baby Hiccups After Feeding
If your baby or newborn gets hiccups a lot during or just after feeding, or if they’re hiccupping after every feed, it might be a sign of reflux. Reflux most commonly develops in babies after the age of 2 months. It usually clears up by around the age of 12 months.
Other signs of reflux can include:
Coughing during feeds
Crying a lot when feeding
Regularly bringing up milk during or after feeds
Refusing feeds
Poor weight gain (your health visitor will be monitoring this with growth charts)
Waking up a lot during the night.
If you suspect reflux could be behind your baby’s hiccups, try burping your little one frequently during each feed.
Keeping your baby upright during feeds can be helpful too, and if you’re breastfeeding, it might be worth experimenting with different breastfeeding positions to help find the best position for your baby’s hiccups.
How to Get Rid of Newborn and Baby Hiccups
Are you wondering what to do when your baby has hiccups? Hiccups usually only last for a few minutes, so in most cases they will go away by themselves.
When your newborn or older baby has hiccups, there isn’t any magic cure that will get rid of them straight away.
Still, because stress or over-excitement could be a factor it might help to keep your child relaxed and comfortable by having some easy playtime together, gently rocking them and making sure their nappy is clean.
Like hiccups, reflux in babies isn’t usually serious. But if you’re wondering ‘Why does my baby or newborn keep getting hiccups?’ or if the symptoms are severe, progressive or don’t go away after a couple of weeks, ask your health visitor or doctor for advice.
How to Help Prevent Hiccups in Your Newborn and Baby
If your baby tends to get hiccups when feeding, make sure they’re calm and not overly hungry before you feed them. Because excitement or stress is thought to play a part in triggering hiccups in some cases, this might decrease the chances of hiccupping during feeds. You can also get more advice on feeding in our article all about baby feeding schedules.
If you think reflux might also be a factor, preventive measures like giving smaller but more frequent feeds might also help prevent spells of reflux and hiccups triggered by an over-full tummy.
Your health visitor or doctor can also offer guidance and reassurance about what to do to help prevent hiccups some of the time.
FAQS AT A GLANCE
Yes, it’s normal for babies to get hiccups after breastfeeding, which may be caused by eating too much or too fast.
The Bottom Line
Your baby or newborn will likely get hiccups from time to time, and it’s usually not something to worry about. In fact, you might find that little ‘hicc’ sound quite cute. What you can try is to slow down your baby’s feeds and make sure that they are feeling calm during feeds. When hiccups occur, just remember the bout of hiccups will usually go away on its own within a few minutes.
How We Wrote This Article The information in this article is based on the expert advice found in trusted medical and government sources, such as the National Health Service (NHS). You can find a full list of sources used for this article below. The content on this page should not replace professional medical advice. Always consult medical professionals for full diagnosis and treatment.
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