Why do hiccups occur in children? Why does a child hiccup and how to help him? Pathological causes of hiccups

Olga Prokhorchenko 03/24/2015 1288

There is no point in ringing the bell if your child sometimes hiccups, for example after eating. However, prolonged hiccups in a child can be a dangerous sign.

We suggest you understand the causes of hiccups and how to “eliminate” them at home.

Causes of hiccups

Medicine defines hiccups as an unconscious and unstable powerful sigh that is repeated many times with a sharp narrowing of the glottis.

Surely, you have often encountered this condition when you fed your baby breast milk, and he swallowed air while sucking. To eliminate unnecessary air, nature came up with a special reflex - hiccups. Also, a baby may hiccup because it is cold or very frightened of strangers.

Now let’s look at the causes of hiccups in older children:

1. Absorbing food in a hurry, during which the child grabs a large number of air.
2. Binge eating.
3. Extreme stress.
4. Pathologies in the body, for example, inflammatory processes; diseases gastrointestinal tract; infections, etc.

There are two types of hiccups: episodic And long lasting. The first type may bother the child occasionally. But the second type - hiccups torment the child almost every day - is possible symptom serious illness. You should immediately take your child to the doctor so that the specialist can rule out the presence of a number of diseases, including oncology.

How to get rid of hiccups quickly?

There are three reliable remedies in the arsenal of fighting hiccups:

• Water– a glass of water will help stop a child’s hiccups; It is important that he drinks it slowly in small sips.
• Holding your breath- the child must do deep breath, then - several swallowing movements. You can still stick out your tongue.
• Breathing into a paper bag– the child must take air into his lungs, and then exhale several times into a paper bag.

But what if they don’t help and the hiccups continue? You can turn to traditional medicine:

1. Massage the child’s middle phalanx of the little finger and ask him to exhale several times at this time.

2. Give your child a soothing herbal decoction if the cause of hiccups is fear or stress. The following herbs are excellent:

• valerian;
• motherwort;
• mint;
• chamomile.

3. When prolonged hiccups will help ease the condition daily use glasses in the morning on an empty stomach clean water with a few drops of lemon juice.

4. During a sudden onset of hiccups, let your child chew on a piece of refined sugar, a cracker, or offer to suck on a slice of lemon.

5. Massage your earlobes.

6. Press down on the diaphragm area.

If your child's hiccups do not stop, ask him to simple exercises, squat or jump. Keep him company in this physical education session.

By the way, if a child has not encountered hiccups before, and suddenly this reflex “overtakes” him, you should explain to him the reasons for hiccups, and also tell him how to deal with it. After some time, the child will learn to stop hiccups on his own.

Hiccups are a common phenomenon that every person has encountered. It occurs in adults and children, and is a nonspecific and harmless breathing disorder. What to do if an adult or child hiccups all day?

Most often, long hiccups provoke nervous overstrain.

Causes

Most often, hiccups are caused by factors that do not indicate health problems. It is called idiopathic. Unpleasant sensations are present for up to a quarter of an hour and do not cause severe discomfort. Hiccups are a reflex phenomenon.

Psychogenic hiccups often occur in suspicious and anxious people. She may appear before important event when you are overwhelmed with anxiety.

Hiccups may be caused by irritation of the vagus nerve. It is localized in the chest and abdominal cavity, which are connected to each other by the diaphragm, where the nerve passes. The esophagus is also located in this place, which can pinch it.

This happens because:

• overeating;
• hypothermia;
• fast eating;
• hunching over during meals;
• fright;
• poor chewing of food.

In addition to safe provocateurs of hiccups, there are pathological causes of the phenomenon:

• metabolic disorders, for example in diabetic, uremic or hepatic coma;
• problems with the central nervous system, for example, stroke, brain tumor, encephalitis, etc., while hiccups all day long cause severe discomfort;
• poisoning with barbiturates or muscle relaxants;
• intoxication of the body due to excessive alcohol consumption;
• inflammatory processes in the gastrointestinal tract, for example, with pancreatitis, reflux esophagitis, diverticulitis or ulcers in the stomach or duodenum;
• problems with the spine (hernia);
• defects in the spinal cord;
• oncological diseases;
• increased intracranial pressure.

Such hiccups can last a whole day and occur for no reason, without being associated with other factors.

What to do?

№ 1

A method of swallowing known to many. It is necessary to open your mouth wide and hold it in this position without swallowing. During hiccups you need to swallow. In 5 minutes of such “gymnastics” the unpleasant condition will go away. At the same time, clothes should not be tight.

№ 2

Need to dial full lungs air and hold your breath. When hiccups come, you need to “swallow” air. A similar method involves slowly “swallowing” a small amount of air until the moment when you can’t breathe and need to exhale.

№ 3

The hiccupper needs to inhale slowly and deeply and exhale when he cannot hold in the air. After exhaling, you need to immediately stick out your tongue and fill your lungs with oxygen, while closing your ears. You need to hold out like this for some time. After this, you need to exhale slowly.

№ 4

Helps eliminate discomfort water. Some people recommend simply drinking it in small sips so that you can hear the person drinking. Another way is to drink water without using your hands, such as through a straw.

№ 5

It is recommended to use cucumber pickle. You need ½ tsp. drink every 10 seconds until the hiccups stop.

№ 6

Honey and brown sugar help. You need to eat 20 g of the product, after holding it in oral cavity about 10 seconds. After this you need to drink some water.

№ 7

№ 8

Sneezing can help relieve hiccups. To do this, you need to smell something that can cause a sneeze, for example, pepper.

№ 9

The most popular method of getting rid of the problem is fear, but it is impossible to use it yourself, since you need to actually be scared.

№ 10

If hiccups happen frequently, you can use a mixture of mustard and vinegar. It should be smeared on the tongue 4 times a day for a minute and washed off with water.

№ 11

If someone constantly hiccups, he can be helped by a decoction of dill seeds, a teaspoon of which must be steamed in a glass of boiling water for half an hour. The medicine is drunk three times a day, half a glass.

If hiccups are a consequence of an illness, it will be accompanied by other symptoms, for example, painful swallowing, difficulty breathing, heartburn, etc. That is why if you experience prolonged discomfort, which bothers you at the same time as other unpleasant sensations, you need to consult a doctor.

Why does my child hiccup all day?

The causes of hiccups in a child are no different from those in adults:

• rapid consumption of food or liquids;
• binge eating;
• hunger;
• freezing;
• excessive worry, fear.

It happens that the baby hiccups all day long, and no methods help. In this case, you need to consult a doctor, as most often it indicates disturbances in the functioning of the body.

Regular hiccups may indicate the following abnormalities:

• birth injuries;
• infectious diseases;
• diseases of the digestive system;
• injury chest or spinal cord;
• problems with the nervous system, etc.

What to do?

You need to get rid of hiccups in a child correctly, it is better to do it in the form of a game. You can breathe into a paper bag, as if inflating a balloon. Helps tickle the baby. A loud laugh will get rid of hiccups, so you can try to make your baby laugh. The discomfort goes away if you sit with your knees tucked to your chest.

Hiccups are common in children. This is one of the first physiological actions that a child “masters” while still in the womb. A baby's hiccups usually do not cause concern to parents - unless they occur several times a day and in prolonged, difficult-to-control attacks. After reading this article, you will learn why hiccups occur and how to help your child.

What it is?

Hiccups are diaphragmatic spasms, contractions of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles, which are jerky in nature. These movements always occur serially and cause unpleasant sensations. With such movements of the diaphragm, external breathing is disrupted. This happens due to the fact that muscle contractions imitate inhalation, and the epiglottis sharply “slams shut”, creating the effect of suffocation.

When the air is blocked, the very sound that gives this name is created. physiological phenomenon- “hic.” It is believed that in this way the body is freed from air trapped in the stomach. However, pathological hiccups have completely different roots - it can be both tumors and diseases nervous system, and inflammatory processes occurring in internal organs.

These options have nothing to do with fetal hiccups in the womb. There are usually several reasons for the occurrence of such hiccups - from physiological (swallowing amniotic fluid) to idiopathic (unexplained from a scientific point of view).

Kinds

A child's hiccups can be different, and it is important for parents to learn to distinguish normal hiccups from a painful condition:

• Episodic (periodic) hiccups. It is completely safe. IN Everyday life Such attacks happen to all children without exception.
• Intermittent hiccups usually goes away on its own (within a few minutes, half an hour maximum). It is caused by quite ordinary things - overeating, hypothermia, fear.

Hiccups in children can begin even from prolonged intense laughter:

• Frequent and prolonged hiccups. It can be a signal of various disorders in the body. Daily long hiccups that plague a child and that are not eliminated by ordinary measures require examination by specialists.
• Idiopathic hiccups. Such hiccups happen very rarely. It does not fit into the periodic framework, since it happens quite often, but it does not have any pathological prerequisites. Doctors cannot make a diagnosis because the cause of the reflex contraction of the diaphragm remains unclear.

Causes

The full causes of hiccups modern medicine and are not known to science. However, there are generally accepted ideas about why a child hiccups. IN different ages The causes of hiccups can be different.

In babies during pregnancy

Although this phenomenon is more than mysterious, it is not a pathology and should not be a cause for concern for the expectant mother. Intrauterine hiccups do not cause unpleasant or pain, suffering.

At the end of the first trimester, the fetus begins to suck its thumb and develops a swallowing reflex. There is nothing strange in the fact that the baby swallows the amniotic fluid surrounding it. Sometimes the amount swallowed exceeds the child’s capabilities, the stomach becomes overstretched, and the baby begins to get rid of excess, belching and expelling water through diaphragmatic contractions.

It is believed that the taste of amniotic fluid also affects the frequency of hiccups - than more mom pampers himself with sweets, the more pleasant the taste of amniotic fluid is for the child. Delicious waters he will swallow more.

Another one possible reason, which has no scientific confirmation, is that hiccups are a kind of training in breathing movements, which later (after birth) will be natural and involuntary.

The theory that a baby may hiccup in the womb due to hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) is viewed critically by neonatologists. Indirectly to this pathological condition may indicate a change in fetal behavior (increased or decreased movements, including increased hiccup movements), but a direct relationship with hiccups has not yet been established.

In newborns and infants

In newborns and infants, the process of hiccups is usually associated not with digestion, but with the development of the functioning of the nervous system. Such hiccups are also not a pathology and a reason for urgent medical examination. It does not interfere with the child very much and is a temporary phenomenon.

In addition, babies who have recently been born are greatly influenced by external stimuli that adults and older children simply do not pay attention to. These are, for example, temperature changes.

When hypothermia occurs, the baby reflexively begins to hiccup, and this process has nothing to do with digestion.

But overfeeding, which many caring parents are prone to, is directly related to the reduction of the diaphragm. In addition, infants often swallow air when making sucking and swallowing movements.

When the vagus or phrenic nerve is overstimulated, infant hiccups may also occur. This may be possible as a result of stress, an abundance of impressions, or tension in the nervous system. If there are a lot of guests in the house, it is noisy, the light is too bright, loud music, or the child is unable to get enough sleep - all this can cause a sudden attack of hiccups.

Thirst, boisterous laughter, too active games with parents, in which the child literally “forgets how to breathe” (throwing the baby into the air, for example), can also cause hiccups in a baby.

All these reasons are physiological, they do not pose a danger - and if proper first aid is provided, they go away quite quickly.

In children over 1 year of age

In children beyond infancy, reflex contractions of the diaphragm can be caused poor nutrition- a large amount of food, the bad habit of eating dry food, eating hastily, swallowing food in large pieces, a small amount of liquid consumed. If the child does not comply drinking regime If he drinks too little water, he usually hiccups much more often.

The vagus nerve, which passes through the diaphragm, may become pinched if the child takes uncomfortable position. He is most likely to start hiccupping when he takes a very sharp breath during a strong fright. All these reasons are safe for the child and do not require special medical care.

Signs of illness

Painful diaphragmatic spasms can be observed in diseases associated with significant disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system (CNS). This happens, for example, with encephalitis or meningoencephalitis. Sometimes rhythmic contractions of the diaphragmatic septum develop against the background of hepatic, renal or diabetic coma.

Damage caused by a traumatic brain injury, concussion, or brain contusion can also serve as a trigger for protracted and exhausting bouts of hiccups, which will return with enviable regularity.

Sometimes pathological hiccups are a harbinger of a critical increase. It happens that it develops against the background of pinched nerve endings in the fourth cervical vertebra, against the background of lymphogranulomatosis, as well as tumors of the esophagus.

Often painful hiccups are caused by gastritis and inflammation of the duodenum, intestinal obstruction, and gallbladder diseases. Help:

To the fetus

The baby in the womb does not need help with hiccups. Rhythmic “tapping” in the stomach interferes more with the to the expectant mother than her child. If the hiccupping movements of the fetus interfere with rest and sleep, the woman can take a walk fresh air, do breathing exercises, take a knee-elbow position for 10-15 minutes. Usually this calms the child somewhat and brings the woman long-awaited peace.

Newborn and infant

When a baby has hiccups, you can give a small amount to drink. warm water. After eating, to prevent regurgitation and hiccups, you need to hold the baby upright for a while so that the air trapped in the stomach and esophagus during feeding comes out with belching.

Placing it on the tummy will help eliminate a bout of hiccups in your baby. If a child hiccups due to hypothermia, he should be warmed up as soon as possible. As soon as he gets warm, the hiccups will stop.

If a child begins to hiccup due to fear, severe emotional shock, too active games or continuous laughter, you need to calm him down as soon as possible, switch his attention to something calmer, and give him a small amount of warm water to drink.

Child over one year old

You can quickly stop an attack of hiccups by straightening your diaphragm. To do this, take a deep, slow breath. You need to keep the air inside your lungs as much as possible possible time and exhale slowly. If necessary, this exercise is repeated several times.

An older child will be able to successfully cope with a more difficult task - taking several small sips of water while holding his breath. This method also allows you to quickly get rid of hiccups.

Switching your attention to the new kind activities. If, at the time of an attack, you show the child something interesting, let him watch it, captivate him, then the spasms of the diaphragm go away suddenly and very quickly.

For pathological hiccups

Help with pathological hiccups at home usually does not bring desired result. Even if parents manage to calm the child, warm him up and give him something to drink, give him lungs sedatives– the attack is repeated again and again.

The best help for such an attack is to consult a pediatrician. This specialist will be assisted by modern diagnostic capabilities and doctors of other specialties - gastroenterologist, neurologist, cardiologist, neurosurgeon. Most cases of unhealthy hiccups go away without a trace after the baby gets necessary treatment underlying disease.

As a little-studied phenomenon, hiccups are surrounded by myths and prejudices, and are also associated with interesting facts:

• At the beginning of the 20th century in Italy it was practiced unusual way fight against hiccups. While the whole world was breathing deeply, drinking water and eating lemons, the Italians came up with the idea of ​​sticking out your tongue when you hiccup. Moreover, they tried to do this to the maximum length. Judging by the fact that the fact has survived to this day, it helped Italian children and adults.
• In 2006, Francis Fesmire (an American doctor from the University Hospital of Florida) and three of his colleagues from Israel invented a massage for hiccups. They found out and substantiated that rectal massage with a finger helps get rid of an attack as quickly as possible. For this great discovery, the American doctor and his comrades were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for the most ridiculous achievements in the field of medicine.
• The longest bout of hiccups in world history was recorded in 1922 (in the USA). Charles Osborne decided to slaughter a pig - and at that moment he began to hiccup. The hiccups lasted exactly 68 years. The man had to hiccup about 400 million times. The treatment turned out to be ineffective. However, Osborne was able to get married and have children - despite constant diaphragmatic spasm.
• In Russia there is the following belief: when a person hiccups, someone remembers him. If, at the moment of an attack, you start going through the names of acquaintances and friends who could be doing this at the moment, then the hiccups will stop when the correct name is called. This belief has no scientific basis.

Why do newborns hiccup after feeding? Find the answer to this question in the next video.

Your baby has been born, which means you have entered a new, caring and troublesome period. The realities of motherhood do not always coincide with expectations, so it is better to inquire about the specifics in advance child's body. Hiccups in a newborn occur in almost 100% of cases. “Is it dangerous? What is the reason? How to deal with this? - we’ll talk about this in this article.

What is hiccups?

Before you understand the cause and method of getting rid of hiccups in a child, it is worth understanding what they are? At the border of the chest and abdominal cavities there is a section of muscle tissue called the diaphragm. When this muscle contracts, a hiccupping sound and spasmodic movement of the baby's chest are heard.

In most cases, hiccups are not a sign of any abnormalities; they just require more fine care for a newborn baby. However, depending on the reasons, hiccups can not only be short-term, but also last up to an hour. Your baby is worried and you are with him, which means you need to help the baby calm down and cope with the attack.

Causes of hiccups

Contraction of the diaphragm can be provoked by several circumstances. In order to help your child, you need to correctly determine the cause of the disease. In most cases, the fact that a baby often hiccups is caused by the following:

1. Hypothermia. The reason for the sharp decrease in the child’s body temperature is the circulating cold air in the room;
2. Fright. With a sharp sound, bright light, in an unusual environment, among new people or animals, the child begins to get nervous, reflexively causing muscle contractions;
3. Lactation . There may be several reasons for the occurrence of hiccups during feeding:

• With a rapid flow of milk from the breast, the baby is forced to swallow very quickly, and the milk has a direct impact on the walls of the diaphragm, causing muscle contractions.
• If not proper feeding, along with food, the newborn swallows air. This happens because the baby is not suckling correctly;

1. Thirst. The cause of hiccups is drying out of the oral mucosa;
2. Bloating. Underdevelopment lower gastrointestinal tract, increased activity bowel movements place increased pressure on the child’s diaphragm. For more information on how to deal with colic, see: Soft tummy >>>
3. Disruption of the functioning of nerve centers. This reason is the most rare. Hiccups occur when the brain is damaged during pregnancy or labor.

As you can see, the causes of diaphragmatic spasm can be caused by both external and internal factors. All babies experience hiccups from time to time. If the baby does not show any worries, then you should not worry either.

Situations where hiccups occur

To understand why newborns often hiccup, simple observation of the baby’s health and behavior is not always enough. It is important to recognize the cause and decide what exactly needs to be corrected. Various situations can trigger the appearance of hiccups.

Hiccups after feeding

Hiccups are very common in newborns after feeding. What should I do to solve this problem? The occurrence of such a situation suggests that the cause is improper food intake. Let's look at what conditions should be observed when feeding:

1. The feeding process itself should take place in a calm environment. Mom and baby should not be distracted by anything. All thoughts should be positive and aimed at eating;
2. Proper latching of the baby to the breast can prevent the cause of hiccups. The feeding position should be comfortable for both you and the baby. The newborn's head and body should be in line. The top of the baby's head, lying on the elbow, should be slightly higher than the nipple and slightly thrown back;
3. At artificial feeding the child also sits in the mother’s arms. Bottle feeding should mimic breastfeeding. Eye contact between mother and baby is required;
4. When artificial feeding, it is necessary to choose the right pacifier. If the hole is too large, the baby will not have time to properly swallow a strong stream of milk. The child will choke, swallow air, and after a while hiccups will begin;
5. There is no need to feed your baby formula in excess. If there is too much food, a full stomach will put pressure on the diaphragm. The hiccups will continue until the food is digested;
6. When breastfeeding, you should not take your baby off the breast until he does it himself. If you see that there is a lot of milk and the child cannot yet cope with such a volume of incoming milk (infants under the age of 1.5 months are more likely to do this), then you can express the milk a little before feeding. Read how to do this in the article How to Express Breast Milk by Hand >>>
7. If the child ate quickly, greedily, and there is reason to believe that the child swallowed air, then after finishing feeding the baby should be held upright (with good and proper feeding, holding the baby upright after feeding is not necessary). During the first 15 minutes after feeding, the air accumulated in the stomach will release on its own. If you put your baby to bed earlier than this, not only hiccups are possible, but also severe regurgitation. Find out from the article why does a baby spit up after feeding?>>>.
8. Hypothermia. This point is indirectly related to improper feeding, but direct to the appearance of hiccups. The child must be dressed appropriately.

It is recommended to unwrap the baby during meals so that the skin rests, is enriched with oxygen, and the body is hardened. But don’t overdo it, the baby’s hands and feet should always be warm. If it is inconvenient to wear warm clothes, then covering the baby with a blanket on top will be enough.

Hiccups due to hypothermia

You want your child to grow up strong and healthy, so you begin to harden the young body from childhood. This is right! But remember that there must be moderation in everything. Hypothermia is common cause occurrence of hiccups. Reception air baths- good, but you shouldn’t completely undress the child for half an hour. Cross ventilation of the room is excellent, but better than a baby At this time, take it to another room.

Important! On small child You should wear one layer of clothing more than an adult. This rule should be followed not only when walking outside, but also while indoors.

It’s easy to figure out how to get rid of hiccups in a newborn if the room is cold or the window is wide open. You can determine that your baby is cold by touching the base of his neck. If it’s cold there, it’s worth warming up the baby: cuddle him, cover him with a blanket or put on an extra blouse.

Fighting hiccups

Hiccups already for a long time overcomes your baby. The arms and legs are warm, they were fed in compliance with all the rules, but the cause has not yet been identified. There are many ways to stop hiccups in a newborn:

• if the child is older than 6 months, then give the child a drink of plain water or a weak chamomile decoction, taking into account the conditions set out in the article When can you give water to a newborn >>
• eliminate exposure to irritating factors: turn off the TV, dim the lights, turn down the music volume, etc.;
• calm the baby down: hug, sing a song, lull him to sleep;
• do massage and gymnastics;
• bathe or just wash;

Hiccups are a physiological condition; the older your child gets, the less they will appear. Imperfections come with age digestive tract will disappear, and the baby will no longer be bothered by frequent contractions of the diaphragm.

How mothers deal with hiccups

Elena, 36 years old

My child did not develop hiccups immediately after breastfeeding, but about an hour later. I didn’t know what to associate this reaction with. The grandmother kept advising me to give the child some water to drink. I kept refusing, because why give the child more milk when he has enough of my milk.

I tried to change the linen in his room, suddenly the colors scared me off, but that was not the reason. I couldn’t answer the question: why does a newborn hiccup? Ultimately, I decided to change the baby’s feeding position. Since the eating process lasted about 30 minutes for us, it was easier for me to do it lying down.

I corrected the position - I sit down and put the baby on special pillow. Imagine my surprise that the child’s hiccups stopped. This is what the right position means.

Marina, 23 years old

Having read in a magazine how dangerous overheating is for a baby, I began to wrap him up less. At first, no visible changes were observed, the child was comfortable in a thin shirt at a room temperature of about 18 o C. After a couple of days, the child began to develop hiccups, for no apparent reason.

I didn’t attach any importance to this, because these are physiological features. Yes, the baby’s arms and legs were slightly cool, but this is hardening. But day after day the hiccups continued with some frequency. My little one did not sneeze, did not cough, but hiccupped. The problem was resolved when I started putting socks on the baby. They may not be very warm, but apparently this was enough for the child to feel comfortable.

Evgeniya, 32 years old

My baby has never had any particular problems with hiccups. I monitor my baby's health very closely. It was not a cause for concern for me that the child began to have hiccups a couple of times a week. But still, this is not the most pleasant feeling, so I began to look for the cause and way to solve this problem.

I will not frighten a newborn or cut off his access to oxygen, as adults struggle with this. I use this recipe: I just give him the breast right away. He calms down and the hiccups go away immediately.

Be healthy! Let your everyday life with your baby go without problems!

Many parents worry and worry when their child often hiccups, as this phenomenon is not very pleasant and brings a lot of inconvenience. Sometimes frequent hiccups can cause severe discomfort, the baby becomes irritated, capricious, and it takes away his appetite.

Hiccups in children can often indicate that they are cold or have overeaten.

Causes of frequent hiccups in a child

Hiccups in children are divided into two types - long-term and episodic. Most often, the baby suffers from episodic, the main factors of which are:

• the baby may be cold, you need to dress him well;
• the baby is very thirsty;
• a newborn child has overeating, and an older child has malnutrition;
• the baby is emotionally overexcited.

Often the baby hiccups after crying a lot or if he laughed for a long time. This is caused by the fact that a lot of excess air enters the baby's stomach, which puts pressure on the diaphragm, causing spasms and involuntary contractions.

Often a child hiccups after drinking a lot of drinks with gases. For children under 6 years of age, such drinking is generally contraindicated.

Kids on breastfeeding are subject to frequent hiccups due to overeating, and spasms are accompanied by profuse regurgitation. During feeding, it is necessary to ensure that the baby latches onto the breast correctly and is in a comfortable position. Otherwise, he will swallow a lot of air, which will result in prolonged spasms.

If the disease is serious, then hiccups are always accompanied by chest pain, burning, and problems swallowing food. So if you are experiencing some of these symptoms, the best solution will do comprehensive examination baby and find out why the child often hiccups.

What to do and how to stop hiccups?

If the nature of the child’s spasms is episodic, then there is nothing special to do. Doctors say that no medicines have been found that would calm the hiccups themselves, unless, of course, they are the result of a hidden disease. When your baby starts hiccupping, try to find out the cause and eliminate it.

Give the baby something to drink and the illness should go away. The second reason may be that the baby is cold, warm him up. After breastfeeding, always try to hold your baby upright. This way, excess swallowed air will be released from the stomach, freeing it from spasms and reflux.

Do not overfeed your baby. Change your feeding tactics. It's better to give him less food at one time, but give him more often. At first, the baby may not like it. However, it is worth implementing a routine so that the newborn is less likely to experience cramps. If artificial feeding, use special bottles with a valve that prevent the swallowing of excess air; colic will also go away at the same time.

Do not scare the baby - this is not a method of getting rid of spasms in the in this case. Its effectiveness has not been proven, and the child will be even more upset.

For children over 1 year old, try to constantly give plenty of fluids. The food in their diet may often be dry, which will cause an attack of cramps. To a child who more years, suggest taking a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds, then exhaling and relaxing. This will calm the diaphragm from involuntary contraction.

A strong emotional event can also be a consequence of frequent hiccups. Try to calm the child down. Together, establish a calm breathing rhythm, this will relax the diaphragm and the spasm will pass. For older children, offer special breathing exercises that will relax the diaphragm muscles and stop hiccups. Take a deep breath, raise your arms up, hold your breath for a few seconds, lower your arms, exhale and relax. After 3-4 such approaches, the attack basically stops.

The next appointment will also require your participation. You need to pinch the baby's nose and let him drink water. You need to repeat 2-3 times. You can give the child a massage of the nose, on which there are points that, when massaged, should stop the attack.

Sharp irritation of taste buds can also be effective in overcoming spasms. Invite your child to eat a slice of lemon or drink a glass of warm water with sugar. Try to improve your child's correct mode day and nutrition. So that he begins to eat healthy food and exercise. This method helps to get rid of many diseases and will give a positive charge for the whole day.

If your baby hiccups a lot every time or even constantly, do not delay and visit a doctor so that he can determine the underlying cause and begin treatment.