Frequent hiccups in a 3 month old baby. The child has frequent and prolonged hiccups - what is the cause of hiccups and how to stop it
Everyone can hiccup, both an adult and a child. But when it comes to baby hiccups, parents often get worried. Why does the child hiccup?
How the hiccup mechanism starts
Hiccups result from contractions of the diaphragm as a result of irritation of the vagus nerve. These are involuntary movements, and it is impossible to influence the diaphragm by force of will. Rhythmic contractions of the diaphragm can occur when all the muscles begin to make reflex small contractions to generate heat. If a person ate a larger amount of food than he was used to, or drank carbonated water, then the walls of the stomach begin to put pressure on the diaphragm, and hiccups occur.
mechanism can be started nervous stress(fright, crying), strong laughter, exercise, become part of a hysterical attack, or develop as a result of strong mechanical compression of the diaphragm.
If hiccups bother the child for several days, or occur regularly, consult a pediatrician.
Why does a newborn baby hiccup?
A baby who has just been born often hiccups after feeding. The diaphragm in this case may be irritated not from the pressure of the stomach, but from the fact that food in the supine position is thrown into the esophagus. The esophagus passes through the opening of the diaphragm, and the vagus nerve also passes here. In babies, the lower esophageal sphincter is not yet formed, and therefore easily passes food in both directions. When the child is immediately placed after feeding, the milk enters the esophagus again, and at the entrance to the diaphragm it presses on the vagus nerve, expanding. If the baby also swallows air during feeding, then this mechanism is enhanced.
Hungry hiccups in children
Occurs as a result of stomach cramps and metabolic changes. When food enters the stomach, or even from drinking a glass of water, hungry hiccups disappear. Throwing gastric juice into the esophagus and heartburn also have an irritating effect on the vagus nerve.
Hiccups also often come from eating dry food.
How to help a child with hiccups
Switching a baby off hiccups is often easy. The newborn just needs to be picked up in vertical position. If he hiccups after feeding, then the milk will return to the stomach, and the baby will relax in the arms of his mother, and the hiccups will quickly pass. If the child hiccupped from the cold, then he will warm up in his arms. Just do not be zealous and dress the baby warmer than necessary.
If the hiccups in an older child, then perhaps he is hungry or thirsty. Just offer him food, but don't insist if he refuses.
In children, hiccups often appear from overexcitation. Maybe he just ran and shouted/laughed loudly. In this case, you need to calm the child, switch. Offer him to drink juice or water, with severe hiccups, it is better to refrain from eating for now, otherwise there may be vomiting. Take the baby in your arms, put an older child on your knees, hug. Rock/circle in your arms, but don't make them laugh again.
Get a relaxing massage. It's not that hard. The main thing is to switch the sensations of the child, and impulses from other muscle groups will help the vagus nerve to reduce arousal.
Switch the rhythm of the child's breathing: just offer to sing a song together. How it will turn out is not important, the main thing is that the child will begin to take deep breaths and smoother exhalations. Plus, his attention will switch to the words and melody.
Natalia Trohimets
The muscles of the diaphragm contract hiccups.
Exists a few reasons which can cause hiccups. However full picture The mechanism of occurrence of hiccups is not entirely clear even to scientists.
Some scientists claim that the vagus nerve is excited and thereby presses on the diaphragm. Others say that is how the respiratory organs are trained.
Causes
Causes the occurrence of hiccups in babies is extremely simple.
One of the most common causes of hiccups in babies is air entry into the stomach. When overfeeding, the vagus nerve is compressed, since in a baby the walls of the stomach can easily stretch.
When, if the newborn did not burp in time, then this air can penetrate further along digestive tract and thereby cause further colic.
When breastfeeding, the mother must monitor the stay of milk, if the baby does not have time to swallow the mother's milk, then air also enters with it.
When feeding adapted mixture you need to track the size of the hole at the nipple and hold the bottle correctly. Now they produce a lot of bottles with special nipples that are not able to pass air.
After every feeding you need to hold the baby in a column to burp the accumulated air and let the child catch his breath.
Emotional condition the baby can also provoke hiccups. At a loud sound or light, or any other unusual external influence on the baby, the diaphragm will begin to contract. Therefore they say that hiccup with fright.
In such cases, you need to create a safe, familiar environment for your child, calm and distract.
Thirst can also cause hiccups. When the mouth is dry or the digestive tube is drained, the child may be prone to hiccups. All you have to do is give the baby some water to drink.
When hypothermia possible hiccups. As a rule, this can be when the baby is dressed lighter than usual, or the window is opened.
Fortunately, conscientious parents rarely freeze their children. And it is enough for the child to put on warm socks and hug him, hiccups will pass.
Is it necessary to treat hiccups in newborns?
If you know the cause of hiccups, and you can easily get rid of it, then you have no reason to see a doctor.
However, if the baby hiccups for a long time and often, while the child is excited, often spitting up, coughing joins, then you need to see a doctor.
If necessary a pediatrician or neurologist will refer you for examination and prescribe treatment.
Prevention methods
By using simple ways prevention hiccups will pass quickly.
For example, when breastfeeding a baby, it is necessary to control how the baby takes the breast and how much milk he gets.
When bottle-fed with formula watch the hole on the nipple and hold the bottle correctly. Also, after each feeding, you need to hold the baby in a column.
Maintain a comfortable home environment, baby's daily routine.
The temperature at home should be optimal for the child, when walking, you need to objectively dress the baby so as not to overheat or overcool.
If prevention does not help, should I see a doctor?
At additional symptoms possible diseases such as worms. Usually they are common in older children, less often in infants.
Also frequent hiccups without visible reasons possible with disorders in the brain and spinal cord. Here, the neuropathologist will prescribe an ultrasound of the brain for the baby and then prescribe treatment.
In case of diseases of the pancreas, digestive system or the liver may also have hiccups. Gastroenterologist in this case should help.
Attacks of prolonged hiccups can cause inflammation of the lungs or viral infections
. In the inflammatory process, the diaphragm is irritated and contraction begins, thereby hiccups appear.
If the child has recently had an acute respiratory illness, it is possible hiccups are a direct cause of any inflammation in the body.
If the reasons listed above are not present, then hiccups will go away on their own in 10 minutes or with the help of parents.
However, if your baby has additional worrying signs, then this is a signal for the implementation of the appropriate measures listed above.
In any case, for little man even this simplest problem how hiccups can turn around stressful situation, And young parents should be aware of this.
How to get rid of hiccups? Home economics program
Olga Prokhorchenko 03/24/2015 1288
Ringing the bells if your child sometimes hiccups, for example after eating, is not worth it. However, prolonged hiccups in a child can be a dangerous wake-up call.
We offer to understand the causes of hiccups and how to “eliminate” it at home.
Causes of hiccups
Medicine defines hiccups as an unconscious and unstable powerful sigh, which is repeated many times with a sharp narrowing of the glottis.
Surely, you often encountered this condition when you were breastfeeding your baby. breast milk, and he swallowed air while sucking. To eliminate unnecessary air, nature has come up with a special reflex - hiccups. Also, the baby may hiccup due to the fact that it is cold or very frightened of strangers.
And now consider the causes of hiccups in older children:
- Absorption of food in a hurry, during which the child captures a large number of air.
- Binge eating.
- The strongest stress.
- Pathologies in the body, for example, inflammatory processes; diseases gastrointestinal tract; infections, etc.
Hiccups are of two types: episodic And prolonged. The first kind can disturb the child occasionally. But the second type - hiccups torment the child almost every day - this is possible symptom serious illness. You should immediately go with the child to the doctor so that the specialist excludes the presence of a number of diseases, including oncology.
How to get rid of hiccups quickly?
There are three reliable tools in the arsenal of dealing with hiccups:
- Water- a glass of water will help stop an attack of hiccups in a child; it is important that he drank it in small sips slowly.
- Holding your breath- the child must do deep breath, then - a few swallowing movements. You can also stick out your tongue.
- Breath in paper bag - the child should draw air into the lungs, and then make a few exhalations into a paper bag.
But what if they do not help, and the hiccups continue? You can turn to traditional medicine:
1. Massage the middle phalanx of the little finger to the child and ask him to exhale several times at this time.
2. Give your child a soothing herbal tea if the hiccups are caused by fear or stress. The following herbs are great:
- valerian;
- motherwort;
- mint;
- chamomile.
3. With prolonged hiccups, it will help to alleviate the condition daily use glass in the morning on an empty stomach clean water with a few drops of lemon juice.
4. During a sudden onset of hiccups, let the child nibble on a piece of refined sugar, a cracker, or offer to suck on a slice of lemon.
5. Massage the earlobes.
6. Press down on the diaphragm area.
If your child's hiccups don't stop, ask him to do simple exercises, squat or jump. Keep him company in this physical education.
By the way, if a child has not experienced hiccups before, and suddenly this reflex “caught” him, you should explain to him the causes of hiccups, and also tell him how to deal with it. After a while, the child will learn to stop hiccups on their own.
Hiccups is a nonspecific violation of the function of external respiration, resulting from a series of convulsive contractions of the diaphragm of a jerky nature. Parents are often interested in what to do if the child hiccups, and whether it is dangerous. If the matter concerns infants, then many mothers are sure that this is due solely to hypothermia, and they try to wrap the baby warmer. However, according to doctors, hiccups are a fairly harmless and quickly passing phenomenon. The causes that cause it can be varied, and only in rare cases is hiccups a reason to see a doctor.
Reasons for hiccups
According to Dr. Komarovsky, the reason that the child hiccups is the twitching of the diaphragm. This is caused by air or gases pushing up the stomach, which in turn irritates the diaphragm. In newborns, it is more common among those who are on artificial feeding.
However, sometimes overeating also occurs in babies whom the mother breastfeeds on demand. In most cases, this is due to prolonged feedings (up to half an hour) or in cases where the milk is very fatty. Fine healthy baby 15 minutes is enough to satisfy hunger and no more than 10 minutes to satisfy the sucking reflex. In addition, too long and frequent feedings can cause disorders of the entire digestive system.
With normal weight gain and adequate drinking mode the reason why infant hiccups after eating, there may be gas in the upper part of the intestine. They put pressure on the stomach, shifting it upward. Due to discomfort in the intestines, the baby tries to tighten the muscles of the tummy and release gases, and as a result, it affects the diaphragm and begins to hiccup.
Another reason why a baby hiccups after eating is air entering the stomach with too active sucking. It presses on the thin walls of the digestive organ, causing hiccups.
Also, Dr. Komarovsky believes that the child often hiccups not from hypothermia, as many parents think, but due to adaptation to temperature changes environment. Therefore, in the absence of other evidence that the baby is cold, you do not need to wrap him up more than necessary.
In addition, any emotional shock (many strangers, sudden noises or sudden switching on of lights) is stressful for the newborn and causes the baby to hiccup. Also, hiccups can be caused by a failure in the rhythm of breathing.
What to do if the child hiccups after eating
If the child often hiccups after feeding, the following recommendations should be considered:
- On artificial feeding - you need to take care of the correct drinking regimen. If this does not help, you need to consult a pediatrician and try a different mixture. Also, to avoid air entering the stomach, pediatricians recommend using special anti-colic bottles;
- On breastfeeding- a nursing mother is advised to drink more fluids and not abuse fat-containing foods. This will make the milk less fat, which will help avoid overeating.
In cases where the child hiccups after feeding, it is necessary:
- Hold it upright. The "column" position helps the accumulated gaziks to move away easier and faster, which will eliminate the cause of the hiccups;
- Give the baby water to drink
- Stroke on the belly. Circular movements clockwise activates digestion, and also helps to even out breathing.
Good preventive measure, which helps to improve digestion and prevent gas formation, is laying the baby on the tummy before feeding.
As a rule, if a child hiccups infrequently, this is not a reason to see a doctor. However, testing is recommended if:
- Hiccups last more than an hour;
- In addition to hiccups, swallowing disorders and general malaise are noted.
Otherwise, hiccups are normal. physiological phenomenon that does not require medical intervention. According to Dr. Komarovsky, freezing and hungry children grow up the most healthy. Therefore, if a child hiccups, it is worth, first of all, to strive not to dress them warmer, but to reconsider the feeding regimen. In addition to the fact that in this case the risk of hiccups is significantly reduced, this will positively affect the health of the baby as a whole.
Hiccups are a reflex of the body that occurs due to the contraction of the muscles of the diaphragm. As a result, unpleasant intense respiratory movements occur. The diaphragm contracts due to the deformity of the vagus nerve. If it is irritated and squeezed, a pulsation appears, which causes hiccups. Parents start to get worried if the baby has hiccups, but before taking any action, you need to find out why.
Why do babies hiccup?
Hiccups in children occur in several cases:
Fright and nervous excitement. Impressive children prone to stress and strong feelings, often . They need to be calmed down, carried away with new activities. If the attacks are repeated often, it is better to seek help from a neurologist.
hypothermia. In this case, the hiccups will go away only when the parents warm the child and drink warm milk, water or tea.
Binge eating. Babies at breastfeeding sometimes they swallow air, which provokes bouts of hiccups. To save the child from this phenomenon, it must be raised vertically and wait a little for the air to come out.
Long breaks between meals or lack of fluids. The baby needs to be fed and drink warm milk.
Some time after the cause is eliminated, the hiccups disappear. And in order to prevent repeated attacks, you need to dress the child warmer, monitor portions of food, establish a feeding regimen and monitor his psychological state.
Causes of hiccups in children older than 1 year
In children, hiccups can be episodic and pathological.
Episodic hiccups occur in all children, are not caused by major health problems, and resolve quickly.
To help the baby overcome hiccups, it is necessary to eliminate its cause: check whether the baby has overeaten, is cold, scared of something, or laughed for a long time. After that, you need to calm the child and give him warm water. If hiccups occur more than 5 times in 2 weeks and last more than 30 minutes, then you should not delay a visit to the doctor.
