The birth of a baby in a family is a great joy and a huge responsibility. Therefore, young parents, as a rule, carefully watch the baby, noting every little thing. For example, such as hiccups.

In principle, anyone can start hiccupping, regardless of age. But if the hiccups of an adult are unlikely to alarm anyone, then a hiccupping baby can scare the mother.

Meanwhile, hiccups in babies are a common phenomenon. Let's figure out why the baby hiccups after feeding.

First of all, it's worth figuring out what causes hiccups. In the human body, the respiratory and digestive organs are separated by an unpaired muscle - the diaphragm. It is her reflex contractions that are hiccups.

Adults do not hiccup often, and for them it is an annoying nuisance. And here infant, on the contrary, hiccups quite often. To eliminate hiccups, you need to eliminate or neutralize the causes that cause them.

Causes

Why does a newborn baby often hiccup? The main reasons for this phenomenon:

• stomach fullness;
• increased gas formation;
• muscle tension;
• other factors that cause contraction of the diaphragm.

So, if a child hiccups after each feeding, and even spits up, then we can assume that his stomach is full. This can happen for two reasons:

• mother overfeeds baby;

• During feeding, the baby swallows a lot of air along with food.

If this is the reason, then the mother needs to try to organize feeding correctly.

So, if a child hiccups after breastfeeding, then you need to ensure that the baby takes the breast correctly and is in the process of feeding in correct position(the head should be slightly raised). It happens that the mother has a lot of milk and at the beginning of feeding, it flows out quickly, that is, the baby simply choke breast milk and as a result swallows a lot of air.

Read also: Why does a child often get colds? Causes and prevention measures

If during breastfeeding it is difficult for a mother to control the amount of food that the baby eats, then when artificial feeding it's easy to do. There is no need to try to give your child more formula than he should be given according to his age. And so that the baby can satisfy his sucking instinct, you can offer him a pacifier.

If your baby hiccups after formula feeding, you need to pay attention to the size of the hole in the nipple. If it is too large, the milk will flow faster than necessary and this will lead to the baby swallowing air.

You can purchase special feeding bottles called anti-colic bottles. These bottles have a curved shape, so when feeding, the nipple is constantly filled with milk.

After your baby has eaten, do not immediately put him to bed. It is better to hold it upright for a while, this will allow the air that did get into the stomach to escape and prevent hiccups and regurgitation.

Second reason One of the things that can cause hiccups is increased gas production. It often affects babies under three months of age. This happens for a simple reason. The baby’s digestive tract is imperfect; it only adapts to new conditions and “learns” to work correctly.

A gas-filled intestine not only causes colic, but also puts pressure on the diaphragm, causing hiccups.

How can you reduce the formation of gases? If the baby is artificial, then you need to choose the right mixture. Unfortunately, this has to be done empirically, since a mixture that is ideal for one baby may not be suitable for another.

Read also: Why does a child grind his teeth in his sleep: we understand the causes and methods of treatment

If a mother is breastfeeding, then she needs to carefully monitor her menu. Temporarily she will have to exclude sweets, fried foods, fatty foods and other tasty “harmful” foods. This will benefit both the mother and her baby, since what the mother puts into her mouth affects the properties of breast milk.

A light tummy massage and taking special medications (you can take them on the recommendation of a pediatrician) will help relieve your baby of flatulence.

Newborn babies have physiological hypertonicity, that is, the baby’s muscles are tense in the same way as they were while he was in his mother’s stomach. And the baby reacts to any impact with muscle tension. In turn, this tension is transferred to the diaphragm, which causes hiccups.

Attentive mothers may notice that the baby may begin to hiccup while changing clothes or while walking. Most often, noticing this fact, the mother decides that the child is cold and begins to dress him warmer.

In fact, the baby hiccups, not at all from the cold, it’s just that the baby’s thermoregulation mechanisms are still “adjusting”, the body begins to adapt to environment and learns to protect himself. Therefore, a mother should not strive to wrap her child in “a hundred clothes”; she should dress the baby in the same number of layers of clothing that adults wear.

How to fight?

If the cause of hiccups is improper nutrition, then the mother should make an effort to normalize this important process. And to relieve an attack, you can offer your baby some water. And it’s better to let him drink water not from a bottle, but from a spoon or a cup, if he already knows how to use these items.

Hiccups are a natural physiological process that occurs in many newborns after feeding with breast milk or bottle formula. All parents must know why hiccups occur, how to stop them and help their child. It is also important to understand how you can prevent this condition from occurring after feeding.

Why does a baby hiccup after feeding?

After feeding, the newborn's tiny ventricle stretches, increases in size, and begins to put pressure on the diaphragm, which causes hiccups. If the gastrointestinal tract is immature or air gets into the stomach, the child develops hiccups immediately after eating. Sometimes it happens that the reason lies in some kind of deviation, then the newborn hiccups after feeding for a very long time, and this happens regularly. If the situation is serious, then hiccups may be accompanied by regurgitation, which is not easy to get rid of. In this case, you should consult a doctor.

How does hiccups occur?

In the human body, between the sternum and the abdominal cavity there is a dividing muscle called the diaphragm. In newborn babies it is very mobile and sensitive. When any irritant is applied to the diaphragm, its convulsive contraction occurs, the vocal muscles begin to close involuntarily, and sounds characteristic of hiccups can be heard.

Possible causes of hiccups

There are reasons why newborns experience hiccups after feeding:

1. When a baby sucks milk or formula very quickly, it may swallow it along with food. a large number of air. As a result, it enters the baby’s ventricle, stretches it and puts strong pressure on the diaphragm. Because of this, breathing is impaired, as the diaphragm begins to reflexively contract.
2. In children in the first months of life due to underdeveloped digestive system Bloating, intestinal colic and hiccups may occur after feeding.
3. Due to fear, a sudden change of environment or a suddenly heard loud sound, the diaphragm spasms, then it begins to contract convulsively, and the sound of hiccups can be heard.
4. Newborn babies have a very underdeveloped body thermoregulation system. They cannot yet maintain their body temperature on their own, which is why they are cold all the time and are very easy to become hypothermic.
5. A baby may hiccup frequently when its underdeveloped diaphragm contracts unexpectedly and irregularly.
6. Excess food. When overeating, the ventricle is greatly stretched, which provokes cramps of the diaphragm muscle and hiccups.
7. Nutrition for a nursing woman. Breasts often hiccup due to the fact that the mother's diet contains the wrong foods. Everything the mother eats is passed on to the baby through lactation.
8. Acid reflux. If your baby hiccups regularly, even when he is not overfed or has not swallowed excess air, this may be a symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This is a condition in which a certain amount of stomach contents flows back into the esophagus. All this causes both pain and hiccups.
9. Newborn babies sometimes have an allergic reaction to certain proteins found in formula or breast milk. It manifests itself in the form of inflammation of the esophagus, which is called eosinophilic esophagitis. As a result, diaphragm spasm and the sound of hiccups occur.
10. Irritants in the air. Infants have a very sensitive respiratory system, and airborne irritants such as steam, dust or strong odors can cause frequent coughing. A constant cough begins to put pressure on the diaphragm and causes it to vibrate. For this reason, the baby develops hiccups.
11. The baby is thirsty and feels very dry in the mouth;
12. The diaphragm can become irritated due to acute respiratory illnesses, when the throat is inflamed, or there is a severe cough.

Incorrect sucking of the mother's breast by the baby

It happens that hiccups occur due to the child’s improper sucking of the mother’s breast. Often the baby grasps only the nipple in his mouth; due to such improper attachment, excess air enters the stomach, and the baby begins to hiccup.

There is no need to eliminate hiccups if the mother follows simple rules:

• Position the baby's head so that it is slightly elevated. You can place the baby on a pillow or mother's hand.
• The baby should lie freely near the chest, nothing should squeeze his stomach, chest or legs. Let the baby lie down in a way that is convenient and comfortable for him.
• The baby should fully latch onto the nipple. This way he will swallow less excess air.
• If the mother has a lot of milk in the breast, the newborn may not be able to cope with its flow; next time it is worth expressing the breast a little.
• The nipple should not be removed from the baby's mouth by force. He must give up the breast himself when he is full.

How to prevent hiccups in a baby

It is not difficult to prevent hiccups in a child after feeding if you know the reason for its occurrence:

1. Overeating, as the main cause of the reflex, can be eliminated by reducing the portion of the formula or reducing the time the baby is put to the breast. If the mother has a lot of foremilk, it needs to be expressed a little so that the baby receives the required volume of hindmilk, which is fattier. It is preferable to feed the baby on demand, but the portion should be significantly reduced. You need to feed your baby in small portions over a longer period of time, rather than “filling” his tiny stomach at one time. This will help avoid overeating, which often causes hiccups in newborn babies.
2. When feeding, positioning your baby upright at an angle of 35-45 degrees will help ensure a slow flow of breast milk through the esophagus.
3. You need to listen closely to hear the sound the baby makes while feeding. If it is too loud, then most likely the baby is swallowing too much excess air. It is worth adjusting the pacifier in your mouth so that there is a very small air gap in it. When breastfeeding, you need to make sure that the baby's mouth captures the entire nipple.
4. Formula bottles need to be cleaned and washed promptly to prevent liquid from clogging around the hole in the nipple. Obstruction during feeding may cause the baby to swallow more air than formula, causing hiccups.
5. You should not let your child sleep with a full bottle. Unlike the breast, where milk will flow only with sucking movements, the bottle will provide a constant flow of formula. This can cause overfeeding and hiccups.
6. 10 minutes before feeding, place the baby on his tummy so that excess air comes out of the stomach.
7. It is very important to remain quiet during feedings so that the baby is not distracted. Bright lights and sudden noise can frighten your baby, distract him from eating and cause him to swallow air.

How to eliminate hiccups

If newborns have hiccups after feeding, what should you do in this situation? If the baby starts to hiccup immediately after feeding, you need to pick him up and hold him in the “column” position. This will help the baby burp faster and empty the stomach of excess air and food if he has eaten too much. In addition, in the mother’s arms, the baby will calm down and warm up faster, which will also help to quickly eliminate hiccups after eating.

If a child is on IV and often hiccups, you need to make sure that the mixture is suitable for him and does not provoke intestinal colic. In cases where hiccups are associated with excessive gas formation in the intestines, it is worth giving the baby anti-colic medications that will reduce the formation of gases.

Advice. Colic that occurs after feeding will decrease if you perform an anti-colic tummy massage.

Also, the mother can take the baby in her arms and press her tummy to her. In an upright position, all the air that entered the stomach during eating will be released. If the hiccups are associated with overexcitation or fright, you need to calm the baby down.

Important! If hiccups appear very often, then you should consult a pediatrician, since such anxiety may be a signal from the small body about developing diseases.

If a newborn hiccups after feeding, what to do can only be decided by analyzing when the spasms are stronger and where they begin:

• While sucking on the breast or bottle with formula. If the mother has a large nipple, the baby cannot fully grasp it. In this case, during feedings you need to hold the baby at an angle of 45 degrees. This way, the air that the baby will take in along with the milk will not be able to enter the ventricle. When the newborn releases the nipple or pacifier, the mother should stroke his back to relax the diaphragm muscles.
• If a child takes in too much excess air while eating, then after he eats, the mother should hold him in a “column”, pressing him to her body, but in no case put pressure on the tummy. Such actions will help the baby burp all the air that he swallowed along with food.
• When a newborn baby begins to press his legs to his tummy after each feeding, this means that he is very worried about the gases accumulated in the intestines. In this situation, it is better to give him some dill water or give him anti-flatulence drops.
• If the hiccups are associated with hypothermia or overheating while eating, you need to undress the baby a little and cover it with a diaper. When a newborn sucks, he begins to sweat a lot, when he is already full and lets go of the breast, he begins to freeze.
• If a child overeats, you need to limit the amount of food. To do this, you can use the technique of weighing yourself before and after meals.
• If hiccups occur after burping, the baby should be given water to drink from a spoon.
• Mom needs to adjust her diet, remove foods from the menu that can cause excessive gas formation. You should not eat fried foods, legumes, vegetables and fruits raw.
• In bottle-fed babies, the cause of hiccups may be in the nipple. In this case, it is worth purchasing an anti-colic bottle and a pacifier with a valve that prevents the baby from trapping air and limits the flow of formula.

Note! Do not put your baby to bed immediately after feeding. You need to hold the baby in your arms in an upright position for 10-15 minutes and wait until he burps excess air.

What not to do when a child hiccups

When hiccupping, you do not need to do the following:

1. You can't scare a baby. Such actions will not only not help, but will also cause an attack of fear.
2. You should not throw or slap the child on the back, this can frighten him greatly, and the hiccups will continue for a very long time.
3. There is no need to wrap your baby too warmly, as overheating is much more dangerous than hypothermia. The temperature in the room where the child is located should be about 20-22 degrees. If the baby is very cold, you can cover him with a diaper or a light blanket.
4. You should not shake the baby to stop him hiccupping, as this will cause serious damage to the baby's health.

When to see a doctor

As a rule, hiccups do not cause any harm to the baby. If the baby does not experience visible discomfort during hiccups, then he does not need medical help. But there are situations when such a contraction of the diaphragm manifests itself in the form of symptoms of a serious illness and does not depend on feedings.

If after eating the diaphragm constantly contracts, and this lasts about an hour, the child cries and looks very restless, the mother should immediately consult a doctor. Only a pediatrician can determine the real reason the occurrence of such a reflex.

Additional Information. If your child hiccups many times throughout the day, has difficulty sleeping, or has difficulty eating and breathing, you should definitely consult a doctor.

As a rule, hiccups after feeding appear in newborns only during the first 2-3 months of life. As the nervous, respiratory and digestive systems develop, this phenomenon will gradually disappear and will no longer bother the child.

Video

Hiccups in a newborn are normal, a reflex contraction of the diaphragm. Why does it occur, how to help the baby, when hiccups are not dangerous, and which ones should alert the mother?

Why does baby hiccup?

The reasons why hiccups occur in a newborn are different: imperfections in the digestive system, intestinal colic, overeating, the baby swallowing air during feeding, etc. Most of them are not dangerous for the child.

Overate

If your baby has eaten too much, the overfilled stomach puts pressure on the diaphragm and causes reflex spasms - hiccups.

The amount of food eaten by the baby can only be accurately determined by artificial ones - as much as was poured into the bottle.

At natural feeding Children overeat more often. It is difficult to determine how much is drunk from the mother's breast, and the most common reason why a newborn hiccups after feeding breast milk is that he simply overate. And if the baby is fed by the hour, then he has time to get very hungry and eats even more.

Swallowed air

Air entering the stomach also puts pressure on the diaphragm and causes hiccups. This happens if the mother’s breast does not fit tightly to the baby’s mouth, the nipple is not completely captured, and the baby sucks in air along with the milk.

A possible reason for artificial ones is that the hole in the nipple is too large.

A baby may swallow air when he laughs or cries.

Intestinal colic

In the same way, only on the other hand, gases in the intestines put pressure on the diaphragm. A common reason why newborn babies hiccup is intestinal colic. They bother most babies from 3 weeks to 4 months. Possible reasons- imperfect functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, the diet of a nursing mother or an incorrectly selected mixture.

If a woman who is breastfeeding eats a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits and drinks carbonated drinks, then gases in the intestines are ensured for both her and the child.

For bottle-fed babies, it is important to choose the right formula. Consult your pediatrician, he will help you make a choice.

Other reasons

Diaphragm spasm occurs if the child is cold, thirsty, allergic reaction, which provokes inflammation of the esophagus.

If the attacks of hiccups are short-lived and for obvious reasons (after eating, with colic in the stomach, during hypothermia, after a long cry, etc.), they are not dangerous. At your next appointment, tell your pediatrician about your concerns, he will find out the reason and tell you what to do, how to stop hiccups in a newborn after eating or with intestinal colic.

You should consult a doctor immediately if:

• attacks of hiccups are frequent and prolonged (for the whole day);
• hiccups start out of the blue, without visible reasons;
• with hiccups, it is difficult for the baby to breathe, whistling and wheezing are heard;
• Hiccups make it difficult for your baby to eat and sleep.

Do not make a diagnosis yourself and do not panic ahead of time. Correctly establishing the cause is a matter for specialists.

If your baby hiccups: what to do?

Both when breastfeeding and from a bottle, some air will get into the baby’s stomach; this cannot be avoided. The easiest way to get rid of hiccups in newborns after feeding is to pick up the baby and hold him upright for several minutes until he burps up air and excess food.

A light massage in the collarbone area and a warm drink - dill or plain boiled water - help.

For intestinal colic, dill water is a reliable, proven remedy. A light circular massage of the tummy in a clockwise direction, a warm diaper applied to the stomach will help.

If your baby hiccups: what not to do

How to help, but not harm, if a newborn hiccups after feeding, what not to do:

1. No legendary traditional methods like a sharp unexpected sound, fright, holding your breath! On the contrary, stress will cause even greater spasm of the diaphragm. Distract the child, calm him down, redirect his attention, and the hiccups will go away on their own.
2. If hiccups are due to hypothermia or intestinal colic, a warm diaper on the tummy is enough. It is harmful to wrap your baby.
3. Do not knock on the baby's back and chest - this is not only useless, but also dangerous - his skeleton is still very fragile.

Prevention

It is necessary to understand not only what to do if a newborn hiccups after eating, but also how to prevent it.

A common occurrence that makes many young parents worry about their baby’s condition. But hiccups are a normal body reflex that does not cause any discomfort to the baby. Children can often hiccup while sleeping and not even wake up from it.

Lying on your stomach helps relieve hiccups in newborns after feeding

There are many myths about hiccup attacks. Some are convinced that at the moment of hiccups it is difficult for the baby to breathe. This is not true, there is no reason to worry.

Normally, hiccups in a baby may appear immediately after feeding and last from several minutes to an hour.

Causes of hiccups in babies

Babies experience hiccups after feeding for the same reasons as adults. The main factors of this phenomenon:

• Taking in air while sucking. As a rule, it occurs due to improper attachment of the baby to the breast. Swallowing air is also possible during feeding, when the volume of milk is large and the baby does not have time to suck it all out. To do this, before feeding, mothers are recommended to express a little milk so that the baby does not choke on it in the process.
• Overfeeding - occurs due to large volumes of milk or formula, which stretch the stomach and compress the diaphragm. As a result, the baby spits up and begins to hiccup. Also, hiccups often occur when feeding is not on schedule.
• Dry mouth, thirst.
• Overstrain of the diaphragm muscles usually occurs if the child is cold. The temperature of newborns can drop sharply, which will cause overstrain of the diaphragmatic muscles.
• Helminth infections, acute respiratory infections, acid reflux - provoke irritation of the diaphragmatic muscles and require mandatory consultation with a pediatrician.
• Immaturity of the diaphragm - hiccups occur suddenly due to irregular and voluntary contraction of the diaphragmatic muscles. As you get older, your abdominal and diaphragm muscles become more synchronized and hiccups become less common.
• Diet of a nursing mother - the mother's diet affects the baby.
• An allergy to formula components or to breast milk can cause inflammation of the esophagus, which leads to irritation of the diaphragm and causes hiccups.

If diaphragmatic spasms occur infrequently in your newborn and do not cause him discomfort, do not panic. To exclude pathologies, it is recommended to consult a doctor and find out the true causes of the condition in the baby.

To prevent hiccups, you should hold your baby upright after feeding.

How to get rid of hiccups in a baby

Rare and short-lived hiccups in a newborn usually do not require any measures and go away on their own without causing discomfort to the child. But if diaphragm spasms occur frequently, one after another, you can use the following recommendations:

• Attach the baby to the breast and feed a little. This will help relax the diaphragm.
• Dip a pacifier or finger (clean!) in sugar syrup and let your baby suck. This will help relieve diaphragmatic tension. For older children, you can give a few sugar crystals under the tongue.
• Perform a back massage. For this purpose, the child is positioned vertically, in a circular motion stroke the back and lower back. The massage can also be performed while lying on your stomach. Perform massage movements slowly, without pressure.
• Hold the baby in a “column” position for several minutes after feeding. This helps the excess air escape faster. The baby may burp, which will also indicate that excess air is getting rid of.
• Abstraction. To do this, you can use any interesting, bright and not very noisy object (baby rattle). With its help, it is possible to get rid of hiccups, which arise as a result of nervous tension in the diaphragmatic muscles.
• Give the baby dill water. It is not recommended to do this on your own, without medical advice. However, if the doctor allows the baby to drink dill water, you should give him a drink and then hold him in an upright position for several minutes.

All the above actions are performed during the child’s hiccups, as well as to prevent it (for example, holding the child in an upright position after feeding with formula or breastfeeding). Some recommendations for stopping hiccups in infants can be combined.

When to see a doctor?

You need to see a doctor as soon as possible:

• with gastroesophageal reflux;
• with frequent and restless attacks of hiccups;
• with prolonged attacks (hiccups continue throughout the day).

It is important to monitor the child’s condition and breathing. You must tell your pediatrician if you hear wheezing during hiccups.

What to do to prevent hiccups in newborns

The main final stage of complete feeding is belching. It is this that becomes an excellent prevention of hiccups and colic in a newborn.

To prevent the development of hiccups, you need to carefully monitor the baby’s diet, as well as the mother’s diet.

According to most pediatricians, overfeeding is the main cause of diaphragmatic spasms. In order to prevent overfeeding, it is recommended to follow several rules:

1. Feed the baby in small portions and over a longer period of time.
2. Correctly attach the baby to the breast (feed formula from a bottle), while holding him at an angle of 35-45 degrees.
3. If the child can sit independently, feed him in a sitting position.
4. Make sure you have a correct grip on the breast or bottle.
5. Clean the bottle and nipple regularly.
6. If the baby falls asleep while feeding, immediately remove the filled bottle so that he does not choke on the formula while sleeping.

Bottle feeding while sleeping is prohibited. If the breast needs to be sucked to produce milk, the formula may flow out of the bottle on its own. Especially if the nipple is incorrectly selected, has been in use for a long time, or the hole in it is disproportionately large.

It is advisable to identify and eliminate the causes of hiccups

What not to do when you have hiccups

Many parents believe that they can cope with newborn hiccups using “adult” methods, which they often use themselves to relieve diaphragmatic spasms. This is strictly prohibited, as it can lead to a number of adverse consequences.

What not to do:

• Scaring a child - a loud bang or scream can traumatize the newborn’s psyche and provoke stuttering in the future. This also applies to the use of loud objects, which can also frighten the child.
• Give your child sour candy.
• Knocking on the baby's back or chest - babies have too fragile skeletons, so any rough impact can lead to serious consequences.

The calmness of the mother is the key to the success and health of the child, so if hiccups occur, you should not panic, but fully assess the situation. Hiccups are a temporary phenomenon that can disappear on their own. But if, in addition to hiccups, there are other symptoms that cause concern for the mother or child, you should immediately consult a specialist.

Hiccups in infants often worry young parents, although most often it is only a very harmless reaction of the child’s body to external and internal stimuli.

Not everyone knows that children begin to hiccup in the womb - this is how the baby’s diaphragm prepares for new living conditions. After birth, the baby’s digestive and nervous systems are still imperfect, the baby has difficulty adapting, so he is tormented by colic, gas, hiccups for quite a long time (up to one or even two months). loose stool. Many mothers do not know how to cope with the problem, how to stop hiccups in babies.

The mechanism of hiccups in infants

During the first months of life, hiccups in babies occur as a result of the fact that they still have a rather weak diaphragmatic muscle, which begins to contract even due to the slightest irritants. In easily excitable babies, it can even appear due to sudden movement, bright light or sound. Its mechanism is quite simple: the diaphragm begins to involuntarily reflexively contract, while the lungs take a sharp breath, which is accompanied by the well-known sound. In fact, hiccups do not pose any serious danger to a child. However, the very fact of involuntary shuddering can frighten the baby - he worries and cries, often cannot sleep and eat normally, which leads to additional whims. What causes this condition? How to stop hiccups in a newborn?

The main causes of hiccups in newborns

Before telling us how to stop hiccups in a child, it is important to know its causes. The main ones are the following:

• the child is cold;
• the baby is thirsty;
• the baby swallowed air during feeding;
• the baby experienced a sharp emotional stress - bright light, loud sharp sound etc.;
• a small child overeats, as a result of which the child’s still fragile stomach is stretched, the diaphragm contracts in size, and the newborn begins to hiccup intensively.

An attack of hiccups in newborns lasts on average for about 10-15 minutes. However, if the baby has frequent and longer-lasting hiccups, then the cause may be serious disorders in his body. In some cases, prolonged hiccups in newborns indicate diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, pneumonia, and spinal cord injury. Therefore, if a child has prolonged frequent hiccups lasting more than 20 minutes, he should be seen by a doctor.

Air in the digestive system

As a rule, the reason for this is the peculiarities of the digestive system of newborn babies. The walls of their stomach and digestive tract are still thin, easily stretched and often press on the vagus nerve when bloated or overeating.

But the most common cause of hiccups in small infants is considered to be air entering the stomach due to improper breastfeeding. In this case, the contraction of the diaphragm is a purely physiological reaction of the body, helping to burp it. If this does not happen, regurgitation or colic may occur if gas enters the intestines.

How to stop hiccups in a newborn after feeding?

To avoid mistakes when feeding, we suggest considering a few tips:

• The baby should not overeat, since the walls of his intestines are still very thin to withstand heavy loads.
• It is necessary to feed a newborn at an angle of 45 degrees.
• If, with the rapid flow of milk, the child does not have time to swallow it, he in a hurry, along with food, also swallows air, which then comes out with hiccups. To eliminate this problem, before feeding again, the baby needs to be allowed to catch her breath.
• If the baby is bottle-fed, it is important to monitor the hole in the nipple, since a low-quality nipple can cause this phenomenon. Special bottles are sold to prevent air from entering.
• After feeding, the baby needs to be held in an upright position for some time so that the milk flows down the esophagus without difficulty. For a baby, such support from parents is very important until his digestive system is strengthened.

How to stop hiccups in a newborn baby during emotional shock?

Newborn babies are very impressionable. Infants often begin to hiccup when frightened (when there is a loud sound, an unexpected touch, or when it is suddenly turned off, etc.). Any emotional shock can cause contraction of the diaphragm. There are kids for whom even visiting is stressful. How to stop hiccups in this case? First of all, remove the irritant. Then you need to calm him down and help him cope with the shock, hug him and let the baby know that he is not in any danger. Such simple measures will be enough to make the problem caused by increased excitability go away.

Thirst

Thirst may be another reason. As a rule, drying of the mucous membrane of the mouth and digestive tube often provokes hiccups.

How to stop hiccups? Often, simply giving your baby water to drink is enough.

Hypothermia

One of the most common reasons hiccups is hypothermia. If the baby is not dressed exactly for the weather, or the room where he is is cool, the air conditioner is turned on, the window is open, etc., the baby freezes, his muscles begin to contract, which, of course, is natural.

To find out, just touch the child’s elbows, knees or neck area. How to stop hiccups, the cause of which is really hypothermia? To save the baby from this problem, it is enough to warm him up and not make such a mistake in the future.

Periodic hiccups in babies are completely normal and most often stop quickly without causing any particular concern. However, there are situations when hiccups are a harbinger of disease.

Hiccups in diseases

If hiccups in infants become systematic, have no apparent cause and debilitate the child, this should not be taken lightly.

It is necessary to contact your doctor and examine your baby if:

• The duration of the attacks is more than an hour (the norm is 15-20 minutes).
• Attacks occur several times a day and for no apparent reason.
• If the child cries, worries, or sleeps poorly.

In this case, only specialists can determine the true cause of hiccups. When visiting a hospital, a doctor will most likely order an examination for the presence of helminthic infestations. As medical practice shows, it is worms that cause hiccups in children.

How to stop hiccups in this case? Take a course to remove worms, and all symptoms will go away. Most often, helminths occur in older children; in newborn babies this is a very rare occurrence.

Hiccups can also be caused by disorders in the spinal cord or brain. This happens if pregnancy and childbirth are accompanied by any complications or hypoxia. The problem here is of central origin. To find out the cause, it is necessary to take an x-ray and undergo an ultrasound (ultrasound examination). How to stop hiccups infant in this case? Contact a neurologist who will prescribe treatment.

Hiccups can occur due to problems with the liver, pancreas and digestive system. In this case, consultation with a gastroenterologist is necessary.

Persistent hiccups are sometimes caused by pneumonia. These can be viral or bacterial infections. The inflammatory process irritates the diaphragm and causes it to contract. Such moments should be treated especially carefully if the baby has recently suffered from an acute respiratory infection.

Despite the fact that such events are quite rare in newborns, you need to know about them in order to come to the rescue in time if necessary.

Conclusion

As a rule, hiccups as such do not require treatment, and the doctor, when contacting him, most likely, will not prescribe any medicines. However, if the child’s body signals the occurrence of a problem, it must be identified and eliminated as soon as possible.

When assessing a child's condition, it is very important to take into account his age. The development of babies in the first year of life occurs at tremendous speed. Accordingly, phenomena that are considered normal for a one-month-old baby may be a pathology for a one-year-old child. If a newborn baby hiccups after eating, there is most likely nothing to worry about. When an older child begins to hiccup constantly after eating, there is something to think about.