The Cause and Treatment of Infant Hiccups in Babies and Newborns
Everyone is familiar with hiccups. We all experience them from time to time, less and less often as we grow older. Babies are particularly prone to hiccups, even within the womb, sometimes as early as the 6th week after conception. But hiccups are usually nothing to worry about. They may last for a minute or up to an hour but do the baby no harm – in fact some infants seem amused by the surprise caused. Baby’s hiccups are just one of those normal behaviors and reflexes that parents need to know about but not be alarmed by. Hiccups are most likely to occur just after a feed or when the child gets excited. As a newborn’s internal organs develop and mature, hiccups should diminish in intensity and frequency.
Why do babies get hiccups? Hiccups have nothing to do with breathing. They are caused by sudden contractions of the diaphragm triggered by irritation or stimulation of that muscle. Some leading pediatricians are of the opinion that infant hiccups are usually caused by feeding (breast, formula or other foods) or by a drop in temperature that causes the baby to get cold. Hiccups are considered harmless unless they prove persistent enough to interfere with regular feeding and sleeping. Babies with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) may tend to hiccup more frequently, accompanied by spitting up, coughing and irritability. Such behavior should be mentioned to your medical advisor as should very frequent bouts of uncontrollable hiccups, particularly after age 1. Although baby hiccups are seldom the sign of a more serious underlying medical condition, it never does any harm to be cautious.
How to bring a bout of baby hiccups to an end? Old wives tales and ethnic cultural traditions offer a whole lot of methods that go back centuries. Causing a sudden unexpected shock by bursting an inflated paper bag or dropping a cold key down the sufferer’s back are just part of popular folk law. Certainly slapping a baby on the back or roughly handling them in any way is never advisable. But a gentle back rub, a sip of water or giving something to suck on, may just do the trick. Hiccups usually bother a parent more than the child, although they may cause distress to the baby during feeding. Changing the child’s position and trying get them to burp or relax may help.
If the newborns hiccups don’t go away on their own within five to ten minutes, a few drops of a natural cure such as Colic Calm gripe water should bring things to a halt. If the baby gets hiccups often, always try to feed when the infant is calm and before they get extremely hungry. This should reduce the chances of hiccups occurring during feeding. Try to make feeding as calm, quiet and leisurely a process as possible with the minimum of external distractions for the child. If hiccups do occur during feeding, stop feeding and give them a chance to go away. Burping the baby can also help. As a baby develops so the incidence of hiccups should recede and become just one more of those behaviors that babies grow out of.
What Parents Are Saying
“Colic Calm has worked wonders on our baby’s hiccups! He gets the worst hiccups that keep him awake, and even just a half dose of Colic Calm stops them almost immediately.”
“I am happy to say that we are thrilled with Colic Calm! Our baby Madeline loves it, too. We are first time parents, and when Maddie was crying with gas pain, we could not bear it. The first time we gave it to her for hiccups, we were so impressed, it cured them right away. She had them all the time when I was pregnant with her, and she still gets them all of the time, so it is so nice to have something to give her for all of her digestive problems that is both safe and effective. I plan on giving Colic Calm as a gift for the next baby shower I attend. I am sure it will be the best gift received.
Thank You Sincerely,”
“Colic Calm has worked great for my baby’s hiccups. I use just a little bit of it and my son’s hiccups are gone instantly. That is the main thing I use Colic Calm for since he gets them about 5 times a day and gets frustrated with them. They also interfere with his sleep time, but once I give him a little dose of Colic Calm he drifts off to sleep easily. Thanks for such a great product.”
“Though he has grown out of his fussiness and gas, your product is the only one that helped him- even with his hiccups! He loved the taste- and seemed to look forward to having it. We now have a bottle “just in case”, but highly recommend this product to anyone who has a child that has gas trouble.”
“My now 3 1/2 year old went through about 5 bottles of colic calm from the ages 6 months to almost 2 yrs old….it was the only natural product out there that helped him with his hiccups….he had them on a daily basis and times when he had a tummy ache, it always helped and relieved his symptoms. Colic calm was a life saving product for him…I have recommended it to so many new mommies!”
