Almost the most common ailment that overcomes many babies and alarms his parents is an inoffensive hiccup. "Overcooled!" - grandmothers exclaim, sending grandfathers as soon as possible to plaster all the cracks in the windows. "Overfed" - puts the "diagnosis" of the baby's daddy. "Someone remembers our little one," smiles Mom.
Do you need to take active steps to prevent this unpleasant phenomenon and what to do if the baby is often hiccuped? - This will be discussed in our article.
Causes of hiccoughs
Often young parents wonder why a newborn child so often hiccups? - Frequent hiccups in children are caused by regular involuntary contractions of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. It is due to the fact that the epiglottis does not allow the flow of air to pass freely through the respiratory tract, which is accompanied by a characteristic sound of hiccups. Hiccups - this is an involuntary physiological reaction, so realistic imitation of it is quite difficult.
Hiccup is associated with a change in muscle tone and if, as a result of exposure to cool air on your baby's body, he begins to hiccup, then it means that the child adapts to environmental conditions. However, do not rush to close the windows or wrap the baby, hiccups can go by itself for a short time.
In addition, the baby often hiccup after feeding. This is due to the fact that after eating the walls of the stomach put pressure on the diaphragm of the baby. Such frequent hiccups in a child should alert you, perhaps you make mistakes when feeding it. If the baby's pacifier has too large a hole, and the baby eats very fast, during feeding, the child can swallow with the air, the ingestion of which must be provoked by the hiccup. This situation can occur not only in children who are on artificial feeding, but also if the mother breastfeeding - a large amount of milk. In this case, not to provoke hiccups, before feeding it is necessary to express a small amount of milk. However, do not overdo it, because the more milk you express (especially if it is not enough for a child), the more milk you will have for the next feeding.
How to help with hiccups?
To help a baby stop hiccup is much more difficult than an adult. Adults are advised to hold their breath after a deep breath, make swallowing movements, far to stick out their tongue. All these techniques
Danger of hiccoughs
Most often, the hiccup of a child is a harmless phenomenon, but in the event that the hiccup does not last for three hours and is accompanied by abdominal pain, it is necessary to get a qualified medical consultation.