Newborn hiccups are almost always harmless and don’t bother your baby nearly as much as they bother you. Most bouts stop on their own within a few minutes, and there are simple things you can do to help them along or prevent them from starting in the first place.
Why Newborns Hiccup So Often
Hiccups happen when something irritates the diaphragm, the dome-shaped muscle beneath the lungs that controls breathing. When this muscle spasms, it forces a quick intake of air that snaps the vocal cords shut, producing that familiar “hic” sound. In newborns, the most common trigger is a stomach that has expanded enough to press against the diaphragm. This can happen from overfeeding, swallowing air during a feeding, or eating too quickly.
Newborns hiccup far more frequently than older children or adults. This is partly because their digestive and nervous systems are still maturing, but it also appears to serve a purpose. Researchers at University College London found that each hiccup triggers a distinct pattern of brainwaves in the newborn’s cortex: two large waves followed by a third. That third wave resembles the brain’s response to sound, which suggests the baby’s brain may be learning to connect the “hic” sound it hears with the physical sensation of the diaphragm contracting. In other words, hiccups may actually help your baby’s brain figure out how to monitor and eventually control its own breathing muscles. Scientists now suspect that hiccups in adults are simply a leftover reflex from this early developmental stage, no longer serving a real function.
How to Stop a Hiccup Episode
You don’t need to do anything. If your baby seems content and unbothered, the hiccups will pass. But if you want to help them along, a few gentle strategies can work.
Offer a pacifier. Sucking helps relax the diaphragm. Even if your baby isn’t hungry, letting them suck on a pacifier can calm the muscle spasm and end the hiccups. This works because the rhythmic sucking motion steadies the diaphragm without introducing more air or milk into the stomach.
Pause and burp. If hiccups start during a feeding, stop and burp your baby before continuing. Changing their position, holding them upright against your shoulder, and gently patting or rubbing their back can release trapped air that may be pushing the stomach against the diaphragm.
Wait it out with your baby upright. Holding your baby in an upright position for 10 to 15 minutes after feeding gives gravity a chance to help the stomach settle, reducing pressure on the diaphragm.
What Not to Do
Many classic hiccup “cures” that work (or at least feel like they work) for adults are dangerous for newborns. Never try to startle your baby, cover their mouth or nose, press on their eyeballs, or hold their breath. These folk remedies have no evidence behind them at any age and pose real safety risks for infants.
Gripe water is another popular suggestion parents encounter online. It typically contains fennel, ginger, baking soda, and various flavorings. Pediatricians generally don’t recommend it because there is no scientific evidence confirming it is safe or effective for infants. Since gripe water is sold as a supplement rather than a medication, its ingredients aren’t standardized or closely regulated.
How to Prevent Hiccups Before They Start
Most hiccup episodes trace back to feeding, so small adjustments to how and when you feed can make a noticeable difference.
Feed before your baby is desperately hungry. A calm, less frantic baby swallows less air. If you wait until your newborn is crying hard from hunger, they’re more likely to gulp air along with milk, which inflates the stomach and irritates the diaphragm.
Burp more frequently during feeds. For bottle-fed babies, pause to burp every 2 to 3 ounces. If you’re breastfeeding, burp each time you switch breasts. Babies who tend to be gassy, spit up a lot, or seem fussy during feedings benefit from even more frequent burping: every ounce for bottle feeding, or every five minutes for breastfeeding.
Check your bottle setup. If you’re bottle feeding, make sure the nipple flow isn’t too fast. A nipple with too large an opening forces your baby to swallow faster than they’d like, pulling in excess air. Tilting the bottle so milk completely fills the nipple before offering it also reduces air intake.
Avoid overfeeding. Smaller, more frequent feedings keep the stomach from expanding too much. An overfull stomach presses directly against the diaphragm, which is the most common path to hiccups.
When Hiccups Signal Something Else
Occasional hiccups, even daily ones, are a normal part of newborn life. Many babies hiccup multiple times a day in their first few months. The frequency tends to decrease as they get older and their digestive system matures.
Hiccups deserve a closer look when they come with other symptoms. Frequent hiccups paired with spitting up after most feedings, arching of the back during or after eating, persistent fussiness, or coughing and gagging during feeds can point to reflux. The NHS lists hiccupping during feeding as one of the recognized symptoms of infant reflux. Reflux is common in babies and often resolves on its own, but when it causes pain, poor weight gain, or feeding difficulties, your pediatrician may want to evaluate it further.
Hiccup episodes that last longer than 20 to 30 minutes on a regular basis, or that consistently interfere with feeding or sleeping, are also worth mentioning at your next appointment. On their own, though, hiccups are one of the most benign quirks of newborn life, and they’re likely doing your baby more good than harm.