How to remove hiccups: what it is, why it occurs and hiccups in babies

The hiccups , that reaction of the body so annoying and that can make us go through a lot of ridicule if it gives us important moments such as presentations and job interviews. There are many urban legends that have been unleashed on how to eliminate hiccups quickly and efficiently, but not all of them are entirely true.

In this article we will try to deny these falsehoods by explaining what are the true techniques that you should apply if you want to get rid of the hiccups easily. Similarly, as the hiccup is a reaction that also occurs in the little ones, we will explain how to solve it for them too.

Why does hiccups occur?
The hiccup is nothing more than a spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. This means that, involuntarily and repetitively, these parts of our body contract causing a sudden breath of air.

The hiccups can be caused by situations such as eating too fast, drinking carbonated drinks, alcohol abuse or even anxiety. The most common is that the hiccups only last a few minutes , but in some cases it has persisted for days or weeks.

In general, the hiccup tends to be resolved without any intervention and goes as it has come. However, many times it does not stop and it needs us to do something to remedy it. Most techniques work to make the hiccups disappear, but in other cases a doctor's visit and drug treatment may be necessary .

The hiccups in newborns
Babies have hiccups in a very recurrent way , this being a fundamental part of their development and growth. Normally babies do not find this reaction in their body bothersome, but it can hinder the feeding or sleeping process.

In case this happens, we recommend the following steps:

Change the baby's posture
Burp the baby
Soothe baby
In the event that the hiccup has not marched in five or ten minutes, it should not be taken as an impediment to feeding him. In fact, the process of feeding him himself can distract his attention and help in the disappearance of hiccups .



Another thing to keep in mind is that it would be best to feed the baby in a quiet moment , so that he does not swallow too much air and thus avoid the appearance of hiccups.

In the event that the appearance of hiccups in the baby is too recurrent , it could be a signal derived from another medical condition. In this case, the best thing to do is talk with your trusted pediatrician about this problem and try to reach a solution.

For babies who have suffered some type of addiction during pregnancy, hiccups can be a symptom of withdrawal. That is, when the baby's body notices the lack of the substance to which he had been accustomed during pregnancy, he can react with hiccups to denote his absence.

How to remove hiccups in seconds

With your friends on a barbecue, on an important date with that person that you like so much, in a work meeting, in the most unexpected and inopportune place a hiccup attack may be waiting for you . Damn feeling! It turns you into a joke with legs and you lose all the seriousness that you may have accumulated with your tone of voice or with your magnificent prosody.

Of course, if you are on the opposite side , from which he sees how he gives an attack of hiccups to another, the thing changes. It can be one of the funniest times you spend although you know that it is at the expense of the "suffering" of others.

Well, first it must be said that there is no 100% infallible method and that sometimes they work, sometimes not some people are doing well and sometimes they are useless. Clarified this we are going to give you a few tricks that are usually effective

1.- Breathe into a paper bag

The name says it all. You take  a paper bag and press it against your face, covering your nose and mouth,  breathe a few times. The carbon dioxide in your blood will increase and this will stop the hiccups. Of course, do not spend half an hour breathing inside the bag as this can cause dizziness and fainting due to lack of oxygen. Try a couple of minutes at most and if the hiccups don't go away this method is not for you.

2.- Drink water

This trick is actually divided into several subtrucos or modalities. One of them says you drink a glass in 12 sips without breathing. This increases the carbon dioxide in the blood as well as the trick of breathing inside a paper bag and also adds the effect of mobilizing the epiglottis to swallow, so it can eliminate such contractions.

You can also drink water using 2 straws, or place the glass of water on the table and try to drink without using your hands. Here we don't know very well what the scientific foundation is, but there are people who work for it.

hip hip





3.- Have a good scare

We already know that this trick does not depend exclusively on you, but if you are the one who witnesses an attack of hiccups this is probably the most effective method to remove it .

Here comes the variable of how scary the victim of the hypo attack can be. Upon receiving a start, the body goes on alert prepared for any reaction so it completely "forgets" the hiccups and prepares for any unforeseen events.

4.- Take something sweet

This trick to me personally does not work, but there are people who do. Take a spoonful of sugar and put it in your mouth . Overloading the nerve endings of taste can cause the nervous system to focus more on tasting than on uncontrolled nerve impulses that cause hiccups.

5.- Bite a slice of lemon

Cut a slice of lemon and put it in your mouth. The reaction that this causes may be similar to that of fright , it is even likely that you feel a chill. If so, better, more effective.


6.- Eat a spoonful of peanut butter

This method is not the best if you are on a diet but what the hell !? A whim always cheers.

Take a tablespoon of peanut butter and hold it in your mouth for several seconds , then swallow it and your brain will focus more on swallowing those substance so sticky than worrying about spasms of your diaphragm. If you don't have peanut butter you can try any substance with similar texture, nutella, almond butter, etc.

7.- The door trick

This trick is trying to promote total stretching of the diaphragm to prevent seizures. It consists of leaning on the door frame (preferably at the top) with the arms extended. Now take oxygen and arch your back trying to pass the body through the fence of the door while your feet and hands are behind.

8.- Do not breathe

This trick is simple and probably the most famous of all. Just try to hold as long as possible without breathing . If you fill the lungs, you will also stretch the diaphragm so you are doing a double exercise. Try it several times, if you see that the hiccups persist, leave it, this trick is not yours either.

9.- The mysterious trick

This method is from my own harvest and I have to say that 3 times I have done it has proved effective. Unfortunately it only serves to do it to other people and probably only works the first time you do it .

The trick is to tell the affected person to close their eyes, without giving further explanations as much as they ask. Then you put your thumbs gently over your eyes and gently massage. The hiccups will probably disappear from the moment the "victim" closes her eyes.

My theory is that, the subject has so much uncertainty about what you are going to do that the body becomes defensive, just in case, and forgets the hiccups.

This is all? No, now come the curiosities


Well, before finishing this article I would like to tell you some little curiosities about the hiccups that can be used to break the ice in a conversation or to make your cleats in front of your friends, which always comes in handy.

Curious things related to hiccups

- All mammals are susceptible to hiccups and rare is the one that has never had it in his life.

- The frequency of hiccups ranges from 2 to 60 per minute. I don't want to imagine how a “hip” should be per second…

- There are several studies (including those of the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris) that believe that hiccups are a sequel to when underwater animals left the aquatic environment to populate the land.

- Babies are usually very prone to hiccups, this is due to the air they usually accumulate in their stomachs due to the sucking reflex.

- If an attack of hiccups lasts several hours it is called persistent hiccups if it lasts more than a couple of days you should visit the doctor because it can be a symptom of some disease.