After the birth: baby hiccups - is the fear justified?

Babies can have hiccups in the womb.

But is that dangerous?

And why do unborn babies have hiccups?

• Many

  babies

  get

  hiccups

  in the womb

  .

• These

  hiccups

  are important for the child's development.

• But how

  do

  the

  hiccups

  arise

  and can they be

  dangerous

  ?

Frankfurt - Immediately after

, the most important

a newborn is to breathe independently.

To do this, the

learns

breathing exercises

during

- through

.

As early as the ninth week of pregnancy, a

can have

hiccups in the womb.

In the last trimester of pregnancy, this can happen every 15 minutes in an embryo.

There are no general rules

about the length or occurrence of the

, because every

behaves differently.

often worry about their unborn babies.

The hiccups in particular give expectant mothers a lot of questions.

+

Babies get hiccups while still in the womb - there is nothing to worry about.

© Christin Klose / dpa

Baby hiccups during pregnancy: they train their respiratory muscles

The

in

is during pregnancy quite natural.

In the

, the

begin

breathing exercises so that they can train the muscles of their rib cage and diaphragm.

Since the baby cannot breathe air in the stomach, the amniotic fluid is inhaled and pushed through the diaphragm.

This can lead to hiccups.

Researchers at the

(

) have in a

in 2019 on

studied in the nursery, which during a

happens in the brain of the baby.

The

attached electrodes to

the heads of the newborns,

which measured brain activity for a short period of time.

Furthermore, the

movements were made

with sensors

recorded.

This enabled the researchers to see what happens to the infants as soon as they have hiccups.

Previous studies have shown that hiccups are an important motor activity in babies during pregnancy.

The UCL study confirms this.

The activity resulting from a hiccup may be helping the baby's brain to learn how to monitor the breathing muscles so that eventually breathing can be voluntary controlled by moving the diaphragm up and down.

Head of the study: Dr.

Lorenzo Fabrizi (UCL Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology).

A head of the

, Dr.

Lorenzo Fabrizi, explains the results of the research: "The

activity resulting

from the

can

help

the

learn to monitor the respiratory muscles so that breathing can ultimately be controlled at will by moving the diaphragm up and down." From the study shows that a baby's brain can learn through hiccups to process and combine different sensory impressions.

Each time a newborn baby hiccups, it triggers a large wave of brain signals that could help the baby learn how to regulate their breathing, finds a new study led by Kimberley Whitehead & Dr Lorenzo Fabrizi @uclnpp @uclbiosciences https://t.co / 4vy1GTZl3b

- UCL News (@uclnews) November 12, 2019

Hiccups in babies in the womb: It's important to keep calm

Pregnant women

are often very concerned about the

their

.

Diet during pregnancy also plays a major role here.

A

in a

during pregnancy is something should completely normal, which is why you become a mother-to-no thought, and remain calm.

However, if in doubt, an

can help determine if everything is okay with the baby.

Only in the rarest of cases is an insufficient supply of oxygen the reason for movement in the abdomen.

The size of the baby also plays a role, because the bigger it is, the more intense the hiccups can become.

There

is not much that can be done

about the

general.

Changing your eating habits or adjusting exercise doesn't have much of an effect, say many doctors.

However, they were able to prove that relaxation and rest are good for both mother and child.

The

caress and relaxation courses can calm the expectant mothers.

• Tips for baby hiccups at a glance:

• Most importantly: keep calm.

• Relaxing and caressing the baby bump can calm both mother and child.

• If you have any doubts about the welfare of the fetus, an ultrasound scan can help.

Baby has hiccups in the stomach: why do adults still have them?

According to the researcher Kimberley Whitehead, the

reason why

often

suffer from

is evolution.

The reflex that

in the

to control their respiratory muscles is therefore a remnant of evolution in adults that has been retained:

"The reasons for why we hiccup are not entirely clear, but there may be a developmental reason, given that foetuses and newborn babies hiccup so frequently." 

Study leader: Kimberley Whitehead (UCL Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology)

(By Sarah Winter)