Babies hiccup a lot because their nervous system and diaphragm are still developing. In fact, hiccups start remarkably early: they begin during the ninth week of pregnancy, and by 14 weeks a fetus spends roughly 12% of its time hiccupping. After birth, frequent hiccup bouts are completely normal and typically become less common as your baby grows through the first year.
Hiccups Help Your Baby’s Brain Develop
Hiccups might seem pointless, but they appear to serve an important purpose. Researchers at University College London found that each time a baby’s diaphragm contracts during a hiccup, it triggers a pronounced response in the brain’s cortex: two large brainwaves followed by a third. These signals help the brain learn to map and monitor the breathing muscles, essentially teaching your baby how to control their diaphragm voluntarily over time.
At birth, the circuits that process body sensations aren’t fully developed. Building those neural networks is one of the most important milestones of early life. Every hiccup sends a clear signal from the diaphragm to the brain, reinforcing the connection between “this muscle just moved” and what that movement feels like. So while the hiccups can seem excessive, they’re part of your baby’s neurological wiring process.
Before birth, hiccups likely serve a related purpose. Some researchers believe they exercise the respiratory muscles in the womb, helping prepare the lungs and diaphragm for the moment your baby takes their first breath.
What Triggers Hiccups During Feeding
The most common trigger for baby hiccups is swallowing air during a feeding. When a baby gulps milk quickly or fusses at the breast or bottle, they take in extra air that stretches the stomach. That distended stomach presses against the diaphragm and can set off a round of hiccups. If your baby cries or gets worked up during a feed, they swallow even more air, which increases discomfort and can also lead to spit-up.
Overfeeding can have the same effect. A very full stomach pushes up against the diaphragm, irritating it enough to cause spasms. Babies who eat too fast or too much at once tend to hiccup more frequently than those who feed at a steadier pace.
How to Reduce Hiccups
You can’t prevent every hiccup, but a few adjustments during feeding make them less frequent:
- Feed before your baby is frantic. Starting a feed when your baby is calm and not extremely hungry reduces fast gulping, which means less swallowed air.
- Pause to burp mid-feed. Stopping partway through a bottle or switching breasts gives you a chance to release trapped air before the stomach gets too full.
- Change positions if hiccups start during a feed. Simply shifting your baby’s posture slows down their gulping and reduces air intake.
- Try a pacifier after feeding. The rhythmic sucking motion may help relax the diaphragm, though this is based on anecdotal reports rather than formal studies.
Most of the time, though, hiccups resolve on their own within a few minutes. Your baby looks more bothered by them than they actually are. Newborns generally tolerate hiccups well and will often continue feeding or fall asleep right through them.
Remedies to Avoid
Many traditional hiccup cures that work for adults are unsafe for babies. Giving water to a newborn is not recommended before six months, and the CDC advises against added sugars for any child under 24 months. Honey should never be given to a baby under 12 months due to the risk of botulism. Startling your baby, holding their breath, or pressing on their fontanelle are all ineffective and potentially harmful. The safest approach is simply to wait the hiccups out or offer a pacifier.
When Hiccups Signal Something Else
In rare cases, very frequent hiccups can be one sign of gastroesophageal reflux. In babies who can’t yet tell you what’s wrong, reflux often shows up as a cluster of symptoms: hiccups combined with excessive crying or irritability, poor appetite, frequent spit-up, disrupted sleep, and poor weight gain. No single symptom on its own, including hiccups, points to reflux. It’s the pattern that matters.
As a general guideline, hiccups that last more than two days straight or that consistently interfere with feeding and sleep warrant a call to your pediatrician. Episodes that resolve within a few minutes to a few hours, even if they happen multiple times a day, fall within the normal range for young babies. Most infants naturally hiccup less as their nervous system matures, and by the time your baby is approaching their first birthday, the frequent bouts will likely be a distant memory.