When babies have hiccups it might be uncomfortable for the baby. But then you will find that you as a parent are even more anxious about it and you will feel more uncomfortable than the baby. When it comes to infant ailments, hiccups are actually very common. This happens because of the sudden contractions which takes place in the diaphragm muscles.

Now usually infants have very frequent feeding times, so they suck the bottle quite often. Hence this sucking and breathing movements lead to a lot of frequent hiccups. Now these hiccups are very harmless and are usually quite temporary but then you can still treat them in a few ways.

• You can offer your baby to drink something. What to offer the baby will basically depend on the age of the child. If the child is very small then you can offer him or her breast milk or baby formulae. If the baby is slightly older then you can offer the baby water or even juice. The drinking motion will help to regulate the breathing of the baby and it will relax the muscles of the diaphragm and hence the hiccups will stop.

• You can even try and pat your baby. Sometimes hiccups take place because your baby swallows an excess of air. Just like you would do when you want your baby to burp you can try and do the same thing. Your baby might just burp and release all the excess air and this will help to stop the hiccups.

• If your baby is at an age where he or she can have foods which are solid then you can try and feed your baby sugar. You just have to place a tiny little bit on his or her tongue. This sudden sweet taste will shock the nerves of the baby and they will help to stop the hiccups. But make sure that you do not give your child honey.

• If you relax the baby the hiccups might cease. All you have to do is change the position that the baby is in, and then rub the back of the baby and the hiccups will be gone.

• Finally you can simply let time take its course. After sometime the hiccups will stop. So all you have to do is wait for it to go away.