Hiccups can be triggered by specific medications, indigestion, or even developmental stages like fetal hiccups. Understanding when frequent hiccups in children become a concern is essential for pediatric health.
Hiccups are caused by reflex spasms, or contractions, of the diaphragm -- the dome-shaped muscle separating the lungs from the stomach and other abdominal contents. As the diaphragm contracts, air is sucked into the lungs. Almost immediately afterwards, the vocal cords close, producing the typical hiccup sound.
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Fetal hiccups begin early in pregnancy, around the eighth to tenth week of gestation. When hiccups begin, the baby is too small for the mother to notice them. But as the baby grows, many women will feel them.
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When the stomach cannot digest food, indigestion occurs. This usually happens due to several different conditions as the digestive liquid is mainly responsible for indigestion.
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To understand how medications can cause hiccups, it helps to know the mechanism of hiccups themselves. Hiccups are a series of interactions between several nerves in the central nervous system, the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, and the glottis--the opening between the vocal cords.
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