Newborn baby hiccups could be key to brain development

Each time a newborn baby hiccups, it triggers a large wave of brain signals which could help the baby learn how to regulate their breathing, finds a new UCL-led study. The study, published in Clinical Neurophysiology , was based on brain scans of newborn infants. "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," said the study's lead author, research associate Kimberley Whitehead (UCL Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology). Pre-term infants are particularly prone to hiccups, as they spend an estimated 1% of their time hiccupping - roughly 15 minutes a day. Hiccups begin in the womb at just nine weeks gestational age, making them one of the earliest established patterns of activity. The present study involved 13 newborn infants in a neonatal ward who had a bout of hiccups. The babies were pre-term and full-term, ranging from 30 to 42 weeks gestational age (equivalent), so their development could reflect what's typical in the last trimester of pregnancy.