How to Stop Hiccups

All of us have had to deal with hiccups, much to our embarrassment sometimes. There are lesser causes of hiccups than there are remedies. Everything from grandma's home remedies to the doctor's prescription has been tried.

Unfortunately, these are the only ways of curing them. How your body reacts to the remedies is subjective. A remedy that may work for a friend may not work for you, and vice versa.

Have an important discussion or meeting in the next ten minutes, and you're plagued with the hiccups? Look no further, the remedy is here.

• Stick out your tongue, and hold it with your thumb and index finger. The thumb should be placed under the tongue, and pushed inward till the end, while the index finger is placed on the surface of the tongue.

• Now gently pull your tongue. Don't tug at it harshly or you may hurt yourself.
• Keep it held for 30 seconds, and your hiccups will disappear.

Go ahead and have an undisturbed meeting!

One of these remedies is bound to work for you. Just give each one of them a try before you discover your magical cure.

• Have 9 continuous sips of water, without any breaks for breath.
• Hold your breath until you feel another hiccup coming. When you can sense the hiccup, swallow in some air.

• Swallow a whole sugar cube, or a teaspoon of white sugar. Do not try this method if you are diabetic.
• Close your eyes. Press your eyeballs gently by placing your first two fingers on them, for 5 seconds.

• Hold an ice pack to your diaphragm.
• Lemons have also been found effective in curing hiccups. To half a glass of water, add a whole lemon's juice, and sip till the hiccups go. Alternatively, suck on a lemon with 1 tsp of salt added to it.
• Inhale and exhale deeply into a brown paper bag. Ensure both, your mouth and nose are covered by the bag.

Ironically, when babies get hiccups, the parents are upset more than the babies themselves. It is natural to get anxious about anything that occurs with a baby. However, babies getting hiccups is normal, as their system is not fully developed.

Don't worry, and try out these simple remedies.

• Firstly, do not get anxious. Just comfort the baby till they go.
• Ensure that your baby burps frequently during and after feeding. This will decrease the occurrence of hiccups.

• Hiccups in babies cannot be cured the way they are in adults. What is required is a certain amount of distraction, especially in case of older babies, as they may become frustrated with its regular occurrence.
• Sometimes, breastfeeding the baby for about 15 - 20 seconds without stopping may help.

If you find that your hiccups refuse to go away, you may have an underlying medical condition. In such a case, it is advisable to visit a doctor, rather than ineffectively trying out these home remedies. Though they may stop the hiccups temporarily, the recurrence may be a cause for concern.