Do hiccups help babies learn to breathe?

[Eldorado]

"Today Mail Online reported that hiccups help babies to control their breathing. This follows a study in which 13 newborn babies who were hiccupping had their brain monitored using an EEG (electroencephalogram), which records electrical activity in the brain.

"The study was based on the working knowledge that when muscles contract they send feedback signals to the brain. The researchers therefore wondered if involuntary contractions of the diaphragm (the muscle that helps us breath) in response to hiccups would give feedback to a baby's brain in the same way.

"They found that in all 13 babies, contractions of the diaphragm were associated with particular electrical patterns in the brain."

Full story at NHS UK: https://www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/do-hiccups-help-babies-learn-breathe/

"Event-related potentials following contraction of respiratory muscles in pre-term and full-term infants"

At Science Direct: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388245719312362?

Edited November 13, 2019 by Eldorado