Stopping Hiccups

A couple nights ago Kayin (our 6 year old son) came down after we put the kids to bed and he had a bad case of hiccups. I remembered finding something for Demitri about 8 months ago that worked great, so I looked up hiccups in my Ayurvedic Cooking for Self-Healing book (the one pictured to the right). Here is what I wrote back in April about our experience with Demitri:

One day last week our four-year-old son Demitri had the hiccups when we were getting everyone ready for bed. I remember reading about a recommendation for hiccups in my ayurvedic-cooking book, so I decided to give it a try. Here is the recommendation:

“To stop hiccoughs, eat 2 chopped bananas mixed with 1 teaspoon of ghee, ½ teaspoon of honey and 2 pinches of ginger powder.”
-Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing by Usha Lad and Dr. Vasant Lad, page 189

I already had half a banana left from one of my children on the counter so I put it in a little bowl, cut it up with a butter knife and fork, used a spoon to put in a little bit of ghee, used the knife to add a little bit of honey (the honey we use has never been heated so it is semi-solid), and added one shake of ginger powder. Then I mixed everything up and gave a spoonful to my son. Although it tasted sweet to me he was in a sad mood and said he didn’t like it, but after one bite he didn’t have any more hiccups! He hasn’t had any hiccups since then, but I won’t forget this remedy – it brought us great relief, since hiccups at bedtime can keep everyone up late.

This time I didn’t have any leftover bananas and Kayin said he was hungry so I used one whole banana, broke it into pieces, then added half a spoonful of ghee, half a spoonful of honey, and a few shakes of ginger powder. After mixing it up I gave it to Kayin. He liked it and dug in, but halfway through he stopped and said he was done eating and done with hiccups, and proceeded to go lay down and go to sleep. I got to eat the rest, it was Yummy!

2 thoughts on “Stopping Hiccups

  1. I have a much easier suggestion to end hiccups.

    1. Get a class of water.
    2. Exhale all the air you can out of your lungs.
    3. Take small sips of water and in between inhale small bits of air.

    After about 10 sips / inhales your hiccups will be gone.

  2. Thanks Julie! I usually tell my kids to hold their breath as long as they can and drink water before making a remedy like the above, but I’ll try your more specific suggestion next time too. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *