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Heartburn Relief During Your Pregnancy
During pregnancy a woman's body will experience many changes, several of which may cause frequent heartburn. Whether or not you've ever had it before, you will most likely suffer from it while pregnant.
During pregnancy a woman’s body will experience many changes, several of which may cause frequent heartburn. Whether or not you’ve ever had it before, you will most likely suffer from it while pregnant.
During pregnancy, the placenta produces a hormone called progesterone to relax the muscles of the uterus. This same hormone also relaxes the valve between the esophagus and stomach and lets the gastric acids to come back up.
Contractions in the esophagus and intestines aid in digestion. They become slower because of the progesterone and digestion becomes sluggish. Acids can also be pushed back up into the esophagus as the growing baby crowds the abdominal area.
Heartburn remedies can be achieved through simple changes in diet such as avoiding foods that are known to promote heartburn. Examples are spicy and highly seasoned foods. Also, avoiding foods that contain a lot of acids like citrus fruits, tomato products and even mustard can help.
Consuming smaller meals, instead of eating a lot at one sitting has been shown to reduce the chance of heartburn. Alcohol should never be consumed while pregnant for a healthier baby, especially as alcohol causes heartburn as do drinks with caffeine.
Heartburn remedies can often be found by just omitting certain foods and drinks, but sometimes these changes aren’t enough to prevent it and in those cases the use of non-prescription drugs can provide heartburn relief.
Quick relief can be found in chewable antacids which often work very well. The liquid forms of antacids will also work, but the addition of anything to the stomach causes it to make even more digestive acids so the results aren’t guaranteed.
When choosing an antacid, the ones that contain aluminium should be avoided. Constipation is often a common problem with pregnancy and taken in large doses aluminium not only causes constipation, but it is very toxic to.
Also, when choosing heartburn remedies, never take any that have sodium bicarbonate or aspirin. Most women suffer with swelling during pregnancy and sodium bicarbonate will greatly add to that symptom.
If you can’t seem to find heartburn relief with any of the remedies you’ve tried, you should consult your doctor. And, don’t forget that even though these are just medications for heartburn, they are still drugs and the recommended dosages should not be exceeded.