Claire
Heartburn is a very common side effect of growing a human. Your belly expands and pushes all of your internal organs up towards your throat. Including your stomach and it’s contents! 😯
In addition, your body produces a lot of a hormone called relaxin, which is meant to relax (hey it’s in the name!) muscles in your pelvis and uterus, but it also relaxes everything else, including your esophagus (the tube that leads from your throat to your stomach). And guess what? Our good friend progesterone also causes everything to relax, so it’s a hormonal double whammy! 😆 That means all the stuff you eat or drink has an easier time coming back up.
But how can you prevent heartburn or at least make it a bit more tolerable during pregnancy?
🔥 Eat smaller more frequent meals. Don’t fill your stomach too much and that way less stuff will be pushed up by your belly. Also, try to eat slowly!
🔥 Consume things that don’t make it worse. Everyone has different foods that cause heartburn, so avoid the ones that cause yours. Spicy foods are usually a culprit! Other culprits are fat, caffeine and citrus. But like I said, everyone is different, so find out what your triggers are.
🔥 Don’t lie down after eating. Try to stay as upright as possible to avoid the foods you just ate being brought up. This goes hand in hand with timing your meals, don’t have a big meal just before bedtime!
🔥 Try an over the counter anti-acid such as Tums or Berocca. I basically lived off of Berocca during my pregnancy! Some women suffer more than others and need more than just Tums to soothe the heartburn, talk to your provider if you’re having a hard time with heartburn, you might need some stronger meds!
Did you suffer from heartburn in your pregnancy?
What helped or made it worse? Share your tips with our other new moms in our comments below.
Originally posted 2021-03-23 21:43:54.
My heartburn has been awful the past two months. It feels like a belt squeezing me all the way around. I’ve had to change medication twice because what worked before didn’t work anymore. I can’t have a scrap of a tomato anywhere on my plate, or fried food, or even bell peppers. I’m basically back to my potato and chicken diet from first trimester’s morning sickness!
I don’t have it! 31 weeks and wondering if any women start to get it later in pregnancy or is it safe to say I’m good 🙏🙏
Im currently experiencing heartburn 🙈
I found that yogurt helps a lot! I was wondering as well if sodium bicarbonate had negative effects on the baby? My doctor prescribed it but i found a lot of contradicting articles online.
Oh that heartburn. Dnt remind me that 🤦♀️ I used to take cold milk or cold yogurt. It sometimes helped me
I sip a glass of milk when mine plays up it works and stops me from taking so many antiacids lol
I felt like my stomach was going to burn off 😭🤣
I’m 33 weeks and it’s the absolute worst 😩🤰🏻🤪 Tums is my best friend lately lol.
A little baking soda in a glass of water was all that helped me after a while. My doctor said no more than six tums a day or I risked getting kidney stones
It was terrrrible for me!! But what helped me was chewing cinnamon gum! It worked like a charm!
😩 It’s the worst
I found Almond milk to be my saviour. It literally worked for me within five minutes of drinking it, but much better if I have half a glass before a meal and top up as needed.
The worst!!!! I thought I was going to dieeeee of heartburn.
Taking a tsp of apple cider vinegar in 1/2 cup of water before meals is the only thing that’s ever helped me! It boosts your stomach acid before meals so you digest your food better, lowering your stomach acid only makes the problem worse.
Great advice. I like to recommend upright for an hour after meals. Going for a walk can also improve things👍