A woman's body undergoes hormonal changes during pregnancy that can slow down her digestion. Stomach irritation is one of the symptoms of pregnancy. In fact, heartburn during pregnancy It is something that recurs and usually occurs in the second trimester.
This phenomenon affects almost half of pregnant women and makes their lives difficult. There are several effective tips to help women alleviate the heartburn during pregnancy.
If you want to know more about heartburn during pregnancy, Continue reading this article we prepared for you!
What is heartburn?
Heartburn is a sign of inflammation of the stomach lining.
Inflammation can be diffuse, in the case of gastritis, for example, or more localized and significant, creating an ulcer.
Heartburn is typically located in the upper left part of the abdomen, but also includes more central “epigastric” burning.
Different information can guide the doctor towards a precise diagnosis: exact location and appearance (time in relation to meals, attitudes that alleviate it, those that aggravate it).
There are multiple causes that trigger burns: taking medication, spicy foods, stress, acids, alcohol…
Gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach lining. It can cause burning, but often progresses silently, leading to atrophy, that is, the disappearance of cells in the affected area.
An ulcer is an inflammation that creates a depression or even a hole. It can be in the stomach, but is most often found in the duodenum.
Gastroesophageal reflux is a backflow of acidic liquid from the stomach into the esophagus, which has a lining that is not designed to withstand the acidity.
The pain is easily recognizable when accompanied by heartburn, a burning sensation that extends back to the mid-thoracic line, which may result in the eruption of acidic fluid into the mouth.
Why do you have heartburn during pregnancy?
As your pregnancy progresses, your baby takes up more and more space in your abdomen and presses on your stomach, pushing it upward.
Under pressure, stomach fluid rises into the esophagus, causing acid reflux. This becomes particularly important during the second trimester.
Well, as you can see, there's not much you can do to avoid the heartburn during pregnancy. Hormone production and baby growth are natural and nothing can be done about it!
However, below you can see some tips that will help alleviate this phenomenon.
10 tips to relieve heartburn during pregnancy
Eat small meals
Heartburn occurs when the sphincter muscle relaxes during pregnancy, allowing food and gastric juices to pass into the esophagus.
To avoid this unpleasant problem, here’s a simple tip: eat small meals. Eat less, but more frequently, and chew well to facilitate digestion. The simple act of not overloading your stomach can prevent it from causing you discomfort. heartburn during pregnancy!
Sleep in a semi-sitting position
It is also best not to sleep immediately after a meal and, in this sense, avoid eating too late. Leave an interval of at least two hours between the end of a meal and a period of sleep: digestion in the stomach lasts two hours, before continuing in the intestine.
To prevent or relieve nighttime burns, you can also add more pillows to your bed to elevate your head. This tilt will help your esophagus to be in a more ideal position.
Avoid fatty, fried and spicy foods
Avoid fatty foods: sour cream, mayonnaise, avocado, French fries, and cream cheese should be avoided, at least for a while. The same goes for fried and spicy foods, which are difficult to digest.
Avoid sugar
Eliminate sugary foods, desserts and the like: anything that contains a lot of carbohydrates should be avoided! For dessert, choose fruits that are not acidic.
Drink lots of water
Do you wake up at night with your chest on fire? Drinking a large glass of room temperature water will gently activate your digestive system.
In fact, always drink plenty of water and forget about juices (which contain carbohydrates), coffee, tea, alcohol and soft drinks which are irritating to the stomach.
Do breathing exercises
Practicing breathing exercises can open the rib cage while reducing stress, which is one of the causes of heartburn during pregnancy. Make a habit of taking deep breaths at any time of the day, but especially before meals.
Test the foods eaten
Some foods seem to help women, but others don't. So you have to test them out. For some, rice, corn, whole-grain bread, or beans (white or red) have worked wonders. Other women complain that they cause heartburn during pregnancy.
What about milk and dairy products? For some people, they can actually temporarily soothe heartburn. But it can also be a problem for dairy products to cause heartburn. So give it a try: give up dairy for two weeks and see if your symptoms improve.
Eat “alkaline” foods
Choose alkaline foods such as apricots, figs, dates, green olives, grapes, bananas, cherries, peaches, potatoes, beans, watercress, almonds, etc.
Drink herbal teas
Drink herbal teas frequently throughout the day. Choose a single herb or mix some of these herbs, which are known to soothe irritations of the digestive mucosa: fennel, chamomile, lemon verbena, lemon balm, licorice, lavender, orange peel or tangerine.
Some herbs are emollients and soften, protect and heal irritated tissues in the digestive system.
Control your emotions
Also learn how to manage your stress levels and strong emotions. In fact, stress is one of the causes of heartburn. Yoga, meditation, exercise or relaxation can be a great help for you.
