Acidity During Pregnancy - How It Can Be Dealt With?

If you are experiencing heartburn during pregnancy, it is important for you to know about the ways of dealing with it. Heartburn, which is a fiery, painful sensation, occurs when the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) starts leaking or relaxing. This makes your stomach acids to flow up into the esophagus, resulting in acidity or heartburn. Pregnant women are more susceptible to heartburns because the relaxing hormone slows down the rate of digestion, thereby keeping food in the stomach for longer duration and triggering acidity.

Here are the various measures you should take for dealing with acidity during pregnancy:

1. Follow regular eating patterns: Overeating triggers heart burns, and hence, you should eat less. During pregnancy, there is much less space in the stomach for it to expand. Maintaining a healthy diet in lesser quantities will help you in eliminating the heartburn throughout your pregnancy. You should eat several small meals a day instead of having two or three large meals. It is easier for your body to digest smaller meals.
2. Avoid trigger foods: You need to identify the common foods, which trigger your heartburn and eliminate them from your diet. You should abstain from consuming acidic food items like tomatoes, citrus fruits, fried and spicy food, coffee, carbonated drinks, and alcohol.
3. Focus on fluids: A liquid diet causes much lesser problems compared to solid food products as they can move through your stomach quickly. You should consume milkshakes, soups, yoghurt, smoothies, puddings, and protein shakes. Try to take liquids, which are rich in protein like dairy products. While having solid foods, ensure that you chew them very well.
4. Sleep properly: In order to avoid heartburn during the night, you must not eat anything three hours before going to sleep. You should make the head of your bed elevated by placing books or any solid object under the bed’s legs. You should sleep on your left side, which will make it difficult for stomach acids to travel up to your esophagus.
5. Sit or stand upright after a meal: After taking any meal, you should take a short walk, undertake some housework, or sit down for a while. Avoid lying down, and abstain from doing anything for which you have to bend over.
6. Wear comfortable clothes: You should wear loose-fitting clothes for dealing with acidity or heartburn during pregnancy. Tight clothing puts extra pressure on your abdomen, which is already crammed. This is capable of worsening acid reflux. Therefore, you should choose loose-fitting maternity wear for eliminating acidity and heartburn.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

In case you have a concern or query regarding gynaecological issues, you can consult a gynaecologist online & get the answers to your questions through online doctor consultation via video call.