Sometimes, a woman who has never experienced heartburn before in her life will experience heartburn for the first time during pregnancy. While heartburn is an essentially harmless condition, it can still be rather frustrating and, sometimes, even painful. Helping to understand what exactly it is that causes heartburn during pregnancy, however, can help you to know what to do to reduce the amount of heartburn that you might have during pregnancy.

Heartburn occurs when some of the digestive acids produced in the stomach make there way up the esophagus, causing the uncomfortable burning feeling in the chest that is so characteristic of heartburn. The burning feeling typically will occur somewhere in your chest, especially in the area from the throat down through the bottom of your breastbone.

It is the hormone changes that are occurring in your body that can cause heartburn during pregnancy. During pregnancy, your body is producing a larger amount of the hormone progesterone. The hormone progesterone does a few things for the woman’s body. One of the things that progesterone does is to help relax the muscles in the uterus, which allows it to stretch as your baby grows bigger. Unfortunately, progesterone can also relax that valve that sits between the stomach and thee esophagus, which allows those digestive acids through, causing heartburn.

There are some things that you can to do help get relief from heartburn during pregnancy. Eating smaller meals throughout the day, as opposed to three larger meals, may help. Avoiding caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, processed meats, spicy or fatty foods, and acidic foods such as juices, fruits, mustard, and tomatoes may also help minimize the amount of heartburn you are experiencing during pregnancy.

If you cannot seem to control your heartburn or keep it at a minimum, you should speak with your health care provider. While they should not necessarily be your first choice, there are some medications that can safely be used for heartburn during pregnancy.

Related Posts: