Heartburn in Pregnancy

There’s an old wives tale that if you suffer from heartburn in pregnancy, you’ll have a hairy baby! Have any of you found that to be true? I’ve never really had heartburn, and all three of my babies so far were pretty much bald, so maybe it is true!! In truth though, by the time you reach the third trimester, almost three quarters of women suffer from heartburn.

The symptoms of heartburn are usually described as a kind of tightening or burning sensation in the back of the throat and chest area, while some people also experience a bitter or acidic taste in the back of the throat. I have suffered from indigestion whilst pregnant though. The main sympton with indidgestion is feeling ‘bloated’ or uncomfortably full and gaseous – needing to burp, belch or pass wind a lot.

In pregnancy, especially in the later months, heartburn and indigestion are caused by the baby putting pressure on your digestive tract. As the baby grows, there is less and less space inside you and everything ends up getting a little bit squished!

There are two main reasons why heartburn and, to a lesser extent, indigestion are common at this time. Firstly, because the surge in the hormone progesterone causes muscles to relax. This includes the sphincter (ring of muscle) at the entrance to the stomach. When this relaxes, stomach acids are able to travel back up into the oesophagus (food pipe) causing heartburn.

In my last three pregnancies, I found that sticking to a healthy diet helped lessen my indigestion – as well as eating smaller portions and adding in a snack or too. If you find that you suffer at night time, try adding an extra pillow or two so that you sleep in a more upright position.

Did you suffer from heartburn or indigestion when you were pregnant? What did you find helped?