5 Home Remedies for Pregnancy Heartburn
Heartburn is one of the most frequent digestive discomforts during pregnancy. It tends to become more acute from the second trimester onward and can affect dietary routines. However, a series of home remedies can be implemented to alleviate the symptoms of pregnancy heartburn and achieve a better sense of well-being.
Before we begin, it’s important to note that a multitude of different changes occurs during pregnancy. For this reason, it’s not uncommon to experience some discomfort in different points and systems of the body. Fortunately, most of them aren’t serious. However, if they have a negative effect on your lifestyle, you’ll have to find a solution.
Home remedies for pregnancy heartburn
Here are the best home remedies that you can use to fight heartburn during pregnancy. Pay attention and put them into action to notice relief in a short time.
1. Improve your diet
There’s evidence that the consumption of trans fats, simple sugars, and irritating condiments may increase digestive discomfort. For this reason, a diet based on fresh foods should be chosen during pregnancy. These contribute to much easier digestion, as long as they’re subjected to low-fat and aggressive cooking processes.
2. Sleep in a slightly inclined position
Many times, heartburn often occurs together with esophageal reflux. In this context, you may experience difficulty sleeping, given the discomfort. To avoid such a situation, we recommend that you try to adopt a slightly inclined posture in bed. This will prevent the acid from moving up the digestive tube, which will provide instant relief and improve the quality of sleep.
3. Drink a glass of fresh milk
Milk in the medium term may aggravate the symptoms of pregnancy heartburn, although it depends on the reasons behind the heartburn. However, its occasional consumption can significantly reduce the discomfort. This is partly due to its basic character, which neutralizes stomach acid. At the same time, some of the proteins contained in this food may also help to provide relief, as confirmed by a study published in the journal Nutrients.
Since heartburn during pregnancy is an acute process and doesn’t usually become chronic, using milk to experience an improvement has more benefits than risks. Of course, always try to drink it whole to take advantage of all the vitamins it contains inside.
4. Avoid carbonated beverages
To experience an improvement in digestive symptoms, it’s key to avoid the consumption of carbonated beverages. This is because they can increase the production of acid in the stomach and cause discomfort in the intestine. In addition, they usually contain a large amount of additives and simple sugars inside, so they’re not at all recommended for health.
5. Eat an apple
Apples are one of the fruits indicated to neutralize stomach acids when they generate acute discomfort. This food has a series of fibers that help the bacteria of the microbiota to survive in optimal conditions. This also has a positive effect on the functioning of the digestive tract. In addition, apples provide vitamins and antioxidants.
When to go to the doctor?
If heartburn is intense enough to limit well-being or to condition your routines, it may be a good option to visit the doctor. There are pharmacological treatments to combat this problem. It’s not the most advisable, as they’re not free of side effects, but sometimes there’s no other choice.
Implement home remedies against pregnancy heartburn
As you’ve seen, there are a number of home remedies that you can put in place during pregnancy to combat heartburn. This doesn’t mean that they’ll be 100% effective, but in many cases, they’ll produce significant relief from the problem. This will increase the feeling of well-being.
Remember that the most normal thing is for heartburn to disappear after childbirth. If this isn’t the case, you should consult your doctor to make sure that there are no dysfunctions that need to be treated in a special way. However, keep in mind that maintaining good lifestyle habits and correct body composition will help to reduce the incidence of this type of problem.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Sethi, S., & Richter, J. E. (2017). Diet and gastroesophageal reflux disease: role in pathogenesis and management. Current opinion in gastroenterology, 33(2), 107–111. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOG.0000000000000337
- Laatikainen, R., Salmenkari, H., Sibakov, T., Vapaatalo, H., & Turpeinen, A. (2020). Randomised Controlled Trial: Partial Hydrolysation of Casein Protein in Milk Decreases Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Subjects with Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. Nutrients, 12(7), 2140. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12072140