I have never experienced heartburn, like I have with this pregnancy. I have not suffered from regular heartburn at all actually. Before this.
But this pregnancy, unlike my first, has me battling with heartburn quite regularly.
After a rough night this week, due to eating Flaming Hot Cheetos, {*blush*}, I decided I needed to start paying attention more closely to what I was eating. Here’s the thing, I don’t actually buy chips very often, but I just had this huge craving for Flaming Hot Cheetos – and I paid for it dearly.
Thankfully, I am equipped with 3 pregnancy books and the internet, so of course after a very hellish night, I read a bit more about heartburn and how to control pregnancy heartburn:
- Avoid foods that cause distress {ur, I guess that means no more Flaming Hot Cheetos}
- Eat small meals {I have not been able to eat large amounts at one time for a while now, thankfully}
- Avoid drinking large quantities of liquid during meals {I need to work on this one!}
- Chew gum after eating {I like this one, I am going to be trying this at my next meal}
- Don’t eat close to bedtime – give yourself 2-3 hours {this one will be hard for me, but I will try}
- Sleep propped up with a pillow {the miserable night I discussed earlier? I had to finally sit up to sleep}
What ways did you combat heartburn when you were pregnant?
I ate Tums when I was pregnant, lol. Since then, however, my mother-in-law has turned me on to something different… and it sounds strange, but it works! Celery. Yep, chewing on celery kills the heartburn. I occasionally go through about a week at a time where I have bad heartburn and then won’t have it again for quite some time, but when I get it, I keep half a stalk of celery in a glass of water beside the bed. If I wake up and it has come back, I grab the celery and take a bite. I chew and chew, and it’s gone again. Best yet is no chemicals and not terrible for your teeth in the middle of the night. Hope that helps!
I like that tip, Shannon. I am going to definitely try it. I will let you know if it works! Thanks 🙂
I would get frequent heartburn before I became pregnant…I know that most people want to have an all natural approach and I tried that with my first pregnancy… I was such a volcano that sleep was impossible and I was chewing ice to try to cool it down. I tried diet changes and acupuncture and Tums. Finally talked to my OB and started on Pepcid a/c and if that doesn’t work there are other options that can be prescribed. Remember heartburn was not “new” to me…just much much worse during pregnancy. Best wishes while you deal with this!
Thank you, Karmon. It has been getting worse this last month really. So I will talk to my midwife at the next appointment (which is this coming Monday!), where we will also find out the baby’s gender. Whoohooo! Oh the things we go through to have children 🙂
I’m 38 weeks pregnant with our second and have had heartburn with this baby since about week 2. I have never had heartburn a day in my life, until I was pregnant with my first. It was actually what made me suspect I was pregnant with this baby. I have been eating antacids like my life depends on it (which sometimes it feels like it!). I almost constantly have heartburn and after 9 months, I’ll try anything! I will have to try the celery trick and the chewing gum one too. Thanks for sharing! Found you via WFMW.
Thank you for coming by, Krista. I feel your pain 🙂 I need to go buy celery too. Last night I passed up on jalapeno peppers, and I am so glad I did. I would have been really hurting. I propped up my pillows again, and that helped. I actually slept hard between potty breaks. 🙂
Heartburn in early pregnancy is from increased progesterone …. same thing that makes you all bloated and constipated .. slows down the GI tract. Mine has eased off now …. so I’m back to eating buffalo chicken dip, etc. 🙂
I took Tums like a crazy woman when I was pregnant with my twins. Last summer, I had a gigantic kidney stone (11mm!) for which I had to have surgery. I’m convinced that it’s from the Tums. (I never had them before, and have no risk factors) I don’t touch them anymore. If things get really bad, I take Pepcid Complete.
There’s a whole host of natural remedies …. my friends have recommended aloe vera juice. (never tried it)
Good Luck!
Dianna, I had a large kidney stone in 2009 that had to be surgically removed too. I might think twice about popping those Tums too. I don’t want to go through that again. I will have to check out Aloe Vera juice as well. I will try celery first, which another friend recommended. Thanks for coming by!
Virgin coconut oil, from a glass jar. I suffered chronic heartburn for 14 years, beginning with my first pregnancy. This last pregnancy with Simon I had begun using virgin coconut oil just for a variety of things. My heartburn started subsiding, but I didn’t realize this was why. When I started taking a tablespoon of coconut oil after hearing about it’s antacid type properties, and I have to say, my heartburn is now only a very once in a while occurance. And I’m not even regularly taking the tablespoon of coconut oil (though in heated baking/cooking I have replaced the olive oil with coconut oil because I have since found out that olive oil should not be used at high temperatures).
Shannon, I will try celery first, but if that does not work, I will try coconut oil. Thanks for that tip!
I badly needed these tips! I am on my 6th month on the way and I am occasionally experiencing heartburn.. Glad to have found these tips. Thank you for sharing…
Ha Ha … the reason I am up reading your blog is because of heartburn!! Yep…
Thanks for the tip about celery. I’m sure my hubby will love me crunching away
in the middle of the night 😀 Just now I’m eight months along and can’t wait to see
if it’s really true, if you have heartburn during pregnancy, your child will probably
have a full head of hair?!
Well, my first didn’t have much hair and I didn’t suffer from heartburn like I am with this one. So maybe my son will have a full head of hair. LOL! We’ll see. Thanks, Anne for coming by. I hope your heartburn gets better and congratulations on the soon baby 🙂