Why indigestion in early pregnancy

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Send to: is required Error: This is required Error: Not a valid value. Symptoms of indigestion may include: heartburn reflux or regurgitation food coming back up from your stomach burping feeling heavy, bloated or full feeling sick vomiting Heartburn is a burning pain in the throat or chest, behind the breastbone, caused by stomach acid coming up the oesophagus the tube that connects your mouth to your stomach and irritating the lining.

In pregnant women, indigestion and heartburn can be caused by: eating a big meal eating high-fat foods eating chocolate or peppermint drinking fruit juice or caffeinated beverages coffee, tea, cola drinks doing physical activity soon after eating bending over feeling anxious It's a good idea to take note of the particular foods, drinks or activities that give you indigestion while you are pregnant.

Avoiding indigestion and heartburn If your symptoms are mild, it's possible that changes to your diet or lifestyle may help prevent indigestion and heartburn. You could try: eating smaller meals, more often avoiding eating just before bed avoiding foods and drinks that you suspect give you heartburn not drinking a lot of coffee at the end of the day avoiding eating and drinking at the same time, which can make your stomach more full sitting up straight while eating, and not lying down after a meal chewing gum, which may cause you to produce more saliva to help neutralise the acid stop smoking raise the head of your bed by 10 to 15cm sleep on your left side If your indigestion is not helped by diet and lifestyle changes, or your symptoms are more severe, your doctor or midwife may suggest that you take a medicine for indigestion that is safe to use during pregnancy.

Heartburn symptoms and pre-eclampsia If your heartburn symptoms don't go away with medicine, it's important to see your doctor as it may be a sign of something more serious, such as pre-eclampsia. This is especially important if you're also feeling very unwell or you have: sudden swelling of your hands, feet or face a headache that doesn't go away with simple painkillers problems with your eyesight such as blurring or seeing flashing lights or dots a strong pain below your ribs Find out more about how pre-eclampsia is treated here.

Call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on to speak to a maternal child health nurse. Back To Top. Heartburn in Pregnancy HealthEngine Blog Heartburn is a symptom commonly experienced by pregnant women such that some women and obstetricians even consider it to be a normal occurrence in a healthy pregnancy.

Call us and speak to a Maternal Child Health Nurse for personal advice and guidance. Need further advice or guidance from our maternal child health nurses? Support for this browser is being discontinued for this site Internet Explorer 11 and lower We currently support Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Smoking when pregnant can cause indigestion, and can seriously affect the health of you and your unborn baby. When you smoke, the chemicals you inhale can contribute to your indigestion. These chemicals can cause the ring of muscle at the lower end of your gullet to relax, which allows stomach acid to come back up more easily.

This is known as acid reflux. There's lots of help available to stop smoking. Talk to your midwife or call the NHS Smokefree helpline on Find out more about stopping smoking in pregnancy. Drinking alcohol can cause indigestion.

During pregnancy, it can also lead to long-term harm to the baby. It's safest to not drink alcohol at all in pregnancy.

Find out more about alcohol and pregnancy. See your midwife or GP if you need help managing your symptoms or if changes to your diet and lifestyle do not work. They may recommend medicine to ease your symptoms. Your midwife or GP may ask about your symptoms and examine you by pressing gently on different areas of your chest and stomach to see whether it's painful. Speak to your GP if you're taking medicine for another condition, such as antidepressants, and you think it may be making your indigestion worse.

They may be able to prescribe an alternative medicine. Never stop taking a prescribed medicine unless you're advised to do so by your GP or another qualified healthcare professional who's responsible for your care. You may only need to take antacids and alginates when you start getting symptoms.

Antacids containing aluminium or magnesium can be taken on an 'as required' basis. Those containing calcium should only be used occasionally or for a short period. Antacids that contain sodium bicarbonate or magnesium trisilicate should be avoided as they may be harmful to your developing baby.

There are many brands of antacids that you can buy. You can also obtain some on prescription. A doctor or pharmacist can advise. Some points about antacids are:. Alginates are often combined with antacids. Alginates help to protect the gullet oesophagus from stomach acid. They form a protective raft when they come into contact with stomach acid and block the acid from entering the oesophagus.

Some alginates are specifically licensed for use in pregnancy. Omeprazole is an acid-suppressing medicine that is licensed for use in pregnancy to treat dyspepsia that is still troublesome despite any lifestyle changes and antacids. Omeprazole needs to be taken regularly to be effective. Ranitidine is another medicine that can be used instead of omeprazole. This medicine works by reducing the amount of acid that the stomach makes. It usually eases the symptoms of dyspepsia quite well.

Note : ranitidine is not licensed for use in pregnancy by the manufacturers. However, it has been used in pregnancy for many years with no reports of harm to the developing baby. It is generally considered safe to take. Ranitidine also needs to be taken regularly and not just when you have dyspepsia symptoms to be effective. Note : it is only ranitidine and omeprazole that may be used if you are pregnant.

Other medicines that are commonly used for heartburn, dyspepsia, acid reflux, etc, should not be used. For example, cimetidine, esomeprazole, lansoprazole and pantoprazole. It is not known whether these other medicines are safe to take during pregnancy. Liddle SD, Pennick V ; Interventions for preventing and treating low-back and pelvic pain during pregnancy.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. Phupong V, Hanprasertpong T ; Interventions for heartburn in pregnancy. August WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience ; World Health Organization, My girlfriend took 6 at home pregnancy tests - 4 were positive. The nurse couldn't give us an exact diagnosis - only her own opinion on whether or not my girlfriend Disclaimer: This article is for information only and should not be used for the diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions.

Egton Medical Information Systems Limited has used all reasonable care in compiling the information but make no warranty as to its accuracy. Consult a doctor or other health care professional for diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. For details see our conditions. In this series. In this article What is dyspepsia?

Understanding the oesophagus and stomach What causes acid reflux during pregnancy? What are the symptoms of acid reflux and dyspepsia of pregnancy?