Heartburn In Pregnancy – Helpful Tips

Heartburn in pregnancy is caused by a muscular weakness. The muscle involved is the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), a ring of muscle between your stomach and esophagus. The LES is designed to relax when you swallow food so that the food can enter the stomach. Once the food is in the stomach, the LES is to tighten, keeping food and stomach acids from flowing back into your esophagus. If the LES always worked properly, no one would ever suffer heartburn in pregnancy.

Like many other parts of the body, however, the LES is affected by pregnancy. Heartburn in pregnancy is a frequent complaint.

Common Question about Heartburn in Pregnancy

When does heartburn start in pregnancy? How soon in pregnancy do you get heartburn? When should I expect heartburn in pregnancy? The question varies, but the answer is always the same. Heartburn in pregnancy usually begins around the fifth month. From that point forward, it may come and go until you give birth.

How do you treat heartburn in pregnancy?

Pregnancy Heartburn Treatment

Pregnancy heartburn treatment begins with an understanding of the relationship between heartburn and pregnancy. Why is it that at this time when you are so happy to be expecting, you suddenly have heartburn?

With pregnancy, the placenta produces progesterone, a hormone that relaxes the uterus’ smooth muscles. It relaxes some other muscles, too, one of which can be the LES separating the esophagus and stomach. As progesterone relaxes the LES, it fails to close and/or remain tightly closed. This allows acids to flow back into the esophagus, causing heartburn. Progesterone also affects the contractions of the esophagus, slowing the wavelike action. This, too, contributes to heartburn in pregnancy.

As your pregnancy progresses and your baby grows, your abdominal cavity will become crowded. The limited space will be taken up increasingly by the growing, moving infant. This puts pressure on the stomach, which in turn pressures the LES to open. Heartburn can quickly result as stomach acids are pushed into the esophagus.

Steps of Pregnancy Heartburn Treatment

Your healthcare provider will warn you not to take medications that might harm the baby. There are steps you can take, however, to treat heartburn in pregnancy.

1. Watch your weight gain. Ask your physician how much you should reasonably gain, and be careful to keep your weight to that limit. Excess weight will place more pressure on the LES and increase heartburn.

2. Avoid tight clothing, especially around your waist and abdomen. Tight clothing also contributes to pressure on the LES muscle ring.

3. When bending, bend at the knees rather than at the waist. Bending at the waist is a common cause of heartburn in pregnancy.

4. Eat several small meals during the day in place of three larger meals. Eat slowly and chew your food well.

5. Have your last meal or snack at least two to three hours before bedtime. Allowing food to digest before you lie down can reduce heartburn.

6. Although you will want to drink eight to ten glasses of water daily, you should Avoid drinking large amounts of liquid during meals. Try to remember that a distended stomach will pressure the LES and cause heartburn.

7. Ward off potential heartburn by chewing gum after eating. The chewing action can help release air bubbles that contribute to heartburn and the gum stimulates the production of saliva, which can help neutralize acid.

CAUTION: The author is not a professional physician, and offers this information about heartburn in pregnancy for educational purposes only. Please seek advice from your health care provider.

Get Pregnant Fast With These 7 Helpful Tips

So you and your partner have finally decided to settle down and start a family. There is one problem, though, you can’t get pregnant fast.

No need to panic. Many women are experiencing this same issue with fertility when they cannot get pregnant as easily as other women. There may be something that you are doing wrong or an obvious reason that you may have overlooked is the condition of your health.

To increase the possibility for you to get pregnant fast, start by improving your health. Try a number of recommended methods and get as healthy as you can be. From there, you can work your way to your goal to get pregnant fast with some of these 7 helpful tips:

Work On Your Health – A good way to start getting healthy and preparing yourself for pregnancy is by taking essential vitamins and minerals to boost fertility such as folic acid. This is a vitamin that is essential during the development period of the baby. You need to quit taking caffeinated foods and drinks and smoking as this can result to a miscarriage. You should also maintain an ideal weight because pregnancy is hard to occur when you are under or overweight.
Keep Track of Your Cycle – Your ovulation cycle is important to determine the right days when to have sex. Keeping a chart of your basal body temperature is helpful to get pregnant fast as it determines when you are ovulating. You will know when you are fertile and ovulating through a slight raise in your body temperature.
Eliminate Stress – Stress is a key factor to cause infertility. It can cause irregularities in your ovulation cycle.  The less stressed you are, the easier it is to get pregnant fast. One great way to reduce stress is to enjoy your intimate time with your partner.
Experiment on Proper Positions – Some people believe that there are certain positions during sexual intercourse that can affect the flow of sperm into the woman’s uterus and help one get pregnant fast. There are no medical studies to verify this fact but it can’t hurt to try. One position that is known to deliver the sperm closest to the cervix is the missionary position.
Check Your Partner – It wouldn’t be fair if you alone take full responsibility in dealing with infertility issues. There is a chance that your partner could also have some problems such as low sperm count. This can be the result of rising temperature in the groin area. Tell your partner to wear boxers, put his laptop on the table or avoid other habits that can potentially endanger his sperm count.
Allow Sperm to Travel Easier – You can increase your chance to get pregnant fast by helping your partner’s sperm travel easily towards your vagina and into your uterus. If you are using vaginal sprays, douches, and scented tampons, these make your reproductive health more hostile to sperm. You should also avoid using lubricants that can potentially damage sperm.
Quit Using Contraceptives – If you have been using birth control pills, you need to stop it before you try to get pregnant. In the first month that you stop using hormonal birth control, there is a possibility that you can already become fertile and get pregnant.