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Natural Heartburn Help
February 10, 2009 at 12:10 PM by Cafe Cynthia - Comments (8)
Photo by roxysmommy
Half of all pregnant women experience heartburn or gastric reflux. Early on, before you even have a belly, it might be the hormones that are altering your stomach's stop-valve mechanism, allowing irritating stomach acids to escape into your esophagus.
And later on in your pregnancy, the problem is likely the little sucker himself -- he's growing so big and strong that your uterus is pushing into your stomach cavity and wreaking havoc on your digestion.
Your doctor may tell you to take Tums, Pepcid, or another OTC medication, or he may even hand you a script to try to tame the acid. But other expecting moms and veteran birthers alike have found these homespun, natural, and just plain common-sense remedies work just as well, if not better. As with everything in pregnancy, it's always a good idea to run any new product or exotic food -- especially herbals -- by your doctor first.
Tame-Your-Tummy Tips:
-- Heartburn tea.
-- Eat several small meals each day instead of three large ones.
-- Eat slowly.
-- Strawberry milkshake: Put raw (untoasted) unsalted almonds in the blender with just enough
cold water to cover. Blend until liquefied, then let steep overnight.
Strain with cheesecloth; you now have almond milk. Blend with frozen berries.
-- Drink less while eating, since drinking large amounts during meals can increase reflux.
-- Don't lie down directly after eating.
-- Avoid dairy (which actually causes heartburn, not helps it), chocolate, spicy foods, and acidic foods. When you're feeling really acid-y, try some bread (not crackers). Peanut butter can cause heartburn, but almond butter shouldn't...plus it's more nutritious.
-- Dried papaya.
-- Apples or apple cider vinegar.
-- Bananas, a natural antacid.
What foods have you found to help with heartburn?
FILED UNDER: eating for two, pregnancy symptoms
Comments:
An organic apple a day, and eventually I didn't even need any because my heartburn completely went away.
Wow, i'm shocked to hear that dairy is supposed to be bad for heartburn. Anytime I have it, I drink a small glass of milk, and it instantly goes away... i never had never experienced heartburn before this pregnancy so that was advice given to me by my DH
I agree with the milk...it usually helps me. I have also heard frozen yogurt, but haven't tried it..I'd be having it all the time since the heartburn is on and off all day and night!
This is my fourth pregnancy, and the only other time I had it as bad as this was with my daughter who had a head FULL of hair when she was born...wives tale or not, we'll see how much hair this one has!
ACV: (apple cider vinegar) only a couple of teaspoons will eliminate any heartburn/indigestion, as well help with acid reflux, AND many, many ways of improving your health before and after baby!
ginger root is very good. Peel the ginger root and cut it up and boil it on the stove to make it into a tea, some say to put honey in it and others say to drink it as it is.It works and will make you burp to relieve the pressure from your chest.
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Shamrock90 Feb. 10, 2009 at 4:05 PM