Pregnancy Heartburn

If you’re pregnant and experiencing heartburn, you’ve probably heard all the usual advice: eat smaller meals and avoid spicy foods. But if you’re still feeling the fire with every meal, there may be a few other things worth trying. 

Heartburn during pregnancy is incredibly common, thanks to hormonal changes that relax the valve between your stomach and esophagus, along with your growing baby taking up more space and putting additional pressure on your stomach. Regretfully, we can’t change those things, but we can be mindful about how we eat and what we eat to minimize the heartburn from happening and maybe make it chill out a bit when it does. 

Heartburn Remedies:

• Smaller, more frequent meals (be careful this doesn’t turn into snacking)

• Regulate your blood sugar, by focusing on protein, fat, and carbs at every meal

• Eat dinner a little earlier, so you don’t lay down too soon after eating

• Avoid drinking ten minutes before, during, and 10 minutes after meals. This helps stomach acid do its job more effectively

• Avoid common triggers like caffeine, carbonation, tomatoes, spicy foods, and anything fried or overly greasy

• Daily mineral support, like electrolytes or NORA tea

• Herbs like ginger, oat straw, and fennel 

• 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar before every meal

• A small handful of almonds after every meal

• Milk and/or yogurt

• Homeopathic Nux Vomica or Acidil

• Acupuncture 

Heartburn isn’t fun. I remember a few nights sleeping completely upright because it was so bad with Eisley. I hope a few of these changes make the heartburn a little less awful and less often. 

If heartburn is persistent, severe, interfering with sleep, or not responding to lifestyle changes, talk with your care provider about pregnancy-safe treatment options. Suffering isn’t healthy, either! 

If you are looking for more evidence-based nutrition info, check out the guide here.