I'm pregnant and having hearburn, why?

Question

I'm four and a half months pregnant, and getting heart burn for about two weeks now. I didn't get it with my first, and I ate altot ofChilee and tomatoes. My second child I got it bad. I tried my best to be careful what I eat. But I got it when I was five months all the way till birth. I asked my doctor and do look it up but never the answer I need to hear. Does any one know why we get heart burn when we are pregnant or what its from. I would like to get the actually answer from really facts. Can anyone help me out. "yes yes I hear it all the time, supposivly that means your child will havealtoot of hair. Please anyone give your advice or opinion.

Answer 1

The actual/factual reason that you get heartburn is because of the hormone relaxin.  This hormone is produced during pregnancy and is necessary to relax your joints in your pelvis in order to allow the baby through.  The hormone also has other actions throughout the body.  One of those actions is to relax the sphincter at the top of the stomach as well as relax the entire gastrointestinal tract.  The result of the relaxing of the pyloric sphincter (at the top of the stomach) leads to the regurgitation of stomach acid and food into the esophagus, causing the burning sensation.  The hormone also has a tendency to slow the movement in the intestines and can cause constipation.

It's actually an old wives tale that you get heartburn because your baby has hair.  I have heard many many women say they had really bad heartburn, and yet they had bald babies.  So the amount of hair on the baby's head is actually not related at all to the amount of heartburn that you have.  Many women have bad heartburn during the entire pregnancy, mostly because the combination of the relaxin hormone and the increasing size of the baby putting more pressure on the lower part of the stomach pushing more pressure towards the top of the stomach, potentially making the heartburn worse.  Hope you feel better

Answer 2

First of all every pregnancy is unique, so just because something happened one way the first time doesnt mean it will be the same this time around....and for that darn heartburn, its because your stomach is being pushed up closer to you esophogus to make room for your baby.  Since its so close to your esophogus, all of your stomach acids are able to jump up your throat, ouch!! i feel your pain, im 7 months and my throat has been on fire!! The best way to avoid this pesky problem is to eat SMALL meals, and slowly....if your stomach is full of a BIG meal then that means MORE acids jumping up your throat....also dont lie down after a mean, you wanna keep your esophogus upright so that gravity is on your side....lastly avoid tomatoes and spices and drink lots of water.