Treatment to stop reflux in pregnancy includes making changes in diet, stopping smoking, avoiding bedtime right after meals, taking medications, and drinking a few teas, such as ginger tea and chamomile tea.
Reflux in pregnancy is characterized primarily by the symptom of heartburn, which begins at any time during pregnancy and worsens with increasing baby size. This problem arises due to hormonal changes that leave the intestinal flow slower and due to the growth of the fetus, which compresses the stomach and forces the food upwards, causing the reflux.
Symptoms
The symptoms of reflux in pregnancy are the same as disease causes in all people, such as:
- Heartburn and burning;
- Feeling of food coming back and forth through the stomach;
- Nausea and vomiting;
- Frequent seizures;
- Swelling in the belly.
These symptoms usually get stronger and more frequent after the 27th week of gestation, and women who have had this problem before or who have been pregnant are more likely to develop reflux.
Treatment
Treatment for reflux during pregnancy includes changes in diet, lifestyle, and medication use, as shown below:
Diet
Changes in diet include consuming only small amounts of food at each meal, increasing the number of meals a day to maintain adequate intake of calories.
In addition, avoid consumption of chocolate, mint, coffee, pepper and acidic foods such as orange and pineapple, as they relax the esophageal muscle, facilitating the return of food, and irritate the stomach, worsening the symptoms of the disease .
It is important to be aware of which foods cause the onset of symptoms to remove them from the diet as harmful foods vary according to the body of each person. See more tips on Diet for reflux.
Lifestyle changes
In addition to taking care of the diet, it is also important to stop smoking and avoid lying down right after meals, and wait at least 2 hours.
In cases of nocturnal reflux, the bed head should be raised 5 to 15 cm, as this slope helps prevent food from returning to the stomach.
Medicines
Some magnesium or calcium-based medicines can be used during pregnancy to combat reflux symptoms such as Magnesium Biscuit, Magnesium Milk or Milanta Plus.
However, it is important to remember that every medication should be taken according to medical advice. In addition, pregnant women should avoid using bicarbonate based medications as they increase the retention of fluids.
Natural Treatment
To treat reflux naturally, you can use alternatives such as acupuncture and aromatherapy, which uses essential oils of lemon and orange to massage the chest and back or to exhale vapors into the environment.
Another alternative is to consume the teas of peppermint, camomile, ginger and dandelion, noting that dandelion is contraindicated in cases of diabetes as it interferes with the medication. See the full list of teas that are banned during pregnancy.
The following video brings tips on feeding to fight reflux, but it is important to remember that during pregnancy it is not recommended to lose weight.
If in addition to reflux you also have gastritis, see how to treat this problem here.
