- What is heartburn?
- Why is heartburn so common in pregnancy?
- How can I help heartburn?
- ⚠️ Exercises not to do with heartburn
- Exercises to help heartburn
- Breathing exercise to help heartburn
- Foods to help heartburn
- ⚠️ Tips to alleviate heartburn
- Tools to help heartburn
What is heartburn?
Well if your reading this, i’m pretty sure your feeling it. The NHS state “Heartburn is a burning feeling in the chest caused by stomach acid travelling up towards the throat (acid reflux).“http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heartburn
Why is it so common in pregnancy?
Heartburn is very common in pregnancy especially as your baby grows bigger. I spoke briefly about heartburn in pregnancy and exercise
During the prenatal period our amazing bodies produce the hormone progesterone, which helps relax the stomach to throat valve, to help create more room for your baby to grow and develop.
As your baby gets bigger there’s less room for your organs as your baby needs it.
This puts pressure on your internal organs especially the stomach and intestines, creating acid reflux to be more likely to be pushed upwards as your baby grows.
My midwife used to say “he’s going to have a lot of hair” an old wives tale for why it’s so common in pregnancy. However much I believed it, mainly because, both his father and I have thick hair, Sebalicious came out with a thin mohican.
It is very challenging to completely eradicate heartburn during pregnancy, because it is, unfortunately, fortunately, a very natural part of pregnancy.
Try to remember its helping your baby grow and develop, as healthy as can be.
When can heartburn come in pregnancy?
Heartburn is commonly more prominent in the third trimester, however some pregnant woman can experience sooner.
How can I help heartburn?
Even though heartburn is very natural and common in pregnancy, please don’t lose hope ladies. There are so many tips and tricks to alleviate heartburn.
There are breathing exercises, postures and poses to do and not to do to help heartburn.
There are foods that will help and those, that really won’t.
Plus there’s a few must have products, to help you along your heartburn helper way.
⚠️ Prenatal exercises not to do with heartburn
Exercises definitely not to do with heartburn are inversions.
Any exercise postures that require your heart to be higher than your head, is an inversion.
Think about your body and what i’ve already explained is causing heartburn. With this in mind, any posture that helps acid to move up, isn’t going to help heartburn.
The most common exercises not to do in yoga, are
- Down dog
- Bridge pose
- Shoulder stand
- Forward folds
Leave these exercises and your handstands, till postnatal time, if you wish to lessen symptoms of heartburn.
Prenatal yoga poses to help heartburn
Exercises to help heartburn are, postures that open your chest.
- Half moon ?(Ardra Chandrasana)
- Warrior one helps the chest open upwards and navigates the oesophagus to work downward. The hands can be at shoulder width to start and together if comfortable and able to keep chest upwards, as demonstrated below:
- Half moon pose whilst sitting on your birthing ball. By sitting on the ball and moving your hips in a circular motion or figure of 8, it can help create more space around your belly and chest.
- I used the birthing ball instead of the sofa, especially in the third trimester. I’d roll my hips in an eight shape motion to free up the digestion and help my heartburn, often naturally lifting up my arms into half moon to create more room and space within. This was my favourite heartburn helper exercise. I’d often do it for five minutes, before adding in the breathing exercise.
- Sitting with hands behind you and fingers nearest your bum if you can. Press your hands into the floor or ball, it will naturally open and lift the chest.
- Half Fish pose (matsyasana), with cushions behind you if needed for extra support. This pose opens the chest and hips, releases the back and stretches the abdomen gently.
- Walking encourages a downward digestion motion and can help heartburn.
- Dreading water not only builds up pelvic floor muscles and gluteal muscles, all power houses for pregnancy and birthing, it also helps encourage a downward flow of digestion and heartburn helper.
- Remember lifting your heart up, opens the chest which helps rid heartburn. This comes from our posture. When we are pregnant, its much more challenging to lift our heart up. This is due to the belly growing, becoming heavier and gravity pulling the weight forward which can increase the likelihood of kyphosis It also encourages the body to work downward. When we let our heart (chest) sag down, it naturally rounds our shoulders, concaving the back and compressing the chest, which will not help heartburn.
- Wall work
- Shoulder opener– Turn sideways to the wall and your nearest hand to the wall, place on the wall at shoulder height. Now walk forwards without moving the hand on the wall. Remember, lift your heart upwards to really open your chest. Repeat other side.
- Birthing ball sequence will encourage your breathe into your belly, relaxing your body and evidently help heartburn. Check out birthing ball
Breathing exercise to help heartburn
You ever watched a baby breathe? Their wee buddha belly goes up and down with no thought, just action. Its a natural, healthy, innate quality, most humans are born and blessed with.
Find your belly breathe again, it will help your heartburn.
Breathe into your baby.
Place one hand on chest, the other hand on your baby concentrating your breathe into your belly, past your chest.
Think about all that oxygen going to your baby, relaxing everything downwards, rather than chest breathing, where our inners tighten and can become stuck.
Every inhale through the nose, the breathe becomes deeper, as you soften everything down, with every exhale. This can encourage the stomach acid, downwards.
The more we chest breathe, the harder our body has to work and the worse, heartburn can feel.
The more we can relax into our naturally belly breathe, the more our body will work for us.
Our body is remarkable at helping us. Work with your natural breathe cycle.
Find it in your belly.
Foods to help heartburn
- Foods high in water content, like cucumber, grapes, courgettes, lettuce, blueberries are fabulous for helping heartburn, as they are fab for neutralising stomach acid.
- Pineapple and papaya are high in digestive enzymes.
- Apple cider vinegar is known to help balance the stomach Ph acidity that can help heartburn.
- Celery is also known to help heartburn. This article explains celeries health benefits in more details https://www.medicalmedium.com/blog/10-health-benefits-of-celery-juice?fbclid=IwAR19u-uCFKCu2uxQrqvf59o-Ggs0R-JKPJr3fUFHJ5r9mBAZbAXlL4lr5S4
- Eating Almonds can help, as the natural milk produced from it can soothe heartburn.
- Drinking ginger tea, is not only a great natural diuretic and cleanser for the body, and packed full of vitamins and minerals, it also has amazing benefits, including helping lessen acid reflux and helping morning sickness. Heres a medical article for more information https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ginger-tea-pregnancy
- Try eating more liquid based foods to help the body digest easier. Soups and smoothies, may become your best friend.
⚠️ Lifestyle tips to alleviate heartburn
I found this helpful medical article for a more complex read https://www.fishertitus.org/health/foods-to-avoid-with-gerd
Overall tips to alleviate heartburn are as follows:
- Limit caffeine– if intake is high, it naturally creates a softening between the stomach and oesophagus which is the cause of acid reflux
- Avoid fried foods as it increases the fat content which is linked at causing more acid reflux.
- Avoid alcohol as it relaxes the valve between the stomach and oesophagus.
- Avoid high fat dairy products as high fats increase acid reflux.
- Limit high fatty meats like pork, lamb and beef, as they stay longer in the stomach and heighten the chances of acid reflux.
- Limit fizzy drinks as the carbon creates aired pressured pockets in the stomach, that increase acid reflux.
- Eat smaller portions and try eating little and often. This will support your stomach to digest the food better and more efficiently.
- Stop eating a few hours before bed to limit acid reflux and allow your body time, to digest the food and prepare for sleeping.
- Use an extra pillow in bed so your head is higher than your heart, to create and encourage a downward flow of matter.
Tools to help heartburn
These products listed below can really help to alleviate heartburn.
- T2 Tea – Liquorice Legs, Loose tea
- A PharMeDoc Pregnancy Pillow can be used to heighten your head and encourage down flow.
- A birthing ball for sitting, exercising, eating can literally can be a saving grace as pregnancy progresses.
- Getting a Braun handheld blender will encourage ease to make smoothies and soups easier. Plus once your babies onto the weaning stage, its so handy, quick, efficient and effective for this too.
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