Acid reflux and sickness during pregnancy

Pregnancy hormones can relax the muscular valve between the stomach and oesophagus and can slow digestion. As the uterus grows, pressure on the stomach may also encourage stomach contents to move upward. Reflux tends to cause burning behind the breastbone, burping or a sour taste; pregnancy sickness more often brings nausea or vomiting.

The sensations can overlap, and vomiting itself can leave the throat or chest irritated. Keeping track of whether symptoms follow meals, occur on waking or worsen when lying down helps separate the patterns.

Try small, regular meals and sip fluids between meals if drinking with food makes nausea or fullness worse. Stay upright after eating, choose foods that feel tolerable, and avoid personal triggers such as rich, spicy or acidic meals. At night, elevating the head end of the bed may limit reflux.

Before using an antacid, alginate, anti-sickness medicine or herbal product, check with a pharmacist, midwife or doctor that it is suitable in pregnancy. Do not stop prescribed medicine without discussing it with the prescriber.

Contact your maternity team or clinician promptly if you cannot keep fluids down, pass much less urine, feel faint, vomit blood, have black stools, develop severe abdominal pain, have trouble swallowing or lose weight. Chest tightness with breathlessness, sweating, faintness or pain spreading to the arm, jaw or back needs emergency assessment.

Ongoing vomiting can lead to dehydration even when reflux is also present. Early advice can help protect nutrition, hydration and medicine use during pregnancy.

Describe what you can eat and drink, how often vomiting happens, urine changes, any weight change and which remedies you have tried. Ask which reflux and anti-sickness treatments suit your stage of pregnancy and how to take them alongside prenatal supplements or other medicines.