Black stool in pregnancy

Prenatal vitamins containing iron may turn bowel movements dark. Food and bismuth-containing stomach products can do the same. Melaena is different: it tends to be sticky, shiny, tar-like, and strongly smelly. Gastritis, Helicobacter pylori infection, or a peptic ulcer may affect the upper digestive tract and can present with black stool. Pregnancy does not make a potentially bleeding stool colour change safe to ignore.

Check the label of your prenatal supplement and note when the colour change began. Continue prescribed pregnancy medicines unless your maternity or medical team tells you otherwise. Contact your midwife, obstetric team, or doctor if stool is tarry, repeatedly black, or unexplained. Tell them about abdominal pain, vomiting, dizziness, and any medicine used for nausea or heartburn.

Seek urgent care for black stool with faintness, severe weakness, breathlessness, confusion, severe abdominal pain, vomiting blood, or coffee-ground vomit. Also seek advice promptly if you cannot keep fluids down or feel suddenly unwell. These warning signs concern your health during pregnancy and should not be attributed to the supplement without assessment.

Ask whether the supplement explains the colour, whether an examination or blood test is needed, and which pregnancy-safe options can treat stomach symptoms. Bring the supplement package and a list of every medicine, vitamin, and herbal product you use.