What should you know about constipation before labour?

Pregnancy hormones can slow the bowel, while the growing womb may add pressure. Iron supplements, less activity, changes in eating and not drinking enough can also make stools harder. Constipation may mean passing stools less often, straining, or feeling that the bowel has not emptied fully. It does not reliably predict when labour will start.

If constipation is persistent, a clinician can review medicines and consider other contributors such as dehydration, hypothyroidism or irritable bowel syndrome. A symptom page on [Constipation](/symptoms/constipation/) explains the usual pattern.

Drink fluids regularly unless your maternity team has advised a restriction. Add fibre gradually through vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains or fibre-containing foods, and keep gently active if your pregnancy team says movement is suitable. Allow time for the toilet, respond to the urge, and avoid straining.

Do not start a laxative, herbal product or stool softener without checking that it is suitable in pregnancy. Ask whether an iron preparation or another medicine could be contributing. Nutrition Counselling may help you adjust fibre and fluids without worsening bloating.

Contact your maternity unit promptly for severe or worsening abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, a swollen abdomen, blood in the stool, black tarry stool, faintness, fever, or inability to pass stool and gas. Contact them urgently for vaginal bleeding, leaking fluid, regular painful contractions, or reduced fetal movement, because these are pregnancy concerns rather than signs to manage as simple constipation.

Ask which bowel treatment is appropriate at your stage of pregnancy, whether your prenatal iron needs review, how much fibre and fluid suits you, and which symptoms should lead you directly to the maternity unit.