How can you ease heartburn during pregnancy?

Pregnancy can relax the muscle that normally keeps stomach contents in the stomach, while the growing uterus can increase pressure on the stomach. This may cause burning in the chest, a sour taste or discomfort after meals. Heartburn can also occur with Acid Reflux, gastritis, a hiatus hernia or a peptic ulcer, so persistent symptoms should not automatically be attributed to pregnancy.

Eat smaller meals and remain upright after eating. Avoid lying down soon after a meal, and identify foods that clearly trigger symptoms. Raising the head of the bed may help night-time discomfort. Ask your maternity clinician or pharmacist before taking antacids, alginates or other Acid Reflux Medication, because product ingredients and suitability vary in pregnancy. Do not use a treatment borrowed from someone else or stop a prescribed medicine without advice.

Contact your maternity team if symptoms are frequent, severe, or not improving with these measures. Seek urgent help for chest pain with breathlessness, faintness or sweating, vomiting blood, black stools, severe upper-abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, difficulty swallowing, severe headache, visual changes or sudden swelling. These symptoms can need evaluation beyond ordinary heartburn.

Ask which medicines and doses are suitable at your stage of pregnancy, whether another cause needs checking, how to space treatment from prenatal supplements, and which symptoms should prompt same-day care.