Most pregnant women will experience gas and bloating during their pregnancy, and these are generally nothing to worry about unless accompanied by great abdominal pain or discomfort.
What causes it?
In early pregnancy, your body is releasing a ton of the hormone progesterone, which relaxes smooth muscle across your body, including in your gastrointestinal tract, slowing down your digestive functioning and resulting in excess gas. Later on in pregnancy, your growing uterus overcrowds your stomach, and slows digestion down even more.
Tips?
If you are lactose-intolerant, avoiding dairy-based products is the most effective way of dealing with flatulence. For those who are not lactose-intolerant, avoiding food and drinks that are high in fructose, and flatulence-inducing vegetables like broccoli and asparagus could help alleviate some of the gas. Fried foods are also likely to result in flatulence, so you might want to consider reducing these in your diet.
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Sources
- Mary M. Murry, R.N., C.N.M. “Gas in pregnancy: Why it happens, what to do.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic, 4/23/2013. Web.
