Constipation during Pregnancy

[Lloydy88]

Hi all,
Not the nicest post and part of pregnancy by far but just looking to see if anyone has had the same as me and can give any other advice.
I am on my 2nd pregnancy and the first time I had bad constipation but this time it's unreal.
I eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day (bar a Saturday where it's treat day) and drink between 2 and 3 litres of water a day - water is the only thing I drink apart from the odd cup of tea really.

My issue is I work as a teacher full time and the other day (sorry for the info) - I was on the loo for 20mins trying to go, was desperate, but it wouldnt budge and I can't keep doing that - luckily I was on dinner at the time.

Sorry for the 'yucky' post but if anyone has and help I would be so grateful -
I know there's not a lot you can take so if you know of anything, that would be great! :)

[BL89]

No matter how much fruit and veg I ate nothing. The only thing that helped me was brown bread! I hope you get some relief soon, good luck

[Milcd]

My GP prescribed me lactulose which did the trick. I haven't found that any of the other remedies work such as eating prunes or drinking prune juice. You can buy it from a pharmacy but it is quite expensive and you will probably find you get through a lot of it. Hopefully that would work for you as well.

[Gerdticker]

Dulco ease stool softeners

Baked beans

Tinned pears

[Ohhiiii]

I suffer with IBS/chronic constipation and live on a daily Laxido anyway, but since 36 weeks have been eating dates and have noticed that I have been going twice a day and so much softer....could be hormone related but I think the dates are responsible. I have 4-6 medjool dates in the morning after breakfast depending on their size. Might be worth a try!

[Tarantallegra]

I'm with you, honestly it's been so bad I've cried over it. Pathetic I know but sitting there half in half out for half an hour is painful and horrible, nothing moves at all and I've had to resort to other measures to remove it. I won't go into detail but there's not much other option. Started drinking prune juice yesterday to try and combat it and so far so good but we'll see. The really bad incidents haven't been every time so I'm still terrified to go.

[omg35]

Linseed oil on your bran flakes, baked beans and loads of onions. If that fails, lactulose and glycerin suppositories, tho I'd recommend the latter for weekends only as it's impossible to silently fart after using one. Sorry for the TMI

[aToadOnTheWhole]

Licorice. I ate half a bag of pontefract cakes with a glass of orange juice and it had the desired effect.

[sarahc336]

I've found watery fruit helps me, water melon is good I've found be aware if you take extra iron tablets it'll make you even more constipated. It's one of the worst and most in spoken about side effects of pregnancy isn't it xx

[FilthyforFirth]

I take Ondansatron 3 times a day (and have done for 7 months) so my constipation is awful. I take a daily suppositry called gylcerin which is safe in pregnancy. So is senekot, lactulose and laxido. I often use a combination on bad days.

[Centaurpede]

Fybogel sachets are really good, mix with water and have one in the morning and one in the evening!

[bellsshells]

It's all about diet.

I had horrendous constipation from about 10-24 weeks and tried all the things mentioned here and nothing really worked.

Then at 24 weeks got told I had gestational diabetes, so had to overhaul diet - cutting out all crap (no sugary treats), low carb (and only brown ones), more veg than you can cope with (fills up the meals!) and plenty of protein.

The constipation has definitely gone!!!

[peachypetals]

I have avoided it so far (29 weeks)
I eat a slice of Hovis seed sensations most days. Eat lots of fruit and veg and add flax seeds and linseeds to cereal.

[Driftwood2000]

Are you a taking multivitamins? I found that the iron in my pregnacare was making me constipated. I stopped taking it and I went back to normal within 3 days I would say. I now mainly have folic acid with vitamin D and then have 2 or 3 days in the week where I take pregnacare. It seems to have worked as I haven't had any constipation since. Hope this helps 😊

[RandomMess]

I suffer from hormonal constipation 🙄 pregnancy was horrific. Psyllium husk capsules are ace, the stuff absorbs water into your stools like all other softeners but without having to swallow lactulose or fybogel or other yucky stuff.

[RandomMess]

If you need iron use spatone or floradix not tablets.

[Charlotte2020]

I've found if it gets really bad order a greasy takeaway- ideally a curry!
I've also had proper coffee rather than decaf every now and then to try and move things, that worked.
It's been a nightmare some days for me, I found stool softeners didn't really help.

[rachb2019]

It's awful - I hate having to sit on the loo for so long trying (unsuccessfully!) to go. Especially when I need to be somewhere and am stuck on the toilet. Argh!

[Hirewiredays]

Dried apricots x 6/8 worked for me!!

[ivykaty44]

Unsulphered apricots - jyst 5 per day, add in half a glass of prune juice and have this every single night

Mornings have decafe coffee if you drink coffee

Try raspberry’s and apples, along with pears - tinned is fine and keep up with the water