26 weeks : hungry but painful to eat much

[michgross]

I'm posting on behalf of my wife who is 26 weeks pregnant. Recently she has been struggling to eat much because she gets a tight feeling in her belly when eating and it becomes too painful to continue. We checked an online calculator today and her weight gain is a few kilos below average. I was wondering if this is a bit of a circle where the low weight gain is a reason for the tightness?

We will be speaking to the midwife tomorrow but I was wondering if anyone here has been in a similar situation and what they did to manage it? Are there good high calorie food/drinks that she can have that won't fill her up too much?

I can get uncomfortably bloated after eating, despite having quite an appetite. What works for me is going out for a good 30 minute walk each day, and eating smaller meals more frequently. So for lunch I might have one half of a meal at 12pm, then eat again at 2pm.

I’ve also found I need to cut out refined carbs, particularly in the evening, and fill up on veg more.

The feeling I have though is bloating and indigestion, as opposed to a ‘tight feeling’ as such. See what the midwife says. Best of luck to your wife though, pregnancy is a miracle but hard work nonetheless.

Nah I hurt for hours after eating if I have a normal sized meal. My stomach feels tight and I struggle to move. I’m now 33 weeks and it started around 26/27 weeks. I’ve gained a normal amount during this pregnancy so it’s definitely not because of low weight gain

only thing I can do is eat little and often so more like grazing. This is what my midwife recommended and it’s the only thing that works.

Yeah I have this throughout my current pregnancy and my last. It comes on some weeks and then my tummy stretches and catches up, I feel fine for a week and then the following week I can barely eat again. It comes in waves