I need your lentil-weavery tips for beating acid reflux...

[MrsMerryHenry]

...with my first pg I got through it without taking a drop of Gaviscon. Thing is, I can't remember what it was I did instead! Heeelp!

My Indian friend swears by yoghurt lassis. Yoghurt, dairy generally, peppermint or camomile tea, fennel tea, avoiding food too close to bed are all meant to have an impact. I have to say that no lentil weaving magic worked for me in my first pregnancy and neither did Gaviscon! I think it depends on how bad your acid reflux is. Garden variety may respond to lentilweaving/whale song. More serious reflux may not. FIne to take Gaviscon in pregnancy, BTW.

You can also try sleeping propped up or even raising the head of the bed so it is higher than the foot.

Good luck!

Thanks roary! I have heard that milk products aren't ideal as they're too extreme an opposite to the acidic environment of the stomach, so they can give a sort of shock to the system. However, your teas suggestion sounds good - and it's possible that it was mint tea which I relied on last time around.

My anti-Gaviscon thing is just that I'm the sort of person who never takes medicine unless I absolutely, absolutely have to. I'd much rather go natch.

Thanks so much for your suggestions! (ahem - scoffed 4 leftover roast potatoes 20 mins ago so clearly not going to be a good night )

Add lots of black pepper to everything too - this is supposed to reduce stomach acid (and I know it makes eggs more digestible for me).

If you want to be really lentil-weavery, can I suggest vegetarianism? I think I had one go with indigestion in the whole pregnancy. But it was nearly 6 years ago...

Ohhh...I was a vegetarian for four years...but I just enjoy meat too much!

Black pepper, though - mmm! I can handle that! Hmm...on my muesli?

Make it sugar free? If there's one thing that sets me off it's sugar

What???? Cut out sugar and meat? Are you trying to kill me????

Oh - you mean sugar-free muesli? Phew! Actually, I'm extremely lentil-weavery on that front: I bake my own bread and make my own (sugar-free) muesli.

re dairy and the gut, because yoghurt (and hence lassi) is more acidic than milk it isn't such a shock to the acid stomach environment, and if it's live it might even help boost your friendly bacteria which'll help too.

and yes certainly mint tea - Somerfield Best Ever or Finest or whatever it's called is particularly good value iirc.

Peppermint tea and live yoghurt are helping me at the moment (the Activia ones are currently on 2 for 1 at Sainsbo's). I've also found whole almonds (shell off but with the brown "skin" bit still on iyswim) are really helping. Oh -- and lemon barley water oddly enough. I just assumed it would be really acidic and would make it much worse but its one of the only things I can drink. Also - don't drink anything with your meals because it can make it worse - just drink between meals

I do revert to the occasional Rennie or extra strong mint just before bed though

I think that it's a matter of trial and error, in terms of what will or won't work. Also, the hard part about pregnancy reflux is that it is physiological. It's caused both by pressure from the baby in the later weeks and by hormones causing the sphincter opening up the stomach throughout pregnancy. So a lot of the food 'cures' won't help, whereas they might with regular heartburn. If I ate something that made it worse I then avoided it, but honestly, I got to the stage where I could have been eating the most inoffensive food possible (and was)and was still getting heartburn.

For example, quite a few people told me that pineapple is good for heartburn so I tried it with truly devestating results! I did have success with the teas (esp fennel, can't remember if I mentioned that one) and with yoghurt.

Good luck and I wouldn't worry about tarnishing your lentil badge too much if it comes to the drugs route: I thoroughly recommend zantac, which kicks the ass of gaviscon.

PS I am currently vegetarian because of pregnancy related food aversions. Still getting heartburn although nothing like last pregnancy yet!

Almonds! That was it, Tillyscout! That's what saved me during my last preg!

Thankfully my stomach appears to have settled for the time being, but I'm sure that's only temporary...gives me time to stock up on almonds!

Roary - just the idea of swallowing anything that's not bio-naturo-organically ecologically bursting with the very lifeblood of Mama Nature sends me into a tizz! Only kidding - but I'll only resort to meds as a last resort, however, I'll keep zantac at the back of my mind just in case.

lol, zantac as a last resort? tut, you haven't suffered lived.

zantac never did much for me. Had to do the hard stuff.

I would second roarys fennel tea, also sleeping propped up at a 45 degree angle and luke warm 'hot' chocolate. dunno why, but it worked for me. (sometimes!)

I can't say almonds have ever touched my heartburn. I did try way back in the distant days of my first pregnancy. Now I like zantac. A lot. I would go mad if someone told me I had to do without zantac for the next 20 weeks.

Also very good is a cup of hot Ovaltine (other brands are available) before bedtime. I don't know why it works, but for me, it really helps.

2Children, it's not a competitionnnnnnn!

I was told by a nutritionist that it's trial and error - some people respond to alkaline foods like diary because it lowers the acidity in your stomach while others respond to acidic foods becaue it apparently kick starts your body's production of acid reducing enzymes.

I find eatig rice - plain boiled, maybe with a few peas, in small regular amounts helps me![oh, this is for regular reflux, not pregnancy]!

It's not?

Well everything else about parenting seems to be................

And just for the record your name makes me feel nauseous. I'd booked a skiing holiday in the French Alpes before I found out I was pg with no.1 and was 6 weeks in and suffering terrible MS. I get association sickness now whenever I get close to a French Accent.

Do I win?

(sorry you're suffering though. Heartburn aint nice at all)

roary i'm sorry the pineapple was a disaster for you, i found in both pregnancies that it worked brilliantly. The trick is that it has to be fresh pineapple, neither juice nor tinned contains the right enzyme (the enzyme is supposed to help close the valve at the top of the stomach that gets all flappy during pregnancy). I found peppermint tea was helpful too, although maybe it just gave me minty burps which were a little more pleasant than tasting dinner again

Yoghurt seems to help for me, or anything dairy and gloopy like rice pudding. (But I am also having gallons of gaviscon especially at night, because it works for longer.)

embrace the Gaviscon, embrace it..I got it from the doctor in giant litre bottles. Some mornings I awoke with a crusted Gavison moustache having swigged the bottle during the night and fallen asleep
Our work Christmas party had as sponsored by Gaviscon on the invitation and sure enough I had a bottle in my evening bag

I tried everything before the Gaviscon, everything. The doctor said to think of it as liquid chalk. In the end I would have taken anything as it was making me vomit.

Only with one pregnancy though the other was completely fine??

2ChildrenPlus is definitely hormonal today.

Rofl at Gaviscon moustache! I shall not succumb...I shall not succumb...I shall not...

MrsMerry, strength to your lentil-weaving arm!

I tried the pineapple in hopes that it would end heartburn and bring on labour but did neither ;)

I must go cuddle my package of sweet, sweet zantac.