What to do if your belly is always bloated during pregnancy

Pregnancy is not an easy thing. There are all kinds of morning sickness in the early stages. It’s really scary to see them not being able to eat. Some people are not unable to eat, but cannot digest the food after eating. This is also a problem. Excess food residues accumulate in the intestines. It is fine in the short term, but it will cause bloating over time. Pregnant women are not allowed to take medicine casually, which will cause great pain to expectant mothers. So what should you do if you have bloating during pregnancy?

1. Western medicine’s view: Hormonal changes cause constipation and bloating. During pregnancy, due to hormonal changes in the body, the secretion of progesterone becomes significantly more active. Although this hormone can inhibit the contraction of uterine muscles to prevent miscarriage, it will also slow down the body's intestinal peristalsis, causing not only morning sickness, nausea, vomiting, and gastric acid reflux into the esophagus in the early stages of pregnancy, but also constipation, which will cause discomfort in the entire gastrointestinal tract. After the second half of pregnancy, the gradually enlarging uterus will push the stomach upward and also compress the rectum, causing excessive absorption of intestinal water and making defecation difficult. When constipation is severe, bloating will become more obvious.

2. TCM perspective: Changes in eating habits. From the perspective of modern Chinese medicine, the main cause of bloating is that bloating during pregnancy may not be directly related to the fetus. It is more likely to be caused by changes in eating habits. For example, eating a lot of tonic food during pregnancy may cause difficulty in digestion, or pregnant women may consume more gas-producing foods due to changes in taste. There are many reasons for causing bloating, and a differential diagnosis by a doctor is the only way to find the root cause.

In fact, from the perspective of modern Chinese and Western medicine, many dietary and behavioral taboos during pregnancy are unnecessary. Basically, pregnant women can still live a normal life as long as they don't overwork, get enough rest, and eat small meals frequently. If you are very concerned about the taboos during pregnancy, you may as well ask your doctor to make an individual diagnosis based on your personal constitution, so that you can smoothly get through the discomfort during pregnancy.

What to do if you have bloating during pregnancy:

1. Eat small meals frequently to help the stomach digest food faster. To effectively relieve bloating, you must start with diet. If a pregnant woman eats a lot of food when she feels bloated, it will increase the burden on gastrointestinal digestion and make the bloating worse. Therefore, pregnant women may wish to change their habit of eating three meals a day to eating six to eight meals a day, with smaller portions at each meal. Be careful not to eat too many kinds of food at each meal, and don’t eat too liquid food, because liquid food is not necessarily easy to digest. On the contrary, pregnant women can choose to eat semi-solid foods such as oatmeal.

2. Develop the habit of daily bowel movements. Eat more vegetables, fruits and high-fiber foods to promote gastrointestinal motility.

3. Appropriate exercise - Intestinal peristalsis can be promoted through whole body or waist muscle activities.

Doing proper exercise such as walking during pregnancy can also promote intestinal motility and relieve bloating. Therefore, it is recommended that pregnant women go for a walk outside for about 20 minutes 30 minutes to 1 hour after a meal to help with bowel movements and gas discharge. Please note that some activities that involve impact or require running too intensely are absolutely not suitable.

4. Take perilla drink. Take an appropriate amount of perilla leaves and add water to boil. The amount and proportion are not limited. It can promote qi circulation and strengthen the spleen and stomach. You can also use tangerine peel (fresh tangerine peel) instead of perilla.

5. Drink enough water

Drink boiled water before breakfast and take in at least 2,000cc of water every day. You can also add a little honey to the water to prevent the stool from drying out, but use a small amount as a rule.