Will pregnant women drink more water and have more amniotic fluid?

As the saying goes, you are what you eat, so many expectant mothers with less amniotic fluid believe that drinking more water can replenish the amniotic fluid in the uterus. In fact, this is a wrong perception. Drinking more water can replenish amniotic fluid, but it needs to be supplemented with other treatments to correctly replenish amniotic fluid to ensure that the fetus can develop and grow normally. Below, we will introduce to you the normal amount of amniotic fluid, the causes of low amniotic fluid, and solutions!

1. If I have less amniotic fluid, can I replenish it by drinking more water?

Insufficient placental blood flow due to maternal diseases such as gestational hypertension or insufficient blood volume due to maternal water loss can also cause a decrease in amniotic fluid. For these people, drinking more water may help increase amniotic fluid, but it must be combined with other treatments.

Different patients with the same symptoms of low amniotic fluid may have different causes. Therefore, simply drinking more water may not necessarily increase the amount of amniotic fluid.

Drinking water has certain effects, but it must be drunk scientifically. It is not the case that the more water you drink, the better. If you drink water quickly, cup after cup, it will act as a diuretic, and the more you drink, the less amniotic fluid you have. Drinking water in small sips and intermittently can be slowly absorbed by the human body, increasing blood volume and thus amniotic fluid. While drinking water for treatment, patients can also lie on their left side. Since the uterus rotates to the right in the late pregnancy, which will affect the blood supply to the uterus, lying on the left side can effectively improve the blood circulation of the uterus.

2. What is the normal amount of amniotic fluid?

As the pregnancy progresses, the amount of amniotic fluid in the pregnant woman will gradually increase. Under normal circumstances, the gap between the fetal body and the fetal membrane is relatively stable, so B-ultrasound measurement of the amniotic fluid index is an accurate method. The normal value of the amniotic fluid index should be between 8 and 18 cm. More than 18 cm is considered polyhydramnios, and less than 8 cm is considered oligohydramnios. If the amniotic fluid index is less than or equal to 5cm, it means that there is too little amniotic fluid, which will affect the growth and development of the fetus, and may even cause fetal suffocation and death due to umbilical cord compression.

3. Reasons for low amniotic fluid in pregnant women

The low level of amniotic fluid is mostly related to the personal constitution of expectant mothers. It does not necessarily mean that mothers who like to drink water will have more amniotic fluid, and mothers who do not like to drink water will necessarily have less amniotic fluid. The most common causes of oligohydramnios include ruptured membranes, placental problems, and disease factors. Oligohydramnios is most common during the last stages of pregnancy, especially after the due date. The later the oligohydramnios condition occurs, the less impact the fetus will have.