Help! Constant Sour Stomach-what Can I Eat? 8 Mon. Pregnant Any Food Suggestions

I went through the same thing and found that milk helped me more than any antacid did. My situatuion was just that I have a small torsoe and the baby was pushing all my organs up and every which way causing me to have digestions troubles. Eating a little bit at a time helps as well.
Good luck!

Rooibos Tea - Red Bush Tea - is used for all ages from infants to the elderly to soothe stomach upset and colic. You can get some good brands at grocery stores and some excellent organic blends at local tearooms. You can take it straight or with blends. I recommend orange or vanilla - not chai if you have a sensitive stomach now.

Try sipping it slowly - don't drink a whole cup at one time. Start off with a weak brew. Nothing too strong.

Mint and chamomile are also well-known tummy tamers.

Bananas helped me. I ate tons of them.

Hope you find something to help and that you have a great delivery.

Hi L.,
I had issues with acid long before getting pregnant, and Tums are not good for the level of acid it sounds like you have. Tums (and Rolaids, etc.) neutralize the acid that is in your stomach, but then your system says, "Hey, I'd better make some acid for my stomach! There isn't any in there!" and goes into acid-pumping overdrive. It's called a rebound effect. If your Ob is okay with this, you should get Prilosec and take it for a week. I used to take it by prescription before it was available over the counter and took one a day. My GI (stomach doc) had me take one in the morning and one before bed the first day and then one per day for the next six days. If the OTC Prilosec is also one per day, you should see if your OB is okay with your doubling up on day one by taking a pill every 12 hours. Prilosec turns off the pumps that create the acid, allowing your stomach lining to heal and stopping the pill-rebound-pill cycle. There is a slight rebound-effect when you stop Prilosec after a week, but it is nothing compared to what you get with Tums/Rolaids/Mailox/Mylanta/etc. I also found Prilosec to be more effective than Tagemet (sp?) or other similar products. In terms of what to eat, I always kept Sunshine brand unsalted tops ('cause I don't like salt and I don't like bloating) crackers -- basically Saltines but a bit better -- on my bedstand for middle of the night issues. The BRAT diet is also helpful: ripe Bananas (never green), Rice (plain), Applesauce (but not apples or apple juice), and Toast (dry). Eating just those items for a day or two should also help. Also, if you're taking prenatal vitamins with iron, you might want to check with your OB about switching to ones without iron. The iron can be too hard on people's stomachs sometimes. Also, be sure to eat smaller meals more frequently. If you eat more than your already pushed on tummy can take, any reflux will be worse. Regarding ginger, it's great for nausea from motion sickness, but I'm not sure if it is good for suppressing acid and the related nausea. It might actually be causing you to feel more acidic. Also, not eating is one of the worst things you can do for acid related nausea because nothing is in there to absorb acid and to protect your stomach lining. Try Prilosec (if okay with your OB) for a week with the BRAT diet and no other food for a couple of days. No, it's not a balanced diet, but it is fine for two or three days. Then introduce other foods slowly. Avoid fats and sugar until your stomach has been better for several days. The protein in dairy can also create acid for some people (completely unrelated to lactose intolerance). When you decide to re-introduce dairy, keep an eye on that. I hope you feel better soon!

You do not have enough acid in your stomack to digest what you eat so it comes back up. What you need is to sip some Apple Cider Vinigar. Taking tums nutralizes the acid in your stomach and makes it so you cannot breakdown calcium then the calcium solidifies in your kidneys and gall bladder giving you kindey stones and gall stones. Do not take any antacids they are very bad for you and do nothing for you but to give you a trip to the ER at some point.
Really just try the Apple Cider Vinigar you will feel relief in about 15 min. You only need about a shot glass size amount/1-2 ounces.
Also I saw someone recommend you drink milk. This is a BIG no-no! If your stomach acid has irritated your stomach or throat area milk will only irritate it more. Any doctor will tell you if you have stomach ulcers that you want to avoid all dairy until it heals.

Try some nuts. Have some saltine crackers by your bed and eat a few before you sit up. I think you have heartburn so eat small small meals and eat more often. Old wives tale says heart burn at the end means your baby has a full head of hair! Mine all had hair so who knows, could be true!

Congratulations!

Hi L.,

I have a couple of suggestions for you. First try eating some persimmons. They are know to help aid digestive problems. I suffer from acid reflux, and gastritis and when they are flaring up, eating a persimmon helps(they are in season now until end of Jan). Another thing I have tried is taking a tablespoon of vinegar. I know it sounds weird to fight acid with acid, but it has helped as well. I feel your pain. I hope you find the right remedy for you.

Hi L.,

Your nausea is caused by your blood sugar "tanking" because your baby is taking it all...means you need to eat more and more frequently. At your stage of pregnancy you need to be eating a whole lot more, LOL. Try this...multiple your weight by at least .8 to find out how many grams of protein you need a day. This will probably seem like a lot to you because you have not been getting enough. Take this number and divide it by the number of times you will be eating in a 24 hour period of time. You should be eating every 2 hours or so, little snack-like meals with protein and a complex carb. So, let's say you weigh 160. 80% of 160 is 128g. So if you are eating 10 small meal/snacks a day, this would be about 12 -13 g. of protein at each...some yogurt, or less than 2 cheese sticks, or a little piece of chicken (precook a bunch and just warm it up, or put cold on a salad, etc.),with a bit of complex carb of your choice (whole grain cracker, bread, brown rice, etc.). If you eat little amount frequently with enough Protein and complex carb, you will be able to maintain your blood sugar and minimize the acid problems. This is also how you eat when nursing...remember the baby is getting bigger and is eating more <smile>. Let us know how this works for you. -P-

I am pregnant too and am going through the same thing. Although I'm not as far along as you are. Just know that you are almost through it. I found that I can't eat any kind of sweets or I get horrible acid reflux at night. No matter what time of day I eat the sweets. With my last pregnancy the OBGyn said it was okay to take Prilosac OTC. It was a life safer. After two day on the pill I could eat anything I wanted. I didn't take it until the end of the pregnancy probably about where you are now. Things have changed in 2.5 years so I don't know if it is still okay to take. But it is worth talking to the doctor about. None of the natural remedies that the other posts have talked about ever worked for me. But everyone is different. Good luck, I hope you feel better soon.

Advice from someone who was in your same shoes...twice: Steer clear of soups. Everyone offers you soups when you don't feel well. Soups tend to have oils, and oils set off the vicious cycle. Plain baked potatoes may not sound appetizing but are helpful. You can bake sweet potatoes and they are not quite as dry. Don't add butter or sour cream as then you'll be dealing with the tummy again. Roasted turkey breast, no gravy or seasoned skin (I know how boring this sounds) is a great source of protein. It's easy on the tummy. For a quick meal, a rotisserie chicken (non BBQ) without the skin could do the same. You want to avoid the grease. I'd skip garlicky mashed potatoes loaded with butter and do the plain baked potato I recommended earlier. I also would try a simple rice, steamed plain or you could cook it in chicken broth if desperate for flavor. Brown rice cooked in water is still flavorful! For me, I found plain banana pancakes to be a lifesaver. Nothing special, just Bisquick pancake mix and fresh bananas added to batter. Since you aren't adding butter or syrup, those bananas help moisten the cakes.
Now, a few other things. You need to check in with your doc and be sure all has been well, and share these symptoms with him/her so you can decide together if anything should be worked up. They'll probably look to see how your BP is trending, check your urine to see if you are spilling anything into your urine that you shouldn't be. Also, talk with your doctor about discontinuing prenatal vitamins if you're still taking them with that tummy! If they know what's going on, they may tell you to stop the vitamins. You may be sensitive to something in the vitamin, iron for example. Once you try to rule out dietary causes and vitamins, you and your doctor can work together to see if there is a cause related to the pregnancy that he/she may need to follow more closely such as PIH or cholecystitis (gall stones)of pregnancy. And then there is always the chance you're just one of the unlucky ones that just happens to get sick the entire time.
Good Luck! :o) And try some rest, and by rest I mean serious couch time, you and the dog. Someone else is going to have to help you with the boys so you can relax.

I don't know if this has been suggested or would be helpful, but I've heard that when you have stomach problems, and I'm assuming that includes acid problems, try eating plain white rice for a day or so.. nothing else.. and after it clears up go back to eating your regular diet. For that drastic an eating change, you might want to first check with your doctor.

hey.. you should try tunna in cans with rise or chicken brest with rise some thing like that helps.. i hope its gonna help you..

Hi L.,
I agree with Kate B. Nibble, eat lots of snacks and small meals. Sucking on hard candy helped a bunch too.

When I was pregnant there was a period of 4-6 weeks where I was nauseous, could hardly eat anything and NOTHING sounded good. All I could eat were pretzels of all things! Helped a lot. I still took my prenatal vitamins and ate whatever else nutritious that I could, but I sure ate a lot of pretzels all day long to quiet (but not eliminate) the nausea/sourness.Not the most nutritious, but not necessarily bad for you. They are very low fat. Hope it helps!

I guess I'll return that jumbo box of Tums I just bought today at Costco. I'm 7 months and have been downing the max dose every day/night just to survive for the last month. This happened with my first pregnancy as well. The pharmacist at Costco warned me today that overdosing on Tums or taking them for too long can cause stones (not fun!). He highly suggested drinking copious amounts of water if one is going to take Tums regularly.

I'm trying not to gain 60lbs (like I did last time) with this pregnancy, so most of the food recommendations aren't appealing to me (ditching soup and eating tons of bread, crackers, potatoes, etc.) I'm also lactose intolerant, so I'm going to avoid the whole "milk or no milk" dilemma. I'll ask my midwife about Prilosec, but I'm more inclined to try some natural remedies for now. Almonds have been working pretty well for me, and I think I'll also try the apple cider vinegar - hey, why not, sounds just crazy enough to work! The spot on my night table where the Tums have lived for the last month is going to be empty, so I might as well stick some crackers there. Middle of the night acid reflux is the worst!

By the way, I've heard that one of the reasons pregnant women get heartburn is that the valve that usually shuts the stomach off firmly from the esophagus starts to get all loosy-goosy from the pregnancy hormones. These are the same loosening hormones that help us open up to get those babies out. So when the heartburn is really bad, I just keep telling myself that it's going to make labor and delivery that much easier!

Something very simple that worked wonders for my sour tummy during pregnancy was elderberry lozenges....just suck on four of them and hey presto....tummy feels good! I got them at Whole Foods,I believe.
P..

I went through the same process... I thought I was to acid, turned out I was not acid enough in my stomach, food was half digested and rotting causing gas that would push up the acid to the throat (acid reflux) fixed it by taking a simple natural remedy: Betaine HCL capsules from Twin Lab., you can get them at your local health food store or on line: www.iherb.com or www.vitaminshoppe.com or just google it!!! Take a capsule after each meal!!!

P.S. Stop the calcium!!! It makes it worse!!!

And for the morning sickness organic pink lemonade with mineral water (club soda) and potato chips!!!

Love, G.. :0)
http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

"I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin." ~ Jerry Newport

emergenc-c is a better source of B vites than fish oil; no yucky burping up that will make you vomit even more. It's a tasty little drink and the carbonation will help with the upset tummy. Sorry you're sick, I ate lots of toast and dry, bland carbs, like rice and buttered waffles with no syrup, baked potatoes and bananas. Eat often, don't let your stomach get empty. Small meals/snacks, every hour if need be! Also, try going off your vitamin. I switched vitamin brands in this pregnancy and it's made all the difference! I am using a food-based vitamin this time, it's pricier, but so much more digestible.

Hi L.,

Sounds like your body is not digesting your food. I drink this great Barley and it really helps in digestion and removing toxins from the body.

If you are interested in learning more email me.

Have a great holiday.

N. Marie

Sometimes additional probiotics help with acid and nausea. You can eat them in "healthy" yogurts or by taking a supplement. Check with your doctor, before you change anything, but I agree with the other posters - your problem may be an irritation from iron in your pre-natal vitamins, and Prilosec works wonders for chronic acid. Also, no-one mentioned 7-up. I've always found small sips of 7-up really helps with tummy issues. It is always decaf and ok to drink while pregnant. It even works when flat, so if you don't like the bubbles, or they make you burp too much, just leave it out for awhile and let it get flat before you drink it. Good luck and congrats.

Hi L.,
What helped me the most was the smoothies from Cafe Gratitude. They are super healthy, full of calories and YUMMY!
They have one called Treasured, that has coconut milk, agave, lime & pinapple juice - all ingredients that are great for easing a sour stomach. They are expensive, but if you can't eat anything else they're worth it for sure.
Good luck,
M.

Sour beats sour! I lived on sour green apples, and lemons. Also, try some toasted sour dough bread. That was a total saviour for me with all 3 pregnancies. Good luck with this. It is very difficult, but the prize at the end is soooo worth the pain. PS..... Ice cold soda slurpies... .try them!

L., if nothing will work please call me, hate tiping and it is 1:14 a.m.###-###-####. A.

I think the best thing to focus on is a continuous nibble, instead of trying to make some perfect meal that won't bother you, because most things might. Crackers, pretzels, cereal (my favorite is HoneyComb), grapes, watermelon... things that you can be popping in. For me, the one solid food I have always found most soothing is potatoes, mostly mashed.

Hi L.,

I have not tried this, but my research notes say that throwing up while pregnant is a vit B3 and B5 deficiency. Nausea while pregnant is a vit B6 and possibly vitK deficiency. Even sciatic nerve problems while pregnant could be related to vit B12 deficiency.

Two great things to eat in general that come to my mind are Cod Liver Oil, and Chia seeds. Both are powerhouses of nutrition and pack a big punch. Cod liver oil (Carlsons brand- off the internet) is your best source of vit A and also a good source of vit D. Excellent for your growing babies brain, eyes, bones, and other development. I wish I had known about it when I was pregnant. It also will boost YOUR mood! Chia seeds - oh man, look these up on the net. You will see they are amazing, nutritionaly speaking.Put them in water to make a gel or sprinkle them on stuff.( you can find recipies for them online too) I just got a bag from nutsonline.com - I havent tried them yet though.

One other thing I have been doing in the last month is using raw virgin Coconut oil for tummy aches. My daughter and I both found relief taking a few teaspoons of it raw.

Sometimes gut pain can be caused by (hypercloria?)it's when you have too much stomach acid. I think the vinegar remedy helps with that.
I have read not so good things about antacids. They can have aluminum in them which is a nerotoxin(toxic to the brain.)they can also deplete calcium and phosphorus from bones. They can deplete vit b12, d, zinc, iron, and folic acid. Very few of the GERD drugs are approved by the FDA in children. They havent done the long term research on children, and so I would think are not approved in utero babies either. I know the doctors wont tell anyone that. They dont seem to have a problem with prescribing them. I have to wonder if they know all the data or are looking the other way.

Get off the tums... you're only disrupting your natural stomach acid balance.

like the other poster said.. crackers... bread... etc. Think sponge like foods. They will help absorb the acid.

Hi L., I was sick for 9 months! During my 8th month I had to go in for dehydration and the Labor and Delivery Dr. (not my OBGYN) prescribed ZOFRAN, an anti-nauseia, for me. It worked sooooooooo much better for me!

I also. . .

- had a glass of milk and a healthy bran muffin before bed (it takes longer to process protein, so you wake up less hungry/nauseous and the bran helps with constipation),

- had whole wheat crackers in the morning before getting out of bed, and snacked on them during the day along with "ginger chews" that I bought at Trader Joe's -- NOT SALTINES!! Not even the unsalted kind. The white flour contributed to my constipation.

- never took my pre-natals on an empty stomach.

Hope this helps!

have you tried yogurt or milk after you eat, it seems to soothe my heart burn and sour stomach. what about yogurt smoothie with some fruit and peanut butter. Try also to eat small small meals every 2 hours. I feel for you and know it will be over soon