Expert: Ask Suz - 7/13/2007

Question
hi,
my wife is pregnent for 4 months and she suffers daily from heartburn espacilay early in the morning and before she sleeps at night.
can you please help by the following:
1) what to natural herbs and foods to take to reduce the heartburn and may be curing it.
2)what foods needs to be avoided.
and any other recomendations to reduce this heartburn.

Answer
Hi Omar,
 Papaya extract worked great for me, even better than Tums. It's natural, tastes good, and you can take it with every meal as a preventitive measure. You can get it at any health food store, or grocery store like Berkeley Bowl or Whole Foods. I used to buy it in a convenient roll size (just like Certs!)
I assume you've already tried the common suggestions?
- Avoid acidic foods (orange juice, tomato sauce, coffee...)
- Eat lots of tiny little meals, not full meals.
- Drink milk. Even a few sips can make a big difference. Take a thermos of cold milk to bed to sip at night.
My prenatal yoga teacher, Saraswathi at Yogalayam, recommended also to eat ''basic'' (opposite of acid) foods such as millet and some kind of dried salted(?) Japanese plum .
My heartburn was moderate, not severe, so I'm not sure if these suggestions will help and you are probably already doing most of them. I ate millet but never went for the dried plum.
I also ate a lot of Gelusil (over the counter like Tums or Rolaids). I also sometimes had a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water. Both these remedies did the trick.
Or have her eat lots of fresh papaya. There is some enzyme that helps with the heartburn. You can even get papaya tablets, but I didn't find those to be as effective.
I also found yoga to help, especially Saraswathi Devi's classes at Yogalayam. The more you can do to ease your assimilation and digestion, the less acute the heartburn will be. Good luck! SUZ


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But the best thing that works for some is liquid Mylanta. Extra strength. It may as well have been water at times, seems like I drank so much!....Fizzy drinks can help a lot---------------------
Extra Strength Mylanta. I bought it in bulk at Costco in my last trimester and sometimes combined it with a few Tums. My OBGYN reassured me on at least 4 occasions that it was perfectly safe to take even daily, despite my admitting to her that I chugged it straight from the bottle. Waiting at least an hour to lie down after eating also helps, but as I recall that is easier said than done.
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Try eating almonds. It can work 100x better than Maloxx. Eat a few (maybe 10-15) every hour or so the last four weeks of her pregnancy. Good Luck! Suz