If you are a pregnant woman who is experiencing constipation during pregnancy, there are several food items and things that you can try to avoid which will help to relieve you of the agony caused by constipation during pregnancy.
There are no simple rules and regulations every women has a different susceptibility towards a particular problem or the food they consume on daily basis. Yet focusing on your diet plans and excluding those sure short food items or activities which might have created problems for the women suffering from constipation can really help.
With repeated reports and feedbacks given by pregnant women it is concluded to avoid:
• Drinking milk, foods rich in calcium and simple sugars.
• Avoid bananas, rice, apples or toast. These foods popularly known as ‘B.R.A.T.’ and only allowed or recommended to a person who must be having diarrhoea.
• Another common source to be avoided is Bread which is high in gluten.
• Avoid white processed foods, and replace it with whole grains.
• Avoid remedies like mineral oil which should be strictly avoided during pregnancy to relieve constipation, because it may interfere with the absorption of important nutrients that you and your baby need.
• Avoid straining to evacuate your faeces to avoid haemorrhoids.
• Avoid liquid paraffin during pregnancy: it reduces your body’s ability to absorb vitamins A, D and K. If your baby is lacking in vitamin K there is a risk that it may develop blood clotting disorders.
• One should avoid taking medication such as laxatives, stool softeners or suppositories without consulting your doctor first during pregnancy. Even the safe stool softeners like Colace, laxatives such as Senokot, cascara and Dulcolax, all should be avoided as much as possible for repeated usage making your system become dependent on them. Also these medications might sometime causes dehydration which can be harmful for the development of the baby. On the other hand it is preferred to use Saline laxatives such as milk of magnesia and magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) which although might can also cause dehydration but seem to be safe for the developing baby.
• Avoid taking oral medications for constipation if you are breastfeeding since they can pass into the breast milk and may cause stomach cramps to you and your baby.
As an old saying goes, Prevention is better than treatment, same applies here to better avoid constipation during pregnancy to have a safe gestation, delivery and parturition.