Heartburn Free

Q: my husband and I are expecting our first, due late September. I'm 29.5 weeks along right now. Here's my question - any advice on how to deal with constant heartburn? It used to be that I would get heartburn when I had an empty stomach, so I would make sure I ate something. Now it feels like I have it all the time, and sometimes when I drink water or eat something, I can feel where the acid has been irritating my throat. This is probably something I will have to deal with until the baby comes, but in the meantime, if anyone has any advice (other than Tums) Please help us

A:I had pretty severe heartburn during my second and third trimesters; when I complained to my OB, he offered to write me a prescription for a Tagamet-like drug that was widely approved for pregnant women. I opted to stick with Rolaids because I was drug-paranoid, but the standard rule seems to be that if you need more than ONE roll of Tums or Rolaids (I prefer the latter) to quell your heartburn, you should consult your practitioner. while you

are awake and sitting up you could try chewing gum. It's cheap, easy and you can't overdose on it. It also works, at least as long as the piece of gum you are chewing has flavor. ....I read about it in a magazine, and I think they are going to try to start publicizing it for pregnant women, since it can't hurt and it might help. I also found that things like ginger ale and seltzer set me off, so I had to drink plain water or rice milk, which was nice and soothing. Some folks here also recommended ice cream/frozen yogurt a while back when I was pregnant with my first. That was another "might help, can't hurt" kind of thing. At least I enjoyed it while I was trying to "cure" it!