Can I Take Tums While Pregnant?

Getting an upset stomach happens a lot when you’re pregnant, and you might find yourself reaching for the Tums. But is it safe for your baby, and should you be taking it during pregnancy?

Tums has been around for ages and many people use it as an antacid when they overeat and are experiencing indigestion. It’s got a mild, chalky taste, and is relatively easy to chew up and swallow since it comes in many different color and flavors.

But when you’re pregnant everything changes and you have to monitor what goes into your system very carefully. This includes even seemingly mundane things like Tums.

Can I Take Tums While Pregnant? Answer: Not Recommended

Taking a Tums for indigestion is not a good idea when you’re pregnant. Anything unnatural shouldn’t be entering your body, and that includes an antacid. Since you and your unborn child are connected through the placenta, what you consume is shared with them and that includes things as small as a Tums.

Your baby is growing inside you and developing all of their own systems such as their circulatory system, digestive system, and everything else. You don’t really want Tums to be part of their building blocks.

Avoid Overeating
The old saying that you’re eating for two should not be taken literally. You don’t have to double your portion sizes or feel like you have to continually stuff yourself because your baby is feeding too. This is simply a cute saying that some women have when they get the urge to gorge themselves.

The best way to eat is the same as when you weren’t pregnant, eat until you feel full and then stop. The reason that you’re wanting to take a Tums is because of your eating habits, and also your food choices. You may be getting strange cravings at this time, but you should try your best not to make weird combinations like pickles and ice cream. It might sound good at the time but your stomach will wonder what it did to deserve this.

Proper Portions
You can easily determine how much you should it by cupping your hands. That’s basically your portion size, and you shouldn’t eat more than this at any one sitting. The reason is that this is how much food your body can properly digest at one time, and anything more than that will lead to indigestion. It could also lead to diarrhea, or constipation later on. If you’re not breaking down the food properly you’re not getting all of the nutrients from it so your baby isn’t getting what they need.

That means that when you overeat you’re actually not doing your baby any favors. In fact, you’re causing it to get less vitamins, nutrients, and energy because you’re not utilizing the foods properly.

Avoid the Unnatural
It’s best not to put anything into your body that doesn’t occur in nature. This means that you should avoid all medications and heavily processed foods while you’re pregnant. Taking an antacid to neutralize the stomach acids your body is naturally producing to digest your food is not a good idea.

By combating the naturally produced stomach acids you’ll actually be quieting your digestive fires, making it harder to break down the foods you ate and leaving them undigested in your system. The best way to deal with an upset stomach is to just let it pass. Let your body handle it the way it does, and put up with the temporary discomfort. Adjust your eating habits so you don’t have to experience this again, and move on.

Prevention is Best
Instead of reacting to your poor eating habits by popping a Tums, just fix things at the source and eat sensibly sized meals, and wholesome foods. Avoid fast food, or heavily processed foods like snacks and chips. There aren’t many nutrients in these, and all of the synthetic ingredients make them like fodder and not helpful to you or your baby in any way. If you get the urge to binge, and plan on justifying it because you’re pregnant, do your best to eat in moderation and only have delicious and healthy foods throughout the nine months.

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