Pregnant women often complain about gas and bloating during the 9 months that the baby is growing inside them. When the tummy is growing at alarming rates, women do not want to feel like an expanding balloon on top of everything else.

Causes of Bloating During Pregnancy
Bloating or gas can be caused by various factors including food intake and a slowing of the digestive process. When pregnancy occurs, the body immediately starts releasing progesterone. Progesterone is essential to maintaining you and your baby healthy during pregnancy, but it can also cause that painful bloating that is so common. Progesterone works to decrease digestion speed so the body has more time to absorb the vitamins and nutrients it needs from food in the intestine. While this is healthy for both you and your baby, it can cause gas and bloating as well.

Important Facts About Bloating
There are no medical problems associated with bloating. You can rest assured that your baby does not feel any of the pain. As a matter of fact, the noises created by food digesting in the intestine and stomach are music to baby's ears.

Treatments for Bloating
There are some over-the-counter gas medications that can safely be taken during pregnancy. You should ask your physician for a list of approved over-the-counter treatments if needed.

Natural treatments for pregnancy bloating include eating smaller meals throughout the day, drinking lots of water to aid in the digestion process and eating slowly. When you eat too fast, you trap air in the intestine which will cause bloating and gas as it moves out of the body. Choosing foods that are easy to digest is also important. Cabbage, beans and fried foods are some of the types of food that are hard to digest and will they cause bloating.

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