Pregnancy; although a beautiful blessing; can bring about some undesirable side effects - one of them being heartburn.

Due to the fact that the levels of the hormone *progesterone increases dramatically during pregnancy, it should come as no surprise that heartburn is a common and frequent complaint amongst pregnant women.

Depending on the severity or frequency of said condition, many expectant mothers are opting for a more natural approach to effectively controlling and getting rid of of heartburn.

Here are a few effective suggestions:

* Preventing Heartburn From The Outset.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," so states the old adage.

Therefore, the first step in controlling heartburn during pregnancy, is preventing it from happening it at all. Here's how you can achieve this goal:

• Instead of eating three large meals, opt for five to six smaller meals throughout the day. Thereby, reducing stomach pressure (since a fuller stomach can put extra pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), which will increase the chances of heartburn).

• Before lying down or going to bed, wait an hour or two after eating - this prevents the food in the stomach; along with damaging acids; that can make their way up your esophagus.

• Sleep with your head and back inclined - Patricia Raymond, MD, a fellow with the American College of Gastroenterology, told WebMD; "Put bricks or blocks under the front legs [those at the head] of the bed to incline your head six to eight inches, or get a foam wedge that goes from under your hips all the way to the head of the bed. This helps keep stomach contents where they belong -- in the stomach."

• Avoid a large amount of spicy, citrus, greasy and fatty foods (It's important to note however, that different foods trigger heartburn in different individuals).

Therefore, find out your own personal heartburn triggers and try to avoid them as much as possible.

* I've Got Heartburn - Now What?

•Eat yogurt or drink a glass of milk (some suggest adding a tablespoon of honey to warm milk) - the thickness and smoothness of the yogurt and the milk soothes and calms the esophagus and stomach acids down.

• Eat a bowl of oatmeal - the oatmeal soothes and calms the stomach (add sliced bananas, which are thought to naturally calm stomach acid as well).

• Since fresh ginger acts as an anti-inflammatory and has been used as an age-old remedy for stomach problems of every kind, a daily dose (2 to 4 grams as recommended by www.health.com since more than that can actually contribute to heartburn) can really do the trick.

Steep it in hot water to make a tea, chew a piece of it, or use it generously when cooking. In addition to being great for heartburn, ginger is great for nausea as well (for those who can't bear the taste, try it in candy form - ginger candy).

• My personal favorite way of cooling heartburn and calming stomach acids down, is consuming fresh avocados - sliced, and with a little salt.

(http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20306843_2,00.html provides several great recipes for heartburn suffers such as substituting applesauce for oil and butter while baking and http://www.heartburnalliance.com/pdfs/stopandselect.pdf provides heartburn suffers with a detailed food list of potential and non potential heartburn triggers).

• Research has also shown that eating popcorn is effective for heartburn as well. It has been said, that if you forgo drinking anything while eating it, the dry popcorn - much like a sponge - soaks up stomach acids and does away with heartburn and indigestion. Use caution if you try this, since popcorn can get stuck in one's throat.

For many pregnant mothers-to-be, in addition to other unpleasant side-effects, heartburn is at the top of their list.

Hopefully then, with the use of these simple suggestions you can keep this aggravation at bay as much as possible.

*(it is the hormone progesterone that causes the valve between the stomach 

and the esophagus to relax, thereby allowing stomach acid to pass into 

the esophagus and irritate the lining)

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