Stomach Bugs During Pregnancy – Symptoms, Causes & What to do

Irrespective of the cause of the irritant immune system caused by either the churning from pregnancy hormones, a virus, or undercooked meat, the treatment remains the same. You must let your body some rest to cope with the ache, focus on the intake of fluids other than foods as you mostly lose them due to vomiting or diarrhea.

Listed below are a few aids mentioned or of what you must do when you catch a stomach virus:

• Contact the doctor

This is a given, you must always have a doctor in the loop when it comes to your health or even for any concern for that matter especially when pregnant.

Discuss every small bit, be it of you being exposed to expired food especially processed meat, fresh produce, or unpasteurized juices or cheese as these could risk listeriosis infection and the doctor must be aware of it to help you prescribe the suitable medicines. It won’t affect you per se, as women almost never get ill from the foodborne illness, but could be of potential danger when expecting or are on antibiotics.

• Drink more to avoid dehydration

The best way to know your limit or the maximum capacity of what amount you can hold of the water in you, try sipping a teaspoon of water every 10 minutes an hour.

If you are able to handle it, you can of course handle at least 3 bottles in a day. This will ensure a good and healthy gut, will flush down any possible growth of bacteria that could form and cause stomach cramps, and keeps you hydrated.

Opt for drinks like water, diluted juice (white grapes are known to be the easiest on the stomach), clear vegetable or non-veg broth, weak decaffeinated tea, or even hot water with lemon as it helps cut through the gas.

• Watch out for any signs of dehydration

For those pregnant women who are suffering from a stomach bug, dehydration is a common problem to face as you are now expected to drink not for one but two.

The signs or symptoms indicating dehydration include peeing less or your pee is a darker shade of yellow compared to the expected straw-like color. In this case, consult your doctor for some rehydration fluid tips or choices like Pedialyte.

• Have a slow transition into liquids

As you were to consume only fluids to help flush down the stomach bugs, the transition back to the solids must be gradual and not instant.

Follow the lead of the stomach to add the solids back to your diet across 24 hours, and when you do, first start with bland and fat-free food like white rice or unbuttered toast, applesauce, bananas, cream of rice cereal.

Also make sure to add ginger be it via ginger ale or ginger candies, as it is good for the stomach.

• Take medically reviewed medicines

When you first find the signs of stomach bugs, you need to consult your doctor to prevent further health hazards and to be safe as per their prescription.

Therefore, it is best to take the support of the medicines approved by the doctors, even the OTC ones.

For instance, antacids like tums and Maalox are generally approved during pregnancy, as well as gas relievers like gas-x and Mylicon. The doctor might also provide certain anti-diarrheal medicines but only post the first trimester.

Note -Most stomach bugs are curable and go away on their own within a day or two, just in case that’s not the same for you, seek medical help.

These were the causes and aids for stomach flu or a stomach bug during pregnancy.

However, stomach cramps during pregnancy are not only caused by the flu but have more indicators for the cause.

Look them up in the article via the link and know more about the possible causes of these stomach cramps.