When pregnant, some pregnant women often complain of frequent spitting. Although it may seem strange, this is generally normal and is caused by conditions that often accompany pregnant women. What are those? Check out the explanation below.
Saliva is a clear liquid that is naturally produced by glands in the mouth. Saliva has an important role, namely to digest and crush food, keep the mouth moist, keep teeth strong, prevent bad breath, and fight germs that enter the mouth.
When you are not pregnant, your salivary glands will normally produce about 0.5 liters of saliva. Although this amount is quite a lot, we do not realize it because saliva is automatically swallowed continuously.
When pregnant, this saliva production can increase up to 2 liters per day and occurs suddenly. Generally, this occurs around the first 2-3 weeks of pregnancy. This makes many pregnant women want to spit to reduce the feeling of fullness in the mouth.
Reasons for Frequent Spitting During Pregnancy
There are many factors that are thought to cause excessive salivation and make pregnant women continue to want to spit. Following are some of them:
1. Pregnancy hormones
Frequent spitting during pregnancy is thought to be strongly influenced by pregnancy hormones which in addition to maintaining pregnancy, can also make the saliva controlling nerves become more active than usual. As a result, more and more saliva comes out and makes pregnant women want to spit continuously.
2. Nausea
Although not all pregnant women feel it, nausea is a sign of pregnancy that is often felt by most pregnant women. In severe cases of nausea and vomiting or hyperemesis gravidarum, there is usually a reluctance to swallow anything, even one's own saliva.
Meanwhile, the salivary glands keep producing saliva into the oral cavity. This causes saliva to accumulate in the mouth and fill the pregnant woman's mouth.
3. Stomach acid disease
During pregnancy, some pregnant women also experience heartburn or heartburn due to acid reflux disease or GERD. In this condition, the acidic contents of the stomach can rise and irritate the esophagus.
This acid in the esophagus will trigger the salivary glands to produce alkaline saliva. Every time pregnant women swallow, this saliva will wet the walls of the esophagus and neutralize stomach acid that causes complaints of pain and heat.
4. Pregnant with a boy or twins
Several studies have found an association between excess saliva production and pregnancy with a boy or multiple pregnancies. However, this still needs to be investigated further. So, if pregnant women often spit while pregnant, it's not necessarily pregnant with a boy or twins, right?
In addition to the 4 reasons above, frequent spitting during pregnancy is also associated with consumption of dairy products as well as impaired swallowing function, sleep disturbances, and eating disorders in pregnant women. These conditions may go unnoticed and require careful examination by a doctor.
How to Overcome Excessive Saliva During Pregnancy
Although excessive salivation during pregnancy is not dangerous, pregnant women may feel disturbed and uncomfortable when experiencing this condition. Pregnant women may wake up frequently at night because the saliva that collects in their mouths makes sleeping difficult or even makes pregnant women choke.
now, to overcome this, there are several ways that pregnant women can do, namely:
- Do not eat too many foods that contain flour or milk because it can trigger the salivary glands to produce more saliva.
- Prepare a drinking water bottle next to the pregnant woman and drink water often so that the pregnant woman remains well hydrated.
- If pregnant women do not feel nauseous, it is better to swallow excess saliva than pregnant women have to go back and forth to the bathroom to spit.
- Try sucking on hard candy or chewing sugarless gum. Although it can't reduce excess saliva, this method can make pregnant women more comfortable to swallow the accumulated saliva so they don't feel nauseous.
- If swallowing saliva continuously makes pregnant women feel nauseous and want to vomit, prepare a small container to dispose of the excess saliva.
Frequent spitting during pregnancy is not experienced by all pregnant women. However, this is something natural, how come. If you experience it, pregnant women don't need to be embarrassed or too worried because this condition can go away on its own with increasing gestational age.
However, if frequent spitting is accompanied by stress, decreased appetite, or drastic weight loss, pregnant women are advised to consult a doctor. A history tracing and examination need to be carried out to find out if the pregnant woman has a disorder that needs to be taken seriously.
