Excessive salivation during pregnancy can sometimes be embarrassing. Most pregnant women salivate excessively when they are pregnant especially when they are nauseated.
It is common for pregnant women to produce more saliva than they do normally early on in their pregnancy so they feel spitting it out is the best way to deal with it.
Excessive salivation is also called ptyalism, hypersalivation or sialorrhea and while it can be unpleasant for you, it won’t affect your baby. Although the actual cause of excessive saliva is unknown these are some of the reasons for excessive production of saliva during pregnancy:
- Increased production of saliva can be largely attributed to hormone changes.
- Nausea, when pregnant women smell or perceive something irritated, they become nauseated which causes their mouth to increase saliva production. Due to nausea there is an urge to swallow less; this creates more saliva in the mouth
- Heartburn or acidity is a common symptom of pregnancy and can be associated with increased saliva production.
- Generally, smoking increases production of saliva in the mouth.
- Some mouth infection and tooth decay can also cause your mouth to produce saliva excessively.
- Exposure to mercury or other toxic chemicals can cause the saliva in your mouth to increase.
- Hyperemesis gravidarum also known as severe morning sickness is linked to the cause of ptyalism. Vomiting leads to production of excessive saliva.
As funny as this sounds, salivating during pregnancy has its own benefits so if you are salivating excessively here is your consolation:
- The enzymes that your saliva contains help digest food by breaking it down into small particles.
- Your saliva has an inherent antibacterial agents that protects your teeth and the lining of your mouth.
- It helps lubricate your mouth.
Although if you have severe sickness, you may carry on producing too much saliva until you’re about 20 weeks pregnant, excessive saliva usually starts subsiding by the end of the first trimester, when pregnancy sickness also tends to reduce. And although there’s no actual remedy to cure excessive saliva production, you can try this tips to reduce it.
Tips To Deal With Excessive Salivation
1. If you have pregnancy heartburn, it can be relieved by over the counter antacids, or by drinking milk.
2. Brush your teeth and use mouthwash several times a day
3. Keep away from toxic chemicals that can cause you to salivate excessively
4.Frequently take small sips of water
5. Consume less of food that are too starchy or contain a lot of carbohydrates
6. Keep chewing on sugarless chewing gums, this would make the taste of your mouth pleasant.
7. Suck on an ice cube.
8.Try to eat smaller but more frequent meals,
9. Suck on a lemon or lime, or put a few drops of lemon or lime essential oil on a tissue and sniff it.
Try this and I hope it helps in curbing that excessive salivation of yours, truth be told it can be most disgusting when you see a pregnant woman spitting out saliva every second. And for me it is the most disgusting pregnancy symptom. But besides the fact that it is not a palatable symptom it won’t harm you or your baby, no matter how annoying it is!
Did you find this helpful? Mamalettes are you going through similar issues or you know someone that is ? Visit our forum or post your questions and comments below.
READ MORE ON MAMALETTE:
Comments
Comments
