Overview

You may be completely regular as far as going to the bathroom before getting pregnant, and then suddenly, you are stopped up and have issues when you need to go #2. If you are constipated, you have difficult or infrequent bowel movements, your stools are hard, and you may have pain or discomfort in your stomach. The prevalence of constipation is 40% in pregnant women and 52% in women postpartum. Several changes in pregnancy can cause constipation. Like most pregnancy-related issues, constipation will disappear after you have your baby. In the meantime, there are a lot of things you can do to relieve constipation. This article examines interventions to relieve constipation during pregnancy ranging from diet and lifestyle changes to supplements and over-the-counter medications.

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