Many women are familiar with bloated, distended bellies that magically appear after we eat, and someone among us invented the nickname "food babies" to describe the situation. Flat stomach when you wake up, and as the day goes on you get more and more pregnant-looking, can't button your pants, and wonder "Am I the only one with this problem, and what can I do about it?"
Food babies are unrelated to the full or even overfull feeling you get after you visit the all-you-can-eat buffet or finish a second piece of pie after Thanksgiving dinner. Nothing could be more normal. Food babies are those possibly painful (depending on your personal version), maybe gassy, abdominal protrusions that are obviously unrelated to the amount of food you have consumed. Some people get one going after the smallest snack.
If you talk to your doctor about the situation you might hear about diagnoses like irritable bowel disease, lactose intolerance, gluten sensitivity, or intestinal dysbiosis. Various tests may be suggested, along with leaving out food groups to see what helps. WebMD has an excellent, doctor-reviewed article on all aspects of both bloating (the mild form) and distention (bloating on steroids so to speak). At the end readers have added comments about their own experience and what worked for them.
WNL found an even better chat/exchange between food baby sufferers in one of the everydayhealth.com forums. Looking at the variety of solutions forum participants report worked for them, it's clear that there is no one solution. Take away: If at first you don't succeed, don't give up. Relief may be around the corner - an antibiotic, a probiotic, charcoal tablets, enzymes, who knows?
Brigham and Women's Hospital has posted an excellent article on bloating that lists foods and behaviors that can contribute to the problem, and suggests eating habits designed to minimize bloating. The article includes a list of over-the-counter remedies and a list of herbal remedies for you to try.
U.K.'s Daily Mail recently ran a food baby story worth noting. "Kerri Dowdswell is a trim young woman who has no trouble fitting in to her size 10 jeans... until she eats her dinner. The 23-year-old has a mystery condition which means minutes after she eats a meal her stomach becomes so bloated that strangers think she's about to give birth.Within hours, her stomach has shrunk back to its normal size - but the problem has got so bad that Kerri now wears maternity trousers when she goes out for dinner." Kerri generously allowed a few photos to accompany the article, and she has a wonderful attitude about it all. (Below, Kerri before and after a meal, wearing her maternity pants.)
WNL: I am delighted that this embarassing, bothersome, body image-frustrating condition is coming out of hiding and has gotten the delightfully normalizing name "food baby". Until somebody figures out the cause(s) of bloating, which seems to affect women much more often than men, we might as well relax about it and enjoy life.
One remedy I did not find on the web is the connection between cramping, bloating and gas in the GI tract and spasms of the muscular airways found in asthma. Many people with asthma use a smooth muscle relaxer in the form of an inhaler, some version of albuterol. The muscles of the GI tract are also smooth muscles, and some albuterol users, who also have food baby issues, report that when they use their asthma inhalers, their tummies also calm down and forget to bloat. Anybody out there ever noticed the connection?
Food babies are unrelated to the full or even overfull feeling you get after you visit the all-you-can-eat buffet or finish a second piece of pie after Thanksgiving dinner. Nothing could be more normal. Food babies are those possibly painful (depending on your personal version), maybe gassy, abdominal protrusions that are obviously unrelated to the amount of food you have consumed. Some people get one going after the smallest snack.
If you talk to your doctor about the situation you might hear about diagnoses like irritable bowel disease, lactose intolerance, gluten sensitivity, or intestinal dysbiosis. Various tests may be suggested, along with leaving out food groups to see what helps. WebMD has an excellent, doctor-reviewed article on all aspects of both bloating (the mild form) and distention (bloating on steroids so to speak). At the end readers have added comments about their own experience and what worked for them.
WNL found an even better chat/exchange between food baby sufferers in one of the everydayhealth.com forums. Looking at the variety of solutions forum participants report worked for them, it's clear that there is no one solution. Take away: If at first you don't succeed, don't give up. Relief may be around the corner - an antibiotic, a probiotic, charcoal tablets, enzymes, who knows?
Brigham and Women's Hospital has posted an excellent article on bloating that lists foods and behaviors that can contribute to the problem, and suggests eating habits designed to minimize bloating. The article includes a list of over-the-counter remedies and a list of herbal remedies for you to try.
U.K.'s Daily Mail recently ran a food baby story worth noting. "Kerri Dowdswell is a trim young woman who has no trouble fitting in to her size 10 jeans... until she eats her dinner. The 23-year-old has a mystery condition which means minutes after she eats a meal her stomach becomes so bloated that strangers think she's about to give birth.Within hours, her stomach has shrunk back to its normal size - but the problem has got so bad that Kerri now wears maternity trousers when she goes out for dinner." Kerri generously allowed a few photos to accompany the article, and she has a wonderful attitude about it all. (Below, Kerri before and after a meal, wearing her maternity pants.)
WNL: I am delighted that this embarassing, bothersome, body image-frustrating condition is coming out of hiding and has gotten the delightfully normalizing name "food baby". Until somebody figures out the cause(s) of bloating, which seems to affect women much more often than men, we might as well relax about it and enjoy life.
One remedy I did not find on the web is the connection between cramping, bloating and gas in the GI tract and spasms of the muscular airways found in asthma. Many people with asthma use a smooth muscle relaxer in the form of an inhaler, some version of albuterol. The muscles of the GI tract are also smooth muscles, and some albuterol users, who also have food baby issues, report that when they use their asthma inhalers, their tummies also calm down and forget to bloat. Anybody out there ever noticed the connection?
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