excessive saliva during pregnancy

Hi to all you poor pregnant women out there who have suffered and are still suffering from this excess saliva and spitting. It really makes for a horrible pregnancy, and we should be over the moon and enjoying this wonderful time. I am 13 weeks into my 3rd pregnancy and I am on my 2nd day trying desperately not to spit. In my previous pregnancies I had the excess saliva thing too but the morning sickness overruled the spitting so it didn't become a problem, but this time the morning sickness wasn't as severe and I started focusing on the excess saliva and therefore created myself one awful habit. It all started at 6 weeks, I basically confined myself to the bedroom with my spit cup always on hand. If I had to go out it was with a bag full of tissues. I started turning peoples invites down and stayed more and more at home where I couldn't gross anyone out. Of course my kids are suffering the most because we hardly go anywhere and the Tv is always on. Luckily my wonderful husband takes them out on the weekends!! Anyway as you all know it is just plain miserable. I made it to 11 weeks trying to wait out the 1st trimester where it would hopefully ease but couldn't hold out any longer. I asked a naturpath who suggested I take tissue salts, no luck there and after 10 days on the salts I decided to ask my doctor. She like everyone else I have talked too looked at me weirdly but saw that I couldn't go on any longer the way I was. She thought it was acid reflux/heartburn that was causing the saliva even though I had no pain associated with it. She prescibed some strong heartburn medicine that you needed a prescription for. My miracle cure!! NOT. No sorry it didn't work. Bummer!! So now we come to yesterday. I was laying in bed and thinking that who was I kidding, there is no miracle cure for this I have formed the habit it is up to me to break it. So I just started to swallow it. Sounds easy doesn't it. You all know how hard it is to swallow the saliva, it wasn't easy. It was awful and I had this kind of mantra going 'Just swallow it, it will get easier, I can get through this'. Well I made it through the day just swallowing it. In the afternoon when it normally gets worse I chewed sugar free gum(bubblegum flavour not mint) and that got me through. I am now on to the second day and it is a little easier. I think it is working because I am desperate to not go through the whole 9 months spitting into tissues and cups. Anyway I hope this helps and I hope it works for you.

Hi, this is my third pregnacy and the spit cup has to go, I can not stand this, it is making my life a living He77. Now I had this spit issue with my first 2 but this one is worse. I am filling up at least 4 water bottles a day. Thought I was the only one with this problem. I am 8 weeks and as soon as someone finds a cure please post and let all of us know..

MH-TN :'( :$

I started experiencing the excessive sailvation and the need to spit every second early this week. I'm 10weeks now and its my first, to be honest , the symptoms-worst of all the abdominal upsets and now the embarassing issue of spitting all the time have me depressesd almost the whole day. I'm supposed to be excited that i'm going to be a mom but the discomforts drown the excitement most times. Good luck all moms-to-be especially those of you are going through discomforts. I pray for us and ask God to bless us. all 8-|

I agree with everyone's post! This is one bad habit. Mine started at 15wks... i'm now 16wks. I'm worried because i'm a substitute teacher and i can't imagine myself spitting infront of a bunch of kids that don't understand pregnancy. Today in TARGET i walked around with a plastic bottle in my purse and i had to spit every 5 secs. IF i swallow it i get VERY SICK! I get excited for night timebecause it doesn't come while i'm sleeping... WHY? because i'm not thinking about it. In the morning my mouth and teeth are covered with nasty spit thats been caked up for hours. I KNOW NASTY!!!!! I tried swallowing it the other day and I had to pull over and vomit! My two year old looks at me and says "Mommy why do you PIT in cups". My mom caught him spitting in a cup. Poor guy doesn' t have a clue. When I was pregnant with him I had that problem but it wasn't as bad. Infact my morning sickness over took the saliva action. My mother-n-law invited me to her birthday gathering and i'm debating if i should go. How do i explain that i keep spitting and i don't wanna gross everyone out???? My mom thinks i'm weird. I seriously think its a mind thing. I have a doctors appointment this week and i will be sharing this with him. It's taken over my life and i can't afford to lose my job nor stop going to public places like church, stores, nice places because of this. Ugh!

Im 28 weeks pregnant with my little girl. When I was in the second tri-mester, the spitting was horrible. I used to chew sunflower seeds whole before bed and sleep with it in my mouth or else I would drool all night and wake up with a pool of spit in my mouth. It stopped after my period of nausea stopped but now its back. I wake up in the morning, and I have a boat load of spit in my so I rush to the WC to rinse it out. As soon as I do that, in comes the gagging.

Many women have this problem. But its not big enough to stop us from giving life....
Oh the displeasures of pregnancy.

Does anyone have another way to fight this?

Honestly one of the best ways to fight saliva is crackers. I know that sounds foolish but it does help with the excess saliva. Try eating a few crackers before going to bed. What do you think of that?

I am 10 weeks pregnant with my 4th, and LAST!! I have had the spitting problem with the last 3 pregnancies, and it didn't go away until 6 weeks after delivery! Saying it is a major nightmare is a total understatement!! But I have found a few things that get me through the very, very long days and nights. Baby carrots and celery, although unappetizing, help me notice the problem less. I graze on them throughout the day. Sometimes I will make a big platter of cubed fruits and veggies and pop one in my mouth every few minutes throughout the day because I do not notice the salivating while I am eating. But I don't want to be an elephant at the end of my pregnancy, so I have to make sure I am munching on healthy foods. I also eat crushed ice. I go through a couple of cups of crushed ice a day. With pregnancy #3 Stride gum helped, but only Stride. At night I shape a tissue in a horseshoe and put it under my tongue so it can absorb the salive so I can get to sleep! When all else fails, I put some tissue in a cup or plastic bag and spit into it. (The tissue absorbs it so it looks a little less disgusting!! Good luck!!!!

That's a very good solution to the issue and it's a good idea to point out that you just gradually feed yourself. Where can you get Stride gum? I have never heard ot it.

My friend suffered from the same thing. Her grandmother told her to take cod liver oil. She said that helped. If you are desperate and nothing else has worked, try it. Supposedly it comes from a vitamin deficiency that is intensified with pregnancy.

Hey Ladies,

I am totally felling your pain. I am 11 weeks pregnant with my third child. I never suffered with this in any of my other pregnancies. I started producing all this excess saliva around week 6 and it doesn't seem to get any better. I was suffering from heartburn and nausea and throwing up three to four times a day. I couldn't swallow the saliva because it only made me sicker. So the constant spitting began. I told my husband I would like to go to church or leave my house again at some point but this nasty habit causes quite the dilemma. I went in Wal-Mart with my 5 year old the other day and she said, "Mom I hope you have some gum so that you don't have to find a trash can to keep spitting in while we are in the store." Now how sad is that? I tried gum and candy but that only seemed to make me sicker. Thanks for sharing your stories and letting me know that I am not alone. Hopefully this all day spit fest will be over soon. :'(

Im on my 2nd pregancy and spitting as well again. I wonder is this a sign that Im having another boy? Im not sure but the spitting doesnt stop until you deliver, Im dreading this.. This time around as well Im feeling much better than the 1st but just miserable to walk around with a spit cup. I really dont like holding conversations with anyone due to me having to stop and spit. I wish there was a remedy then I could enjoy my pregnancy for the 2nd and final time! Please help me with a solution! Also before I forget I also tried chewing on some wax, like the lip o wax that you get for halloween, wasnt sucsessful yet.

Wow I am relieved to know that this is not as abnormal as I once suspected. I am a third time mom and I spit from the moment I find out until the moment I deliver literally with each one and as someone stated earlier, with my son which was my first born , the most. What I would like to know is why do we do it and does it mean anything to the development of our children? My doctor told me that when some women get pregnant that particular hormones go into overdrive and our saliva glands overact because of it. Still doesn't explain to me why it does it for the length of time that it does and why cant it be controlled? I would like some real research done and some real answers found. Thanks for Listening Mothers and Good Luck. If anyone gets an idea that works please share I think we all want some relief.

Hi everyone, I'm 4 weeks pregnant and I already started with this saliva issue. I had the same problems with my other 2 pregnancies (2 girls) but I didn't have the problem with my first pregnancy ( a boy), Please let me know if you are having boys or girls with the saliva issue.
Thanks a lot for your help.

Hi Ladies! Am 12 weeks tomorrow and the saliva is killing me! The only time i get relief is when am sleeping! I tried to swallow it like one mom suggested and i ended throwing up! Unfortunately i had this same prob with my first child and ended when i gave birth so it looks like we are in this for the whole 9 months! One thing i know for sure is after this baby NO MORE THATS IT AM DONE!!! Good luck ladies. Let us know if any one finds a solution.

I am so glad i'm not the only one. I am 11 weeks pregnant with my second child and this spitting thing is by far the most annoying thing ever. I had it with my first (girl) but it started around 3 months and lasted for about a month, this time it started at 7 weeks. I am hoping it subsides soon. I usually have a spit cup with paper towel lined in it so it doesn;t gross me out. I hope a cure can be found for this. I've always wanted 3 kids but with this spitting thing coupled with nausea and heart burn, i can finally say i am done. I'm very miserable and can't function much. Anyway wishing you all luck with your pregnancy.