When you think you might be expecting, you will start looking for signs that you are in fact pregnant. During the first weeks of a pregnancy, there is no sure way to tell whether you conceived without a positive test result on your pregnancy test. Despite that, there are signs that your body gives you indicating that you are pregnant.

Is Bloating an Early Sign of Pregnancy?

Every person on the planet will have some gas and this is natural. Experts say that average person passes gas around 15 times daily and it is still considered normal to do so 40 times in one day.

To answer the question, yes bloating is an early sign of pregnancy. Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish early pregnancy bloating and pre-period bloating, but most women do in fact feel bloated early on during their pregnancy.

Despite this, many women will notice that they experience more wind than normal while pregnant so you shouldn’t be concerned or surprised if you burp frequently. Some women even have to unbutton their pants to help relieve the bloating well before their baby bump shows.

What Causes Bloating in Early Pregnancy?

Put simply, the increased gas during pregnancy is due to the higher levels of progesterone in your body while pregnant and these can lead to digestive issues.

It is essential that you have progesterone in your body for your pregnancy to remain healthy due to its nature as the pro-gestation hormone. Despite this, progesterone will also trigger farting, burping, and bloating. This is because progesterone makes your smooth muscle tissues within your body (as well as the gastrointestinal tract in particular) to relax. This process in turn will slow down your digestion so that the nutrients in food have a larger window of opportunity to go into your bloodstream so they can reach your baby. However, the catch with this process is that when your metabolism slows down during pregnancy, you could get bloated.

What Can You Do About Bloating in Early Pregnancy?

Here are a few easy things you can do to minimize the bloating during early pregnancy:

Drink lots of water and eat right. This combination will help you avoid constipation as this would make bloating worse.
Try to eat smaller meals throughout the day. By going for six smaller meals (as opposed to three larger ones), your digestive system won’t be overloaded.
Eat more slowly. If you eat too fast, you will swallow air and this can create gas pockets in your stomach. By chewing your food thoroughly your digestive system will also get a head start. This will give the food the opportunity to settle and go towards the digestive tract. It will prevent you from overloading your digestive tract.
Relax. If you have tension (whether during the day or while eating), you may swallow more air.
Follow your pregnancy diet. At the same time, avoid gassy foods like onions, fried foods, beans, and cabbage. Also avoid other foods that worsen the problem for you and to figure out which ones those are, rely on personal experience.
Eat fiber rich foods. Aim to eat foods with high quantities of fiber like pears, whole-grain bagels, oatmeal, apples, carrots, whole wheat toast, yams, leafy greens and rice. The fiber helps absorb water within your digestive system and will also get the food moving through your intestines.

How to Prevent Bloating During Pregnancy:

More Early Signs of Early Pregnancy

Signs	Description
Aversion to Foods	Early on in your pregnancy, you may start to feel that certain foods are undesirable (even ones you previously loved). Certain smells might even trigger a gag reflex. Experts aren’t sure why this happens but think it may simply be a side effect of the drastic changes in estrogen levels.
Mood Swings	Mood swings are also common during pregnancy and this is because hormonal changes will affect the neurotransmitter levels. All future moms react differently with some becoming anxious or depressed while others feel overall heightened emotions.
Frequent Urination	Right after you get pregnant, your hormonal changes will lead to changes in blood flow in your kidneys. This means that your bladder fills faster so you have to urinate more frequently. This symptom will usually continue as your blood volume continues to increase and your uterus exerts pressure on your bladder.
Fatigue	Some experts think that the fatigue associated with pregnancy is due to increased levels of progesterone. Frequent nighttime urination and morning sickness can also worsen the problem. Your energy will usually return during the second trimester, but fatigue will come back later on in the pregnancy.
Swollen, Tender Breasts	Sore and sensitive breasts are one of the earliest indications of pregnancy. It can be an exaggerated feeling of what you have before with your period. The discomfort usually decreases drastically after your first trimester because your body gets used to the changes.
Nausea	Morning sickness can start a week to a month after conception and will happen at any point of the day. Most women will get relief by the start of their second trimester, but in some cases it will take another month after this.
Missed Period	Some people do a pregnancy test before noticing any other signs because they miss a period. This can generally be a good indicator if you are normally regular.
High Basal Body Temperature	Some women track their basal body temperature to find their fertility patterns. If you do this regularly and notice it remains elevated for a total of 18 consecutive days, chances are good that you are pregnant.
Positive Pregnancy Test	The best sign of early pregnancy is a positive result on a pregnancy test. Keep in mind that most tests won’t be reliable until a week or so after your missed period. If you take it earlier with a negative result, retake it in a few days.

Watch the following video to learn more signs that you could be pregnant: