I have never experienced constipation before, but since I got pregnant it’s been a real problem. Why is that?

Women produce more female hormones during pregnancy, to ensure that the foetus develops properly. These hormones cause food to stay longer in the system, because they affect the muscles outside the bowel. At the same time as the body has reduced intestinal movements, the digestive tract is under pressure from the growing uterus.

Signs of constipation:

•	More than four days between each bowel movement.
•	Faeces are hard, which makes them difficult to pass.
•	A feeling that not all the faeces are being passed.
•	Bleeding from the rectum since the faeces are very hard.
•	A result of constipation can also be a lower abdominal pain.

In extreme situations, a constipated bowel can cause a difficult birth

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