Are you glugging Gaviscon like it’s going out of fashion? I can relate – in all of my pregnancies I felt like I was keeping Gaviscon in business tbh…but does it mean you are going to have a hairy baby? If my experience is anything to go by then no – none of my babies were particularly hairy!
There is however research out there, albeit a bit dated (2006) that suggests heartburn = a hairy baby!
In 2006, Kathleen A. Costigan, a Nurse Clinician at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore, Maryland’s Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics undertook a study across 64 pregnant women.
Whilst most of the participants reported some heartburn during their pregnancy, what was interesting is that 82% of those reporting severe heartburn during their pregnancy gave birth to babies with lots of hair on their head.
The research found that there was a direct correlation between the amount of hair and the severity of the heartburn experienced during pregnancy which led the study to conclude that there was truth in this belief, but why?
The conclusion that the researchers reached was that higher levels of the pregnancy hormones oestrogen and progesterone which stimulate the growth of your baby’s hair actually causes the lower oesophageal sphincter to relax too, which allows stomach acid back into the oesophagus causing acid reflux (or heartburn as we all know it).
Did you also know, that during your ultrasound appointment, you can see your baby’s hair? Although your baby will start to develop tiny hair follicles on their body from around 14 weeks, it’s around 20 weeks that hair starts to sprout from these follicles.
This hair will be all over their body forming lanugo, and almost looks like a fur on their body, which helps to protect their skin from the amniotic fluid. The hair on their eyebrows and head may become visible on your ultrasound from as early 22 weeks onwards.
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