Treatment – Mild cases of polyhydramnios rarely require treatment and may go away on their own. Even cases that cause discomfort can usually be managed without intervention. In other cases, treatment for an underlying condition — such as diabetes — may help resolve polyhydramnios.
Drainage of excess amniotic fluid. Your health care provider may use amniocentesis to drain excess amniotic fluid from your uterus. This procedure carries a small risk of complications, including preterm labor, placental abruption and premature rupture of the membranes. Medication. Your health care provider may prescribe the oral medication indomethacin (Indocin) to help reduce fetal urine production and amniotic fluid volume. Indomethacin isn’t recommended beyond 31 weeks of pregnancy. Due to the risk of fetal heart problems, your baby’s heart may need to be monitored with a fetal echocardiogram and Doppler ultrasound. Other side effects may include nausea, vomiting, acid reflux and inflammation of the lining of the stomach (gastritis).
After treatment, your doctor will still want to monitor your amniotic fluid level approximately every one to three weeks. If you have mild to moderate polyhydramnios, you’ll likely be able to carry your baby to term, delivering at 39 or 40 weeks. If you have severe polyhydramnios, your health care provider will discuss the appropriate timing of delivery, to avoid complications for you and your baby.
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What if amniotic fluid is high?
What are the dangers of having polyhydramnios? – Too much amniotic fluid in your uterus puts pressure on your nearby organs and causes pregnancy complications. The condition is usually more serious if it occurs early in pregnancy because there’s more time for amniotic fluid to continue to build up.
The excess fluid itself is not harmful to the fetus. Other complications of too much amniotic fluid include: No, you can’t prevent polyhydramnios. If you’ve been diagnosed with gestational diabetes or had diabetes before pregnancy, managing your blood sugar levels is one precaution you can take. People with polyhydramnios may be monitored more closely for the remainder of the pregnancy.
You can expect more frequent appointments as well as more ultrasounds to measure amniotic fluid volume. Your birthing experience shouldn’t be too different than someone without polyhydramnios. Your baby’s heartbeat will be evaluated during labor to make sure they aren’t going through too much stress.
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How much amniotic fluid is too much?
How do you know if you have polyhydramnios? – Many women with polyhydramnios don’t have symptoms. If you have a lot of extra amniotic fluid you may have belly pain and trouble breathing. This is because the uterus presses on your organs and lungs. Your health care provider uses ultrasound to measure the amount of amniotic fluid.
- There are two ways to measure the fluid: amniotic fluid index (AFI) and maximum vertical pocket (MPV).
- The AFI checks how deep the amniotic fluid is in four areas of your uterus.
- These amounts are then added up.
- If your AFI is more than 24 centimeters, you have polyhydramnios.
- The MPV measures the deepest area of your uterus to check the amniotic fluid level.
If your MPV is more than 8 centimeters, you have polyhydramnios. Ask your provider if you have questions about these measurements.
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How long does it take for amniotic fluid to decrease?
– There are several things that can cause low amniotic fluid. These include: Premature rupture of membranes (PROM). This is when your amniotic sac (or “bag of waters”) breaks or begins leaking before labor actually starts. Call your doctor right away! Problems with the placenta.
The placenta plays the crucial role of bringing nutrients and oxygen to your baby. If the placenta isn’t behaving, or has started to detach from the uterine wall, your baby may not be getting enough nutrients to have good fluid (urine) output. Birth defects. If a baby has physical problems, especially with the kidneys, they may not make enough urine, which leads to low amniotic fluid.
Health conditions in mom. Maternal complications such as the following can cause low amniotic fluid levels:
preeclampsia diabetes high blood pressure obesitydehydration
That’s why it’s so important to keep those prenatal appointments, even if they’ve been fairly uneventful so far. Post-term pregnancy. Amniotic fluid naturally starts decreasing after 36 weeks of pregnancy, and is very likely to get too low after 42 weeks of pregnancy.
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Does amniotic fluid affect baby?
Amniotic fluid is a clear, slightly yellowish liquid that surrounds the unborn baby (fetus) during pregnancy. It is contained in the amniotic sac. 
Amniocentesis is used to determine the health of an unborn baby. Amniotic fluid contains cells that are normally shed from the fetus. Samples of these cells are obtained by withdrawing some amniotic fluid. The chromosome analysis of these cells can be performed to determine abnormalities. 
Amniotic fluid not only protects the fetus from injury and temperature changes, it also is circulated by the fetus every 3 hours. 
Polyhydramnios may occur when a fetus cannot swallow a normal amount of amniotic fluid due to a gastrointestinal, neurological, or other problem. 
Amniotic fluid surrounds the growing fetus in the womb and protects the fetus from injury and temperature changes. It also allows for freedom of fetal movement and permits musculoskeletal development. The amniotic fluid can be withdrawn in a procedure called amniocentesis to check for chromosomal defects or other abnormalities.
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What infections cause high amniotic fluid?
Viral infections which can lead to polyhydramnios include parvovirus B19, rubella, and cytomegalovirus. Other infections, e.g. toxoplasmosis and syphilis, can also cause polyhydramnios 80, 81, 82.
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Can high amniotic fluid go down?
In polyhydramnios, excessive amniotic fluid accumulates in the uterus during pregnancy. Mild cases of polyhydramnios may go away on their own. Severe cases may require treatment.
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How much amniotic fluid is normal at 37 weeks?
5. Results – Of the 50 patients who were recruited for the study and were between the age of 22 to 28 years, more than half (32 patients, 64%) were primigravidae and 18 (36%) were multigravidae. None of them had any antenatal complications. All of them delivered at around 39+ to 40 weeks.16 (32%) patients required caesarean delivery for obstetric indication such as failed induction, cephalopelvic disproportion, and fetal distress in labour.
The mean (standard deviation) birth weight of the neonates (measured in kg) was 2.83 (0.34), with 1st minute APGAR score (mean and standard deviation) of 8.48 (1.09) and 5th minute APGAR was 8.72 (1.01). As mentioned in methodology, we have excluded those who delivered before term as we required AFI from 34 weeks to 40 weeks of gestation for analysis purpose.
Table 1 describes the descriptive data for AFI. The AFI values differed throughout the gestation and there was a gradual decline in the values as pregnancy advanced. The 5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles ranged from 11.7, 14.6, and 17.3, respectively, at 34 weeks to 8.7, 10.8, and 13.7, respectively, at 40 weeks.
It is interesting to note that all the values were within 8 to 25 cm range (which is accepted and established normal range for AFI values worldwide). The maximum value of AFI in any single patient was 17.6 cm and minimum 8.5 cm in our series of low risk antenatal pregnant women. If minimum (5th centile) and maximum (95th centile) are considered as normal range, it was noted that the corresponding values too were different at different gestational ages; the more advanced the gestational age, the lesser the values.
These changes are graphically represented in Figure 1, Graphical representation of AFI centiles at various gestational ages.
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How much of pregnancy weight is amniotic fluid?
Is weight gain important during pregnancy? Yes. Gaining the right amount of weight during pregnancy can help protect your health and the health of your baby. If you gain too little weight during pregnancy, you’re more likely than other women to:
Have a premature baby. A premature baby is born too early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Have a baby with low birthweight, Low birthweight means your baby is born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces.
If you gain too much weight during pregnancy, you’re more likely than other women to:
Have a premature baby. Premature babies may have health problems at birth and later in life, including being overweight or obese. Being obese means you have an excess amount of body fat. Have a baby with fetal macrosomia. This is when your baby is born weighing more than 8 pounds, 13 ounces. Having a baby this large can cause complications, like problems during labor and heavy bleeding after birth, Need a cesarean birth (also called c-section). This is surgery in which your baby is born through a cut that your health care provider makes in your belly and womb (also called your uterus). Have trouble losing weight after your baby’s birth. This can increase your risk for health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.
How much weight should you gain during pregnancy? Your health care provider uses your body mass index (also called BMI) before pregnancy to figure out how much weight you should gain during pregnancy. BMI is a measure of body fat based on your height and weight. 
If you’re overweight or obese and are gaining less than the recommended amounts, talk to your provider. If your baby is still growing well, your weight gain may be fine. Gaining weight slowly and steadily is best. Don’t worry too much if you don’t gain any weight in the first trimester, or if you gain a little more or a little less than you think you should in any week.
- You may have some growth spurts—this is when you gain several pounds in a short time and then level off.
- Don’t ever try to lose weight during pregnancy.
- If you’re worried about your weight gain, talk to your health care provider.
- How can you track your weight gain during pregnancy? Your provider checks your weight at each prenatal care visit.
Use our weight-gain tracking chart to track your weight yourself. Where do you gain the weight during pregnancy? You know that your growing baby makes up part of the weight you’re gaining. But what about the rest? Here’s a general idea:
Baby = 7.5 pounds Amniotic fluid = 2 pounds. Amniotic fluid surrounds the baby in the womb. Blood = 4 pounds Body fluids = 3 pounds Breasts = 2 pounds Fat, protein and other nutrients = 6 to 8 pounds Placenta = 1.5 pounds. The placenta grows in your uterus and supplies the baby with food and oxygen through the umbilical cord. Uterus = 2 pounds. The uterus is the place inside you where your baby grows.
Last reviewed: September 2020
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How long does it take for amniotic fluid to decrease?
– There are several things that can cause low amniotic fluid. These include: Premature rupture of membranes (PROM). This is when your amniotic sac (or “bag of waters”) breaks or begins leaking before labor actually starts. Call your doctor right away! Problems with the placenta.
- The placenta plays the crucial role of bringing nutrients and oxygen to your baby.
- If the placenta isn’t behaving, or has started to detach from the uterine wall, your baby may not be getting enough nutrients to have good fluid (urine) output.
- Birth defects.
- If a baby has physical problems, especially with the kidneys, they may not make enough urine, which leads to low amniotic fluid.
Health conditions in mom. Maternal complications such as the following can cause low amniotic fluid levels:
preeclampsia diabetes high blood pressure obesitydehydration
That’s why it’s so important to keep those prenatal appointments, even if they’ve been fairly uneventful so far. Post-term pregnancy. Amniotic fluid naturally starts decreasing after 36 weeks of pregnancy, and is very likely to get too low after 42 weeks of pregnancy.
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What foods are good for polyhydramnios?
Can polyhydramnios treatment be done at home? – There is no home treatment for polyhydramnios, “Depending on your condition, you may be advised bedrest.” Prakriti asked the doctor whether she should modify her diet in any way. “There is no specific polyhydramnios diet.
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