Morning Sickness in Pregnancy

Learning that you are pregnant is exciting and joyful news, but once you start to feel morning sickness, you just don’t feel that great anymore. Almost 70% of pregnant women feel morning sick during the first few weeks of pregnancy and 50% experience vomiting. Morning sickness is a common symptom of pregnancy and can make you feel like your stomach is empty. You might also be sensitive to certain food smells which will make you feel nauseous.

Although the name suggests it’s the sickness that expecting mothers experience in the morning, but it is really not time specific and can happen any time of the day.

Morning sickness is not continuous, which means that some days you will experience it in great strength and on other days you will be perfectly fine. Many women often feel like they would vomit, but it is sometimes just a feeling of uneasiness and no real vomiting. Let’s proceed further into the post to find out more about morning sickness during pregnancy.

How long does it last?

Nausea and morning sickness is experienced by a majority of expecting women in the first trimester of their pregnancy. Morning sickness begins in the 4^th or 6^thweek and can stretch to the 14^th week. Some women also feel the symptoms for a lot longer than 14 weeks. Sometimes nausea can come and go throughout the pregnancy.

What Causes Morning Sickness?

When you are pregnant, there are numerous physical and hormonal changes that take place. These changes are the reason for all that you feel throughout the pregnancy including nausea and morning sickness. Although no one can really tell the exact reason why morning sickness occurs, it is quite possible that it happens due to the following reasons:

Estrogen and other hormonal changes in the body might be a reason for nausea.
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) is another hormone that is formed during pregnancy and can be a cause of morning sickness. Women who are pregnant with multiples have high levels of (HCG) and are the ones who feel the worst symptoms of nausea and morning sickness.
Certain types of smells and food aromas can cause nausea and morning sickness.
Women with sensitive gastrointestinal tracts are usually prone to experiencing morning sickness.
Women who feel nauseous when under stress might feel the same during pregnancy.

Morning sickness is not something that you should be alarmed about. It is pretty normal and most of the women experience it during the first trimester. So, feel relaxed and stop stressing out. You can take help from our morning sickness prevention tips below!

Tips to Ease Morning Sickness

Experiencing nausea and feeling sick in the morning is something that every pregnant woman needs to get used to. Having morning sickness doesn’t mean that it will be alright if you do not eat anything. Nausea can get worse if you haven’t eaten anything. Let’s take a look at some effective tips that will help ease the morning sickness and nausea during the first few weeks of your pregnancy.

Morning sickness gets worse when you smell certain foods. So, avoid warming your food and stick to cold meals to ease the symptoms of morning sickness.
Always keep a bag of crackers besides your bed to munch on them before getting out of bed. When you snack a little before getting up, you will not experience bad nausea symptoms.
Try not to get out of bed quickly as fast motion can also make the symptoms worst. Take a few minutes before you sit straight on the bed and slowly get up.
Do not east fatty, spicy, or acidic foods during the first few weeks as they may cause morning sickness. Fatty foods take longer to digest, which can make you feel uneasy and nauseous.
Drink water and other fluids between meals and try to keep the quantity less as drinking too many fluids can also make you vomit.
Try not to lie down after meals as it may slow down digestion.
Avoid other triggers that make you feel nauseous.
A good way to control morning sickness is to sniff lemons. You can also have water by adding lemon slices into the glass.
You can also make ginger tea to ease nausea. However, ginger is not always helpful and it might also elevate the symptoms.
Take your pregnancy vitamins everyday as they provide for the nutritional requirement required by your pregnant body, which can be helpful in making you feel less nauseous.
Eat food in little amounts but frequently. This is a great way to control your sugar level, which will keep you from getting morning sickness.
Eat nuts as snacks because they are rich in vitamins and protein, which provides proper nourishment to the body, making you feeling less nauseous.

Due to the continuous change of hormones in your body, it is quite normal to feel a little sick and nauseous. However, if you think that avoiding food is the right way to handle the situation, then you are sadly mistaken. Follow the tips given above and you will definitely be able to control morning sickness.

Foods you should Eat

Here are a few foods that have proven to be beneficial in easing morning sickness and nausea:

Lemon
Ginger tea
Crackers
Pretzels
Nuts
Peppermint tea

These foods have helped ease morning sickness in several pregnant women but not all. So, if you feel that your symptoms are getting worse by consuming these items, then avoid having them.

If the morning sickness gets worse and you are vomiting several times a day or whenever you eat something, you should visit your nurse. Sometimes excessive vomiting is linked to another condition which can be harmful for you and your baby.