Best Way to Deal with Morning Sickness during Pregnancy

This is the most talked about discomfort of early pregnancy. It is actually a misnomer since it can occur at any time of the day. Many women describe it as feeling like the beginnings of a stomach flu. You feel nauseous—as if you’re going to throw up. You may also be actually vomiting at times. Some researchers believe this symptom of early pregnancy is caused by the rapid change in the level of hormones. Other researchers believe it’s caused by the way your body breaks down and utilizes carbohydrates. You can’t really do anything about the hormones—they’re needed to maintain the pregnancy. But you can provide your body with a more constant supply of car­bohydrates.

Many women with morning sickness experience it upon wak­ing perhaps because their bodies have been without carbohy­drates during an 8 to 10 hour period of sleep. The answer to the problem, whenever it occurs, may be to give the body more car­bohydrates. Unfortunately, the last thing you’ll want to do when you feel like this is to eat.

Here are some tips for dealing with morning sickness:

•  Make sure you get something light to eat just before bedtime. Graham crackers and a small glass of milk or a few crackers with cheese and half of a banana will prevent your stomach from get­ting completely empty during the night and will help keep your blood sugar stable.
•  Throughout the day, try to notice when you have the most intense symptoms of “morning sickness,” then, in the following days, try to eat something prior to this time period even if you’re not hungry. Remind yourself that there may be unpleasant con­sequences if you don’t follow the schedule.
•  Try eating six small meals a day instead of the usual three, or include nutritious snacks in your daily eating.
•  Avoid fried or greasy foods. They may exacerbate morning sick­ness and they aren’t good for a pregnancy diet anyway. Spicy food may also not be tolerated well in early pregnancy.
•  Always carry some crackers, protein bars, or dry cereal with you. You should keep snacks in the car, at work, and in your purse. When you start to feel queasy, eat these carbohydrates slowly and try to get some fresh air.
•  If you feel nauseous, put a cold cloth on your face and take slow, deep breaths to calm yourself. Realize that the anxiety of know­ing you may be getting “sick to your stomach” may make the problem worse.
•  Some women learn how to use acupressure. This Chinese method of applying pressure to various points in the body may be helpful in alleviating your pregnancy nausea.
•  Others say that eating foods containing ginger or drinking gin­ger tea or ginger ale decreases their morning sickness.

If you feel that your morning sickness is unbearable, or if you’re vomiting more than once per day, let your doctor or midwife know. Other symptoms to report include producing only small amounts of dark urine, feeling light-headed, and a rapid heartbeat. These may be signs of dehydration. YourOBprovider may provide nausea medica­tion to alleviate your distress. A severe case of morning sickness is called hyperemesis gravidarum. If you find you cannot tolerate any solid food and most liquids, you will need to be closely monitored by yourOBprovider.

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•  Tell yourself: “Now I need to use my breathing to stay in control.”
•  Congratulate yourself for your success.
•  Tell yourself you are almost at the end.
•  Tell yourself your baby will be here very soon.
•  You can feel the baby’s soft little face on you.
•  See yourself sitting back after the labor and birth is over. You’re tired, but very, very happy.