Best Ways to Alleviate Morning Sickness
For most women, the joy of finding out they are pregnant is quickly tempered by the onslaught of morning sickness. Around the sixth week of pregnancy, around half of all pregnant women hit the brick wall of nausea, vomiting, and general discomfort and many feel as if they will never be able to eat normally again. This usually lasts until around week twelve for most women, though a small number of women will unfortunately have to deal with it throughout their pregnancy.
While morning sickness can be a pain and inconvenience for some, the American Pregnancy Association assures worried parents-to-be that it is not harmful to the mother or baby. In fact, most medical providers look at it as a good sign that the placenta is developing correctly and the pregnancy is progressing as it should.
Morning sickness is thought to be caused by the increased amount of hormones in pregnant women’s bodies and so technically is a positive sign of a viable pregnancy. While doctors see it as a good thing, that information probably isn’t much help to the women who practically live in the bathroom for six weeks.
Though morning sickness (which can and often does happen at all times of the day) is not dangerous, women with excessive vomiting may have developed hyperemesis gravidarum. This condition can be dangerous to mother and baby if left untreated because of the extreme loss of nutrients and the electrolyte imbalance it causes. Women who feel they have hyperemesis gravidarum should speak to their health care provider for treatment immediately.
For women who have the more typical symptoms of morning sickness, here are five tried and tested ways to help curb the discomfort of morning sickness:
1. If the nausea is truly a morning problem, try to eat something, even a soda cracker, before getting out of bed. Wait ten minutes after eating something before getting the day started.
2. Eat smaller meals throughout the day. Often nausea is exacerbated by hunger.
3. Have foods or drinks that contain ginger. Ginger tea, cookies, or candy have all helped women combat the signs of morning sickness.
4. Drink a non-caffeinated fizzy beverage such as a lemon lime soda or ginger ale. Many women get relief from the carbonation of the drink.
5. Eat foods high in protein and complex carbohydrates such as cheese, nuts, milk, yogurt, apples, celery, and peanut butter.
Sources:
American Pregnancy Association. Web. 29 November, 2011. “Morning Sickness”.
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/morningsickness.html
PregnantHealth.com. Web. 29 November, 2011. “Nausea”.
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