Managing Morning Sickness

“Congratulations! You are pregnant!” Wouldn’t this time be even more special if you didn’t feel so awful. Between 70-85% of women experience a degree of morning sickness in pregnancy which can range from a general feeling of fatigue and nausea to constant vomiting.

1. What are the common symptoms of morning sickness?

Morning sickness is the nausea and occasional vomiting experienced by many women during pregnancy and is often caused by changes in hormones experienced during this time. Whilst called morning sickness, this feeling can persist for the entire day or may be experienced at some part of the day. There is a spectrum of effect with some women not feeling sick at all to some women requiring medical intervention to help reduce the symptoms, particularly severe vomiting.

2. How long does morning sickness last?

Symptoms of morning sickness typically include nausea and, in some cases, vomiting, which often appear around week 5 or 6 of pregnancy. Symptoms may worsen but often begin to improve from week 16-20.

The symptoms can worsen at around 9 weeks but tend to improve by weeks 16 to 18. Some women may experience this nausea and vomiting for the duration of their pregnancy, but this is less common.

3. How do you manage morning sickness?

Whilst there is no cure for morning sickness, there are several useful strategies which may help to better manage it. It is important to keep in mind that some pregnancy supplements, particularly taken on an empty stomach may make symptoms worse.

• Try not to skip meals: When you feel terrible, the last thing you feel like doing is eating, but avoiding food is likely to make you feel much worse. This is because when blood glucose levels drop, nausea can increase, so trying to eat small amounts of light foods every hour or two will help to reduce nausea.
• Small amounts of food more frequently may be better tolerated overall and reduced nausea and risk of vomiting
• Try and eat slowly and sit upright when eating
• Choose bland foods that don’t have strong taste or odour. This may include:
  • Crackers, plain toast, popcorn
  • Rice, pasta, plain cereal
  • Banana or stewed fruit
  • Cold foods may also be well tolerated – smoothies, icy poles, yoghurt
• Go for salty options: Think vegemite on crackers or cheese and even a few plain potato chips. These foods can work wonders for nausea and while these may not always be the healthiest choices, eating a small amount of something when you are managing morning sickness is much better than eating nothing at all.

• Try ginger: There are very few foods directly linked to reducing the feelings of nausea, but ginger is one that has some evidence to support its use. You can try ginger tea, ginger biscuits or even adding ginger slides to your water to see if it helps settle your stomach. Couple this with sources of Vitamin B6 which include eggs and wholegrain cereals. A vitamin B6 supplement can also help to reduce symptoms of mild to moderate nausea. Ask your doctor or midwife for more information.

• Keep busy: Unfortunately, no matter what you are doing, you will probably continue to feel lousy. So, the best thing to do is to distract yourself as much as possible as the more you focus and think about it, the worse it might feel. The busier and more engaged you are, the less you will notice and feel the nausea.
• Avoid fatty foods, thick creams, sauces, gravy and spicy and rich foods with strong taste or odour. High fat foods do take longer to digest and may impact on tolerance when feeling nauseated.
• Keep hydrated: If you are vomiting, keeping hydrated is an essential part of managing morning sickness. Iced cold water, soda or sparkling water (and even sports drinks or electrolyte solutions added to your water!) are all good options to help manage headaches and the general feelings of fatigue associated with frequent vomiting and dry retching.

Summary: Morning sickness is the nausea and occasional vomiting experienced by many women during pregnancy and is often caused by changes in hormones experienced during this time. Morning sickness is generally experienced in some part of the day and generally only lasts for the first trimester in most women. Whilst there is no cure, there are a number of strategies that can assist in the management of these symptoms without compromising the health of you and your baby.

General tips:

• More than 70 per cent of pregnant women experience morning sickness particularly in the first trimester
• There is no cure for morning sickness but there are several strategies you can take to relieve the symptoms of nausea and vomiting

If your vomiting becomes severe, or your start to experiencing pain or cramping, seek advice from your doctor or midwife

About the author