Morning Sickness: What To Do About It
Once a woman finds out that she is pregnant, there is plenty of excitement, nerves, and a sea of emotions that she will be experiencing. And once she tells the dad, then he will be experiencing the same as well. There will be visions about the baby, and thoughts about the type of baby homecoming outfits the newborn will wear. However, it is a known fact that aside from the excitement, worry, and nervousness that comes with pregnancy, there are plenty of unpleasant symptoms that come with it as well.
The main symptom that many pregnant moms complain about is morning sickness, which is really a silly name as it is not only experienced in the morning. Sometimes this sickness that is associated with pregnancy is experienced during the afternoon and evenings or even in the middle of the night. And it can be quite distressing for moms experiencing it, depending on the severity.
There are some lucky pregnant moms around that don’t end up having any type of sickness or only have mild nausea and nothing beyond that. However, the majority of pregnant women experience morning sickness. Some can only have nausea which does count, however many also have to deal with vomiting as well.
Morning sickness is believed to be caused by the increasing hormones, and for those women who don’t get morning sickness are just lucky. They still go off to have healthy pregnancies. They just are not overly sensitive to the hormonal changes but for many, the changes in hormones can cause disturbances in the vomiting centre of the brain. The increasing hormones can also cause the digestive system to slow down which is another possible reason for nausea in pregnancy. Additionally, it is believed that low blood sugar can be a contributing factor to nausea in the morning which is why it is believed to happen in the morning often.
This pregnancy sickness is usually at its peak during the first trimester and more often than not, it settles in the second trimester around 14 weeks. Queasiness can be experienced. However, it is miserable and it is, unfortunately, one of the most common pregnancy symptoms experienced. The good news is that morning sickness can be managed.
How To Manage Morning Sickness
More often than not, relief can be found when it comes to managing morning sickness. According to WebMD, there are plenty of steps suffering moms-to-be can take in order to help minimize the symptoms of morning sickness which will be discussed now.
- Eat something bland before getting out of bed – Since there may be truth to having low blood sugar being a contributing factor to nausea in the morning during pregnancy, it is quite helpful to suffering moms if they munch on something bland. Examples of bland foods to eat before getting out of bed are dry toast, dry cereal, and saltines. Just a little of those can be helpful when it comes to calming the stomach.
- Eat five to six small meals a day – This suggestion is also linked to the notion that low blood sugar can worsen morning sickness. First of all, eating three large meals a day can trigger nausea regardless, in pregnancy due to the hormones causing the digestive system to become sluggish. Secondly, whenever, you go without eating for more than 3 hours at a time, it can cause your blood sugar to drop which will worsen nausea. That is why eating five to six small meals a day when morning sickness is in the picture is a win-win.
- Eat only bland foods – If morning sickness is especially rough, then adjustments will need to be made to the diet. That means to cut out spicy and fatty foods and to stick to bland and soft foods that are easy to digest. The BRAT diet should be implemented in other words which are bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. Popsicles and jello are also very easy to digest.
- Stay hydrated – It is important to stay hydrated no matter what because pregnancy nausea will worsen if the mom-to-be is dehydrated and not getting enough water.
- Stock up on ginger – Ginger is known to help calm the stomach and aid with digestion. That is why it is the best idea to always make sure there are ginger capsules on hand, ginger candies, or ginger ale in stock if morning sickness has been rough.
- Peppermint tea is helpful – If ginger isn’t helping relieve symptoms, then another great morning sickness remedy is peppermint tea as peppermint has been known to help heal the stomach and calm nausea.
- Cold foods are easier to digest than hot foods – Another great way to manage morning sickness is by only taking in cold foods which mean to let toast cool down, or eat applesauce that has been chilled. Sucking on ice cubes and drinking cold ginger ale will help. With that said, if you are wanting to take in peppermint tea, let it cool down and take in small sips.
And just remember one thing. As miserable as morning sickness is, it will pass, and then you can go on and dream about your baby’s arrival in a matter of months while you are feeling much better. That means you can go and picture your newborn in geek baby onesies if that is your style, as well as decorating the nursery, and other fun and exciting things that are relevant to the baby.
However, if you are trying to manage morning sickness and nothing is helping, and you are unable to hold in sips of water, then you cannot manage it on your own and need to see a doctor. You may have a condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum which is uncontrollable nausea and vomiting during pregnancy and strong medications will need to be administered. Princess Kate and Amy Schumer both had the condition. That is the exception and not the rule.
With that said, take these tips, do what you can to manage the morning sickness, and keep hanging on because better times are coming!
