Learning you’re pregnant is joyous news, but there are some pregnancy symptoms that can be quite unpleasant. At the top of the list is morning sickness, and unfortunately, it really doesn’t care what time of day it is.
Many women suffer from nausea and vomiting at all hours when they’re stricken with morning sickness, which usually comes on during the first trimester of pregnancy. However, it can last throughout your pregnancy.
Dr. Kiran Joshi and Dr. Vibha Joshi provide compassionate and expert prenatal care to pregnant women, whether it’s your first baby or your fifth. They treat women experiencing high-risk pregnancies as well and prepare every mother to be whom they treat about what to expect during pregnancy and the birth of their baby.
The cause of morning sickness has eluded researchers, but it’s thought that a woman’s hormones may have something to do with the condition, and fluctuating blood pressure might be involved as well. Metabolic changes during pregnancy are also thought to be factors.
You’ll know you’re one of the nearly 70% of pregnant women who experience morning sickness if, in addition to nausea and vomiting, you realize you have no appetite at all and you’re nauseated by foods you used to love and odors you never minded before.
You’re at higher risk of having morning sickness if you experienced nausea or vomiting before your pregnancy for another reason, like having migraines. There’s also a higher chance of having morning sickness if you’ve had it during a past pregnancy or if you’re pregnant with multiple babies.
The potentially serious part of morning sickness is that if you throw up for a sustained period of time, you can become so depleted and dehydrated that it’s not good for either you or your baby.
Your Garden State Women’s Center provider can offer you advice about successfully keeping morning sickness at bay. Here are some smart steps to take.
You’re more likely to feel sick if you eat spicy or greasy foods, but if you stick to bland foods, and what’s loosely referred to as the BRAT diet, it can help you avoid nausea.
BRAT stands for bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast, and each of those, plus other neutral foods, can put the brakes on an upset tummy better than heavy, intensely flavored foods.
This is why pregnant women suffering from nausea are often advised to eat crackers. Starchy foods also soak up gastric acid, which has a settling effect on the stomach.
Having numerous small and snacky mini-meals throughout the day is preferable to three major meals, in terms of staving off morning sickness discomfort. Having your stomach empty for too long actually exacerbates nausea.
Laying down after eating — which you may be tempted to do when your stomach is upset — can trigger nausea, especially if you’ve eaten recently. When you’re prone, stomach acids tend to move up, which you don’t want, and it doesn’t help your digestion.
Some women have a really hard time getting their prenatal vitamins down when they take them in the morning if they have morning sickness, but it’s critical to take them. Nausea from prenatal vitamins can be tamed sometimes if you take the pills at night.
Eating is a sensory experience, so get to know which foods’ sights and smells provoke nausea for you, and do all you can to avoid them. Nauseating things aren’t limited strictly to foods. Sometimes an odor with an inedible source, like perfumes or cleaners, can make you feel nauseated.
Fortunately, morning sickness peaks at about the 8-10-week mark during pregnancy for most women, so stay hopeful that there’s an end in sight, well before your baby is born! If it does linger for you, however, heeding this advice may make a noticeable difference in how you feel.
Contact Garden State Women’s Center, part of Holy Name Medical Associates, by calling our Hackensack office at 201-228-9596 to make an appointment, or book one online.
