For mums-to-be, morning sickness is a massive hassle that about half to two-thirds of all pregnant women in Australia deal with.
So, when the baby vomit train is at the station, what can you do? As it turns out, there are solutions to morning sickness, even though it can seem impossible that you’ll ever feel better.
Morning sickness is a pregnancy symptom, starting around week 4 during most pregnancies and ending around week 12. For some women, symptoms of morning sickness persist until their child is born, but for most, it’s around 8 weeks of vomiting and nausea, which are the main symptoms. In most cases, morning sickness is most felt in the morning, which explains the name.
However, a woman can experience nausea and vomiting at any time of the day, from the afternoon to the evening.
More Reading:
What Even Is Morning Sickness?
Morning sickness occurs in approximately half to two-thirds of all pregnant women according to www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au the main symptoms being nausea and vomiting. Typically, morning sickness symptoms will be worse early in the morning, but some deal with it in the evenings as well.
So, what can you do about morning sickness? Well, there are no solutions that work for everyone, but here are 8 things that you should definitely try!
1. Trick Your Hydration Senses
Women with morning sickness need to stay hydrated. It’s one of the most important and beneficial things that they can do for their own health. The problem is that when morning sickness is bad, it can be difficult to keep anything down, even water. Some women have found an effective way to getting both simple food and water into their bodies by eating plain but salty foods, like salted chips or crackers.
As their body reacts to the salt, they’re able to take in some water, and for some women, the salt also settles their stomach.
2. Freeze Your Electrolytes
If you know you aren’t getting enough water to stay hydrated, you might need to opt for electrolyte liquids instead. These allow you to be more hydrated from less liquid intake, and are generally used for people suffering from symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting.
You can make them more palatable to a sensitive stomach by freezing them. Freezing them into ice cubes, or buying the kid’s popsicle variety, means you get it into your body nice and slow, which can stop you from vomiting.
3. Watermelon To The Rescue
Watermelon and other fruits and vegetables with high water content are great for the morning sickness period because they offer a chance to eat and to hydrate. Watermelon is particularly good because it has a mild and sweet flavour.
If you’re struggling to keep it down, you can also blend it into a puree and either eat as is or freeze into ice blocks.
4. Smell It Real Good
Nausea during women’s morning sickness is often triggered by smell. It might be your partner’s garlicky breath, it might be your older child’s sweaty shoes, or it could be your neighbour’s smoking BBQ, but those bad smells really get the gag reflex pumping. So, offset your vomit comet by carrying around a nice smelling scent, something that calms you.
5. Dose Yourself Naturally (ginger, lemon, peppermint)
Speaking of peppermint, pregnant Mumma’s should also have a look into foods that can settle nausea. While morning sickness isn’t quite like normal nausea, many of the same settling foods apply. These include peppermint and ginger, both of which can be incorporated into many different meals or snacks when you’re struggling with morning sickness.
Ginger in particular is a great option because it is so versatile.
Ginger Flavoured Foods and Drinks to Try:
- Gingernut Biscuits
- Ginger Ale
- Ginger Beer
- Ginger tea is great to sip on during on the day
Peppermint Flavours to Try:
- Peppermint Tea
6. Try All-Day Light Grazing
Many women find that during their morning sickness, they can feel quite nauseous all day, a feeling often made worse by having a full stomach. If you’re one of these women, the solution is to snack very lightly throughout the day, almost like you’re grazing. Choose foods that you enjoy and that do not tend to make you sick, such as bland or plain items, and just eat a small amount every hour or so.
Try and snack on healthy options such as:
- Pumpkin Seeds (pepita’s) are deliciously crunchy and very good for you.
- Nuts in small doses are good for you. Just watch the fat content. Apparently the daily dose of almonds is only 9!
- Banana Oat Bites are delicious and filling!
- Healthy Muffins are another great choice. Try savoury muffins such as Ham and Vegetable.
- Low Fat Greek Yogurt is full of calcium, low in fat and filling.
7. Experiment With Settling Foods
When you have morning sickness, the last thing you want to do is to sample foods that might make you sick. But, if you aren’t sure what’s going to sit well in your stomach, you could go weeks without getting a proper meal. So, when morning sickness sets in, put aside some time to figure out the foods that work for you. Most women find that plain foods, like crackers, work well, but we’ve heard all kinds of weird foods that women say were the only thing they could eat!
Some Weird Food Options that Ease Morning Sickness (according to our followers) include:
- Sultana Bran (I could throw it up, then pour myself a new bowl and eat it again…)
- Lemons (suck on slices)
- Jatz Crackers
- Rich Tea Biscuits
- Cold berries
- Pasta with Soy Sauce (I couldn’t stomach it any other time than when I was pregnant)
- Cottage Cheese
- Plain Cherios from the box – dry.
8. Avoid Your Triggers
Now, just as there are foods that can settle the stomach when suffering from morning sickness, so too are there things that can make you want to hurl. For every woman, these can be different, but as a rule, spicy and greasy foods generally set off vomiting. The same is true for alcohol and caffeine, which should be absent from your diet anyway. Figure out what your morning sickness doesn’t like, and then avoid it!
Sometimes, all you can really do when you’re suffering from morning sickness is lie down, close your eyes, and take a five-minute time out. Relaxation and deep breathing are definitely worthwhile things to try. Although they might not alleviate your morning sickness, they can make you feel better. Remember, if you ever feel like your morning sickness is getting out of hand, you can go see a doctor.
9. Try and Eat Something Before Getting Out of Bed
It’s funny but most morning sickness occurs in the afternoon! But if you are one of those that start puking your guts out as soon as you get out of bed in the morning, then having a light snack before you put your feet out of the bed could help.
Most Mumma Bears swear by the salty crackers – nibbled slowly!
And if That Doesn’t Help?
Go talk to your Doctor. There are many medications that can really help you feel normal again when taken under medical care. Many women (myself included) end up in hospital from having terrible morning sickness – because it is very easy to become dehydrated.
When hospitalised, many woman are given a drip to hydrate the body, and various medications to ease the vomiting. It is just surprising how well you can bounce back to normal with the right treatment!
