Congratulations! You just found out you are pregnant. If you are like the majority of woman, more than likely you have started feeling the symptoms of morning sickness. Between the nausea and the fatigue, you just want to crawl into a hole and die. Trust me you are not alone!
A lot of people for cultural reasons or just practicality don’t want to announce to the world that they are pregnant until after 3 months. This makes it really difficult to act as if nothing is wrong with you, when in reality you are extremely tired and feel sick all the time. The “chronic” food poisoning excuse will only last so long. Frankly speaking, I don’t know why they call it morning sickness, I had all day sickness.
When it comes to morning sickness don’t worry about nutrition. Just try to eat and keep the food in your stomach. Don’t feel guilty – your baby will still get the nutrition it needs. Everyone is different; see what works best for you.
A lot of women develop an aversion to meat and other foods that they previously enjoyed. Researchers believe that “nausea and vomiting in pregnancy helps to protect both mother and fetus from exposure to infectious organisms and toxic chemicals that could result in fetal damage, miscarriage or even, in primitive societies at least, maternal death.” (NY Times Article). During my morning sickness phase I couldn’t eat any meat, spicy or fried/oily food. I also couldn’t eat anything with even a hint of flavor (basil, italian seasoning, Indian spices). I ate a lot of plain spaghetti, processed mac & cheese from a box, plain white bread, plain white rice, fruits, raw veggies and unsalted nuts. I basically lived off of skim milk and bananas. Sorry if you are reading this blog post and want to throw up – I couldn’t even stand the thought of food in my 1st trimester.
Here are some Super Tips for “surviving” morning sickness from some of the SuperMommy readers.
Foods that help morning sickness:
- Ginger, ginger & more ginger. Any and all foods with ginger in it. If you can’t stand ginger, take it in the form of a pill.
- Almonds
- Crackers
- Pretzels
- Bananas
- Bland foods
- Raw veggies
- Fruits
- Mints
- Hard Candy
- Peppermint Tea
- Plain pasta, bread, rice
- Lemons
- Popsicles
Note: You might want to try eating your food when it is cold. Cold food is less likely to smell than hot food.
Keep hydrated. It is really important to keep hydrated, especially if you are throwing up. Drinks that usually help are sour drinks (lime juice, lemon juice), fizzy drinks, ginger ale, sparkling water, sparkling apple juice, sports drinks with electrolytes. Drinking Vitamin Water really helped me.
Eat Something. The less you eat the sicker you will feel, but when you eat you feel sick – it’s a never ending battle. Try to eat even if you feel nauseous. Hunger can trigger nausea. Try to eat small meals/snacks throughout the day. Make sure you keep crackers by your bed so that you can eat first thing in the morning.
Stay away from nausea triggers. Your sense of smell is heightened during the first few months. I would literally have to cover my face walking through food courts. Also, I had a “smelly” co-worker who I sat next to (needless to say it was extremely hard to get my work done sitting in such a close proximity). The managing partner at my law firm actually had to have a talk with him about deodorant.
Prenatal vitamins can also be a nausea trigger. A lot of women have a tough time taking their vitamins since those large pills cause them to throw up. Although taking the prenatal vitamins are extremely important, you might want to consult with your doctor about changing or stopping your vitamin intake until your nausea passes. Just make sure that you take the required amount of folic acid – folic acid is crucial in the 1st trimester!
Rest. I found that the more tired I was the worse I felt. If you are at work, try to rest at lunchtime. Take a nap at your desk if you can. Keep your feet up while sitting at your desk.
B6 vitamin. Take a B6 vitamin. Prenatal vitamins also contain B6, so make sure you ask your doctor what is the right amount to take. You can also consider eating foods that contain a lot of B6.
Motion sickness bands. Buy some motion sickness bands. You should be able to get these at any sporting goods or travel store. Many people use these bands for sea/air sickness.
Exercise. This can go either way. Some women find that their morning sickness gets better after the exercise and others think it gets worse. I really depends on how active you were pre-pregnancy. The 1st trimester is not the time to start a new workout routine if you are not used to working out.
Avoid certain foods. Certain foods can actually make you feel much worse. Greasy and fried food may taste good at the time, but trust me this really does make your morning sickness much worse. Also, you should avoid acidic foods like oranges especially if you are vomiting. The acidity really burns your throat when it comes back up (trust me this is not pleasant). Spicy foods and caffeine have also been known to trigger morning sickness.
Hope these tips help. Don’t worry it will soon be over. Good Luck! Please let me know if you have any other “morning sickness” survival tips to add to the list.
