Morning sickness is a common symptom experienced by many pregnant women. While there is no hard and fast treatment that works for everyone, there are several things that can help relieve the symptoms. Here are some tips and remedies that may help:
Lifestyle changes:
- Choose foods carefully. Select foods that are high in protein, low in fat, and easy to digest. Avoid greasy, spicy, and fatty foods. Bland foods, such as bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast may be easy to digest. Salty foods might be helpful, as are foods that contain ginger — such as ginger lollipops.
- Snack often. Before getting out of bed in the morning, eat a few soda crackers or a piece of dry toast. Nibble throughout the day, rather than eating three larger meals. You dont want to get too full, but an empty stomach can also make nausea worse.
- Drink plenty of fluids. Sip water, real ginger ale, or ginger tea. Try to drink 6 to 8 cups of fluids without caffeine each day.
- Pay attention to nausea triggers. Avoid foods or smells that seem to make your nausea worse.
- Get plenty of rest when you can. This is especially important if you have to get up early in the morning. However, DO NOT take a nap right after a meal because this can increase nausea.
- Avoid foods or smells that make your nausea worse, and avoid being in warm places, which can increase your nausea.
Remedies:
- Ginger: Ginger helps relieve morning sickness for some people. Ginger comes in capsules, ginger ale soda, ginger tea, ginger jam on toast, ginger snaps, and ginger lollipops.
- Vitamin B6 supplements: Pyridoxine supplements may help relieve morning sickness.
- Acupressure: Theres some evidence that putting pressure on your wrist, using a special band or bracelet on your forearm, may help relieve the symptoms.
- Anti-sickness medicine: If your nausea and vomiting is severe and does not improve after trying the above lifestyle changes, your doctor may recommend a short-term course of an anti-sickness medicine, called an antiemetic, thats safe to use in pregnancy. Often this will be a type of antihistamine, which are usually used to treat allergies but also work as medicines to stop sickness (antiemetic).
Its important to note that if youre experiencing severe morning sickness, you should talk to your healthcare provider. They may recommend additional treatments or medications to help relieve your symptoms.