Morning Sickness.

Morning Sickness: How To Cope With The Worst Of The Pregnancy Signs

Although most women wouldn’t know the complete range of pregnancy signs, there is sure to be one that that they’d recognise and probably dread – morning sickness, or the nausea and vomiting that are common in the early weeks of pregnancy. As with every pregnancy, every woman’s experience of morning sickness is different. Some women may suffer with it throughout their pregnancy whereas other women might not have it at all.

The Causes Of Morning Sickness

It’s estimated that between 50% and 95% of all women that are pregnant at any given time experience morning sickness but only 1% suffer with it so badly that they have to be hospitalised for dehydration. The nausea normally starts within the first month of pregnancy and peaks in weeks five and six, but it is common for morning sickness to continue up until week sixteen. There are many reasons why pregnant women suffer with it, including:

· Low blood sugar that stems from the pregnancy
· Increased hormones, which is mainly oestrogen as that increases in the body by up to 100 times.
· Excess stomach acid, which comes from an increased level of progesterone (another hormone) because that tightens the muscles of the uterus to prevent early childbirth.
· Over-sensitivity to various odours, which can easily turn the stomach.
· Automatic detoxification of the body to protect the health of the baby in the womb.

Can Morning Sickness Be Harmful?

Morning sickness is completely normal but it can cause major health problems if your body struggles to cope with it. Most women tend to be sick first thing in the morning but then have few problems through the day and so can eat well. However, some women struggle to keep anything down at all. It is worth checking in with your doctor is you lose more than 2lbs, vomit blood, are unable to keep fluids down or are sick more than three or four times in one day.

Relieving Your Morning Sickness

You can help to ease your morning sickness a little. These cures aren’t foolproof and they don’t work 100% of the time, but they might help make the early weeks of your pregnancy a little easier to cope with:

· Eat little and often rather than large meals because the latter is likely to upset your stomach if you’re feeling a little delicate.
· Don’t eat any foods that are full of fat, or those that are greasy or spicy.
· You’ll soon figure out what smells make you sick so avoid those foods like the plague!
· Get plenty of carbs to keep your energy levels up and stabilise your blood sugar. Pasta, bread and potatoes are great for this.
· If you feel nauseous then stick to bland and boring foods like dry toast until it passes.

If all else fails then bear in mind that you’ll soon feel a lot better as your pregnancy progresses and it’s completely normal to feel sick and be sick. It’s one of the prices that you may have to pay!

You can read all of our related week by week pregnancy articles here.