The severity of morning sickness during pregnancy depends on the woman. It will be different for everyone. Many women suffer tremendously, while others suffer only in a minimal sense and go through it rather quickly. But to back up a step, what exactly is morning sickness?
Morning sickness is the feeling of nausea and likely vomiting during the early stages of pregnancy. It is called morning sickness, because in many cases, the nausea is worse in the morning and then tapers off throughout the day. This does not happen in every case, however. Some women experience nausea all day long, and some, none at all. Also, for some women, the nausea can come in the evening. Most likely, if you are pregnant, you will experience some type of nausea at some point during your pregnancy.
The nausea is present because of the change in hormones that your body is undergoing. Your body prepares itself to be able to care for a growing baby, and hormones are one of the first ways it does so. Your body will begin to create more estrogen as well as hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin). Another reason many women become nauseated is because of the heightened sense of smell that most pregnant women experience. If your nose is very sensitive to smell, then the bad smells are more likely to gross you out, leading to more nausea and vomiting.
Are there ways to treat morning sickness? Most of the time, yes. If you have mild morning sickness, you should be able to try a few things to help with the discomfort.
-Avoid very spicy foods, because it can upset your stomach. They also have a strong odor…that you could be sensitive to.
-Try to eat small meals/snacks every 2-3 hours. This way, your stomach is never empty and you really do not get very hungry.
-Ginger can help with nausea!
-Try taking your pre-natal vitamin with food.
-Keep yourself hydrated. Drink fluids between meals—make it an all day thing. But don’t drink to make yourself full.
-Make sure you are getting enough rest and sleep!
If you find that you simply cannot keep anything down, then I suggest getting tips from your doctor. Get a check up. Make sure everything is fine. It probably is. As stated earlier, some women simply experience worse morning sickness than others. As a side note, multiple births could be a trigger for very strong morning sickness symptoms. Not to scare you, but you could be having twins (or more)!
Truth is, because all women are not the same, there is no one way to treat something. If the tips above do not work for you, then try finding tips from other women who have tried different things. Your doctor may also be able to help. Experience is good, and letting people know what works is a wonderful gift—to many women! Health and happiness to you!
