Morning sickness is one of the most well-known early pregnancy symptoms. It’s the reason you’ve probably gotten accused of being pregnant when you were just sick, but now you are feeling queasy, nauseous, and overly sensitive to smells. While morning sickness is common, there are many things you can try to alleviate the symptoms. Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all answer; what works for you may be a bit of trial and error. But there are some common ways people find relief.
Adjusting your eating habits may help keep nausea from happening in the first place. Eating a high protein diet can help reduce nausea. Many people also find that making sure to keep something in your stomach, often eating several small meals throughout the day, can help keep nausea from overtaking you. Many people keep a simple snack, like saltine crackers, next to their bed and eat them before moving or getting out of bed. If you are having difficulties with your appetite, try not to stress too much about what you’re eating. Focus on eating something whenever you can. You can also try taking your prenatal vitamin at night if you find it upsets your stomach. A gummy prenatal may also be gentler on the stomach and not trigger or exacerbate your nausea.
Be mindful of anything you find that triggers your nausea and do what you can to avoid it! Certain smells, even things you loved before, can become overwhelming as your sense of smell is often much stronger during pregnancy. Keeping cool can also help, as a warm humid environment can increase your tendency to nausea.
If you’re still having difficulties with nausea, there are some simple home remedies you can try. Most common things to try are peppermint and ginger. Tea and/or hard candies can be extremely helpful, just make sure anything with ginger has real ginger in it. If that doesn’t work, some people also find more sour things like lemon or hard candies like Jolly Ranchers helpful. The great thing about these remedies is they are pretty simple to add into your life and don’t tend to garner too much suspicion if you’re trying to keep your pregnancy under wraps.
If these home-remedies don’t work, you can try buying products marketed to ease the discomfort of morning sickness. Preggy pops makes lollipops and hard candies that are made with natural ingredients that are supposed to help with morning sickness. Pink Stork makes teas and candies to combat first trimester discomfort. While created and marketed for sea sickness, Sea Bands can also combat nausea.
If you still need more help, talk with your care provider about using B6 vitamin with unisom. Most people take this at night as unisom can tend to make you sleepy, but the combination can help you feel much better. Just make sure to use unisom tablets and not gels, as the active ingredients are different.
And if nothing seems to help, it can just be comforting to know that the major symptoms of morning sickness tend to subside when you enter the second trimester, around 12 or 13 weeks. However, if you have extreme morning sickness, characterized by extreme nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and dehydration, medications like Zofran may be prescribed, though benefits and risks should be weighed for each person’s individual experiences.
Did you use any of these options for morning sickness? What worked best for you. Leave a comment below!
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