Morning Sickness Risk Factors

Posted on Dec 20, 2012 | About Morning Sickness Category | | Print This Article

Morning sickness is one of the most common symptoms of pregnancy. Research suggests that as many as 75% of women will experience at least a little bit of pregnancy-related nausea. For some women, morning sickness can be severe, and may even require the attention of a doctor.

There are a number of factors that will increase the likelihood that you’re going to have morning sickness. While your odds are already pretty high, these things will help increase the chances:

• You’re prone to nausea. Some women simply have a “weak stomach.” You might be prone to nausea due to motion sickness, for example. You might have migraine headaches that make you feel sick to your stomach. Many women have a hyper-sensitive sense of smell, and certain smells or tastes might make you nauseous. Other women may become nauseous through exposure to estrogen, such as that in birth control pills. If you’re prone to becoming nauseous before you get pregnant, the odds are pretty good that you’re going to have morning sickness during your pregnancy.
• You had morning sickness during a previous pregnancy. Most women – more than 95% – who experienced morning sickness during their first pregnancy will experience morning sickness again during each subsequent pregnancy. If you’re predisposed to it, chances are you’re going to have it again.
• You have a twin or multiple pregnancy. This one is a little bit of a puzzle. Researchers aren’t exactly sure what it is that causes morning sickness; most of the evidence seems to suggest it has to do with the changing hormone levels in your body. A woman who is pregnant with twins or multiples will experience more dramatic hormone changes as her body prepares itself to nourish and give birth to multiple babies, so this may be what’s behind that particular increase.

The good news for you is that, no matter how many of these risk factors you have, morning sickness is likely to go away by the end of the first trimester. It’s very rare that a woman will experience morning sickness past the first trimester; only about 10% of women who get morning sickness say it continues past that point.

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