Safely Handling Morning Sickness

Posted on Jan 24, 2012 | Treating Morning Sickness Category | | Print This Article

 

Pregnancy is like no other time in your life. The things that you put into your body matter now perhaps more than at any other time. What makes this particularly frustrating is that pregnancy brings with it so many physical symptoms and side effects. For example, if you were feeling nauseous and you weren’t pregnant, you’d probably take an anti-nausea medication and be done with it. Unfortunately, many of the anti-nausea medications on the market today either haven’t been sufficiently tested so as to be safe during pregnancy, or are even known to potentially cause harm.

Fortunately, there are some things that you can do to safely handle morning sickness.

One of the most important things you can do to safely handle morning sickness is to choose your foods wisely. Fatty foods and spicy foods tend to exacerbate morning sickness. So do foods that have a strong smell. That elevated sense of smell that is so common among pregnant women mean that they are much more sensitive to smells. Therefore, smells are more likely to make you feel nauseous when you are pregnant. Choosing to eat several small meals throughout the day rather than three large ones will also help with morning sickness, because it prevents you from becoming either too hungry or too full.

Ginger is another wonderful way to safely handle morning sickness. Ginger root supplements, for example, may give you some relief. Many women prefer to drink a ginger tea when they are pregnant. Ginger is tremendously helpful with nausea in general, whether you’re pregnant or not. There are other anti-nausea herbs that you can get in a nutritional supplement or in a tea as well, such as lemon or chamomile.

Keeping hydrated may help you safely handle morning sickness, too. When you’re dehydrated, you’re that much more likely to feel nauseous, which will of course make your morning sickness worse.

If your morning sickness is severe or if you can’t keep any food down, talk to your doctor. You need to be able to get the nutrients your baby needs, and severe morning sickness can interfere with that if it’s not treated properly.

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