Yuck, just the word brings back horrible memories of day and night nausea.   There are still foods from that time in my life that I will never eat again.  The best way I can think to describe it is having the flu for months.  My morning sickness started off normal enough and then progressed  to the very rare, severe and dangerous form of morning sickness called hyperemesis which was for me morning sickness for the full nine months of the pregnancy including during labor.  I was still actually getting sick during labor but the moment my daughter was born, literally within a minute, I wanted to eat a bowl of cereal – it was the first time I had wanted to eat in 9 months.  This is a long story though and a blog for another time.  Right now I want to talk about that first trimester of morning sickness that most women experience and tips for getting through it.

I would really love to get some tips and comments  that we can post for women going through it right now.  Believe me I would have tried almost anything so let’s see if we can help.  To leave a comment, at the end of the blog, you’ll see the word “comments”.  That is a clickable link, even though it’s not underlined, just click to leave your morning sickness advice.  You can also cut and paste this link in to your browser – http://miraclemunchkins.com/blog/?p=172

So on to my tips……

The first thing I tried right at the beginning when I was just feeling a little yucky but nothing too bad were those motion sickness wrist bands.  The basic premise is that the wristbands provide acupressure to help relieve the nausea.  I’ve never had problem with motion sickness so I can’t speak to the effectiveness of these bands for motion sickness or chemotherapy (another use) however I didn’t ever feel that they helped reduce my morning sickness.  That being said, I rarely removed them as I wasn’t taking the chance.  At any rate, it was hassle-free, drug-free and definitely worth trying.

The most helpful thing I was told and that I tried to do was to make sure that you don’t let your stomach get empty.  An empty stomach will make the nausea worse and I definitely found that to be very true. By the way, this is typically why it is called morning sickness.  Our stomachs are the emptiest during the morning which means you usually feel worse at that time.  I felt horrible 24 hours a day but an empty stomach was like giving me a double dose of morning sickness.   That means you need to snack and snack a lot. This doesn’t mean tons of junk food, think healthy snacks.  Fruits are recommended but to be honest I couldn’t stomach it , for me it was saltines and pretzel sticks and they really did help.  Also, try keeping some snacks, like crackers,  at the side of your bed to eat before getting out of bed in the morning.

Sugary lemon drops -  a friend said she sucked on these during her morning sickness and something about them just seems to help a little.  I have never really loved hard candy but the sugary lemon drops really were comforting and did seem to make a difference.  I haven’t had them since but I probably sucked on enough of them during the first trimester to last a lifetime.

room temperature water – Ice cold water may make you feel worse when that cold hits your stomach, it did me, so try your water at room temperature.   Whatever you prefer, make sure you are staying hydrated, vomiting frequently will dehydrate you quickly.  Besides being dangerous, dehydration will also make you feel significantly worse.

ginger tea – okay, I hate ginger and I hate tea so I this idea also didn’t appeal to me whatsoever but ginger has long been used to treat nausea.

taking a vitamin b6 supplement- of course always ask your doctor before adding an additional vitamin as perhaps you are already getting your maximum amount through a medicine your doctor is providing you.  However many women have reported that taking a b6 supplement helped.   During my pregnancy, somebody recommend a vitamin e supplement.  I tried that for awhile and I didn’t really notice any improvement.

Okay ladies, let’s hear some things that may have helped you!!

Munchkins Mom at MiracleMunchkins.com