Pregnancy is an experience of a lifetime, a roller-coaster ride. It is an amazing feeling to create a life, but add pregnancy nausea to the equation and it can leave you feeling sick and stressed.
True, pregnancy comes with a set of lasting transformations in not only your life and relationships but also your body, hormones and moods. Some of them are pretty challenging and a woman has to learn to live and adjust to these transformations. But one thing that is commonly experienced by around fifty to ninety percent of pregnant women is morning sickness or pregnancy nausea.
Pregnancy nausea adds to the stress of motherhood and is not something that you want to suffer from, in the long term. Let us know more about pregnancy nausea.
What Is Pregnancy Nausea?
In earlier stage of your pregnancy, it is absolutely normal to experience the feeling of being nauseous accompanied by feelings of heaviness, tightness and vomiting. Although it is called morning sickness, but it can set off at any time of the day or night. Some pregnant women feel it entire days, some on some days, some experience pregnancy nausea after they have smelled or eaten a particular food.
Pregnancy nausea can have different and multiple triggers and it is not easy to identify. The whole experience of feeling sick is definitely not good because it ranges from you feeling sick for a while to you feeling as if you have a stomach infection. You can feel nauseous in the morning or sometimes the feeling can last the entire day disrupting your daily routine. Thus, you must always keep in mind cures for morning sickness that lasts all day.
Health experts have been unable to identify the real causes behind pregnancy nausea- while some say it is because of hormonal imbalances within a pregnant women’s body while others attribute it to an empty stomach; thyroid abnormality and so on. Due to such varied viewpoints as to the cause behind it, the ways toprevent pregnancy nausea are also diverse and have different results for different pregnant women.
12 Simple Ways to Prevent Pregnancy Nausea
Apart from feeling like puking all day long, you might become intolerant to certain kinds of food items during your pregnancy and you might also become extra sensitive to smells around you. Remember this is all a part of experiencing pregnancy nausea. As a consequence, we want you to follow the 12 simple tips to prevent morning sickness that we have compiled especially for our new mothers to be.
1. A quick overhaul of your eating routine
As soon as you conceive, you must be careful of your eating schedule so as to never be on empty stomach and to have frequent yet small meals during the entire day instead of just three full meals. You have to change your eating schedule to ensure you are full and consuming a balanced diet to keep you away from the symptoms of morning sickness.
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2. Careful consideration of the foods consumed
To prevent pregnancy nausea, the food items you consume assume great importance. First off, eating food which is rich in protein, carbohydrate; low fat as well as Vitamin B can be added into your diet like dry fruits and nuts because these foods keep you full, energetic and can be digested easily. Snacks such as cookies, rusks, toasts, crackers etc. can be consumed all throughout the day as well as in the morning when you get up.
Try to eat salads, sandwiches and other such cold dishes which are devoid of cooking smells and which have fewer tendencies to make you nauseous. Extremely oily, spicy and sweet foot items must be avoided during pregnancy to combat nausea.
3. Ease pregnancy nausea with ginger
Apart from being used as a spice and herb in culinary practices, ginger has many hidden medicinal properties. It is the anti-emetic properties of ginger which have been proven by several studies that makes ginger a perfect food item that helps prevent morning sickness that also without side-effects.
Instead of taking medications, you can have dried ginger, ginger tea, ginger candy, powdered ginger etc. every day. Recommended daily dosage of this particular anti-nauseant agent is 0.5 to 1.0g for those suffering from pregnancy nausea.
4. Increase fluid intake
If you suffer from nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, you have to ensure that you are hydrated all throughout the day to cover up the water loss in your body. For this, your water intake has to be high i.e. at least 8 to 12 glasses of water. Apart from that coconut water, fresh fruit and vegetable juices etc. could be a good option.
Remember not to intake fluid while having a meal. So in between your small and frequent meals, you can intake fluid to keep your body well hydrated and to stop morning sickness in early pregnancy.
5. Effective utilization of aromatherapy
Whenever you feel nauseous during your pregnancy, perhaps the best way to stop nausea fast would be to apply the principles of aromatherapy. Smelling orange, lemon, peppermint or utilizing the essential oils made of out of these would be the ideal way in which you can fight morning sickness.
Aromatherapy is a natural and very effective way to deal with pregnancy nausea which is backed by several research studies.
6. Use of antiemetic fennel seeds
The fennel plant is an embodiment of medicinal properties and features specifically related to the digestive system and gastrointestinal system of the human body. The seeds of this plant have antiemetic properties which help tackle digestive as well as gastrointestinal problems.
You can either make a beverage out of these seeds to drink or consume 1 teaspoon of these seeds after every meal to prevent pregnancy nausea conveniently.
7. Lemons to the rescue
Lemons have been known to help with pregnancy nausea since ages. Drinking lemonade, sniffing fresh cut lime or sucking lemon candies- any of this can help you tackle morning sickness effectively. For many pregnant women, lemons become their best friends in times of pregnancy and helps relieve the discomfort in no time and without side effects .
8. Give acupressure a chance
This traditional Chinese technique of applying pressure to different parts of the body to send signals to our nervous system and help reduce symptoms like nausea, stomach irritation, indigestion etc. is perhaps the most underestimated ways of preventing morning sickness.
The inner frontier or P6 is one of the known pressure points for nausea which can be found 2 to 3 finger width down from the inner side of your wrist and in between the 2 tendons. By applying pressure on that or using a sea-wrist band/P6 wrist band you can help negate the effects of morning sickness during your pregnancy. Try acupressure for preventing pregnancy nausea.
9. Opt for Vitamin B6 rich food or supplements
Foods which are rich in Vitamin B6 like non-citrus fruits, starchy vegetables, poultry, fish etc. can be added to your diet because this vitamin is said to provide relief to symptoms of nausea among pregnant women.
The Vitamin B6 supplements consumed by you will not harm your baby and the recommended dosage to prevent morning sickness is 10 to 25 mg, thrice a day. However, consulting your doctor before taking such supplements would be a wise move.
10. Keep yourself active
Exercising during pregnancy has many benefits. It is not just a good way to keep yourself and your baby healthy but also to keep your morning sickness at bay. Along with that, it effectively distracts you from the sick feeling. The more you focus on your workout or walk- the more you will get distracted from nausea and queasiness. Exercising will help you will feel more energetic and stress-free.
11. Take rest when needed
As a pregnant woman, never take rest for granted. Resting your body is as essential as making sure it gets the required balanced diet as well as remains active during the day. Just simply lying down, relaxing and taking deep inhalations and exhalations can help stop nausea fast. Sleep as much as you can to give your body much needed rest and to avoid episodes of morning sickness.
12. Make yourself comfortable
So you have been eating the foods that fight nausea during pregnancy. Perhaps also using alternate therapies like aromatherapy and acupressure. But the prime importance you should focus on making yourself comfortable at all times. For this, wearing loose fitting, breathable and light clothes is very necessary especially if you are experiencing morning sickness.
Apart from that let the people around you know about it so that they can also take precautions as to not trigger your pregnancy nausea with any kind of visual or smell.
Lastly, we would just like to add an essential advise here- the tips provided here are simple and easy to follow but their effectiveness would depend on the severity of the nausea you are facing during your pregnancy and that also for how long. So keep a track of your morning sickness and in case of continuous and severe problem, in the last resort you can consult a physician and get your morning sickness treated.
Always remember that morning sickness is not an imagination. It is a very real issue that is facing a lot of pregnant women, so if you are planning to get pregnant or are pregnant for the first time- acknowledge the issue and take measures to prevent pregnancy nausea. Incorporating the right kinds of food within your diet to making the right changes within your lifestyle will go a long way in making your pregnancy experience better and happier.