Morning Sickness – Tips to Coping

Some women go their entire pregnancy without having morning sickness at all, and some women not only have morning sickness, but get sick throughout the day. Pregnancy effects each person differently, and we all have no choice but to learn how to cope with it.

The one good thing about morning sickness is that in most cases it is temporary, and most women start feeling better around their 12th to 14th week into their pregnancy. The good news is that it does not effect your baby, and the baby is actually handling if pretty well.

During this time of your pregnancy it can be very challenging to eat healthy when you are nauseated all the time. However, there are things that you can do to better prepare yourself for these unpleasant distractions.

The first thing you can do is to eat often, the best case scenario is 5-6 small meals a day. An empty stomach tends to make your morning sickness even worse. This is why you feel bad when you first wake up. When you have nothing in your system your stomach acids are going crazy since there is nothing to soak them up. Make sure and have a snack that is high in protein and in carbs before you go to bed. Keeping some crackers or ginger cookies and some water by your bed is a good idea so if you are nauseated when you first wake up, you have something handy.

It is also a smart idea to carry snacks with you everywhere you go, because the nausea can come on quick, and it is best to have something on hand that you can eat. If this is your first pregnancy, and you don’t eat the 5-6 small meals a day as suggested, it is very common to all of the sudden to get this weak shaky feeling like you are going to pass out, and it will hit you that “I have to eat something right now.” Husbands often do not understand the urgency of this, they want to go to a sit down restaurant and you can not wait that long, you need food right now.

Drinking plenty of water is always a plus, it is important that you stay hydrated especially if you are one of the unfortunate ones that get sick a lot. If you become dehydrated it can cause problems for you and your baby so make sure you drink at least 8 glasses of water or juice through out the day.

Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t eat as healthy as you want to during this time. You will have time later in your pregnancy to make up for it. The most important thing is to use good judgment, and listen to your body, as it will tell you a lot.