Morning Sickness Remedies, how to get away from the nausea and back on your feet.
Congrats, you just got the exciting news that you have a bun in the oven, a little blessing forming and getting ready to grace your family in 9 months time. But maybe you aren’t feeling so blessed. If your pregnancies are anything like mine, you may be seriously doubting your sanity for getting pregnant. The heartburn, the exhaustion, the NAUSEA! Oh my goodness, the nausea! What were we thinking right? Well fear not, I’m sharing my top Morning sickness remedies with you. And while they won’t Cure you, they will help you get away from that toilet, and back on your feet functioning as well as a pregnant woman in the 1st trimester can!
Morning Sickness Remedies
1. Crackers. You will want to have a mild cracker with you at all times. The constant nibbling on a cracker can help calm the nausea, just having something mild and calming on the stomach is one of the best ways to ease the nausea. Now most people swear by Saltines, but since that time that I was a kid with the stomach flu, I’ve never been able to stomach Saltines since. So I usually reach for Ritz crackers or Graham Crackers. Something mild enough in flavor, but still pleasant to your pallet.
2. Avoid your food aversions. You will find you are feeling food aversions to many foods. That’s OK. It’s OK to take time away from eating them. Just as long as you are still eating healthy foods, then take some time away from certain foods that make you more sick than usual. For me I can’t eat eggs. On my goodness, I can’t even smell them. So listen to that food aversion and don’t force yourself to eat those foods.
Likewise foods you should try to incorporate that are known to help with morning sickness include
- Ginger
- Peppermint
- High protein diets
- Vitamin B6
- Lemon
- some carbonated drinks such as Sprint/7-Up and Ginger ale.
- mild juices
3. Avoid sugars. My first pregnancies the only thing I could keep down was high sugared sour candies. But ironically while those were the only foods that sounded appealing, they also caused the metallic taste in my mouth worse, thus causing the nausea to be worse. Try to stay away from non-natural sugars. This time I’m doing my best to stay away from sugared foods (it helps that I actually have a food aversion to chocolate of all things right now) and my nausea has been a lot more manageable this time around. Instead I try to eat a higher protein rich diet, and fresh fruits and veggies instead of reaching for sugared breads, candies, and lots of soda.
4. Stay hydrated. Believe it or not, if you are hydrated you will feel less nausea. When you get dehydrated you will have a harder time combating the morning sickness. Now if your pregnancies are like mine you may be laughing right about now. Everything tastes bad. And I do mean EV-ER-Y-THING! Are you like me? Where everything you drink makes you sick? Including just plain water? You are not alone. I feel your pain. And you are always thirsty. Oh my goodness, do I feel thirsty. But I can’t just guzzle a bottle of water, unless I want to see it coming back up in a matter of minutes. And yes, I’ve tried everything. But here are some tips to help you get in some extra hydration
- Ginger ale
- Gator-aid or propel water
- Lemon water
- Ice water – sometimes having it extra cold helps. and I can slowly sip on the water
- Bottled water (try different brands as you may be surprised you can handle one brand over another brand).
- Drip Drop
- If all else fails- try Otter pops. Now this is the time I’m going to go back on tip #3 to avoid sugars. It is more important that you get liquid than to avoid sugars. So if drinking causes issues, try Popsicles. And indulge in one every 15 minutes or so. make it better by making fruit juice infused Popsicles of your own. Or maybe get the frozen pops made from juice. Just make sure it is mostly liquid and not full of other stuff like a fruit bar. You are needing liquid once it melts.
- SIP don’t gulp. If drinking makes you sick, trying just sipping your drinks. One or two sips every 5 minutes. The equivalent of a swallow. It will be hard to resist gulping as you will be thirsty. But the most important thing is to get liquid into your body and KEEP it there. So go slow.
5. Sea bands – many people have success with using acupuncture to help keep the morning sickness under control. For me sea bands alone don’t work. But combining the use of sea bands with all these other steps has really helped me to get my morning sickness under better control.
6. Preppie Pops – there are these “candies” that are made with Vitamin B6 with sour flavors that have really helped with my morning sickness. They are called PreggiePops or if you aren’t into a “lollipop” version they have Preggie Pop drops that are more like little candies you suck on. Now it’s another time I slacked on the “no sugar” rule. Because they are made of more natural ingredients and because they are a good source of vitamin B6 which helps tremendously with nausea. Plus sometimes just sucking on a hard candy can help with the morning sickness. Plus the sour flavors help a lot with morning sickness as well. But don’t worry, they aren’t pucker your face sour. Just enough. If you want less sugar options you can even try Tummy Drops that are made from natural sugars and have ginger as the main ingredient to help combat the morning sickness. Use these in moderation for those days when the morning sickness is extra difficult.
7. Sleep! When you are facing morning sickness, it may be really difficult to sleep. But if you can manage to sleep a bit more, it will dramatically calm your morning sickness. If you can take an afternoon nap, or sleep in more in the morning and get to bed earlier at night, you will see a big difference. Now as a Mom to 3 other kids, this isn’t always possible. So I do try to just get to bed earlier, as much as possible. And I find I have to take some time in the afternoon to just relax a little more. While I can’t sleep I can rest. But if you are having an extra bad day, call someone to watch the extra kids, cancel some appointments and put yourself in bed. I had a bad day and canceled everything, the husband took the kids and I got myself a good 3 hour nap. I felt so much better that I could be up and be with the family the rest of the day and I was even able to make dinner. It makes a big difference.
After sleeping, you want to make sure you always get up slowly. No jumping out of bed. Sit up and snack on a cracker slowly before rising (yeah, this is the only time we break the rule of no food in the bedroom). And then wait a few minutes before getting up. Taking it slow after waking (especially in the mornings) will help ease the nausea.
8. Essential Oils True, as you are pregnant there are many essential oils you will want to stay away from because of the effects on the unborn baby. But there are also a few that are very beneficial to help combat the morning sickness, and that are safe to use while pregnant as long as you use them wisely. As a pregnant mom you will want to use only 1-2 drops diluted in a carrier oil. But if used right you can find some that really help your morning sickness subside. For me EZ Traveler is great to use with a drop behind each ear and a little on my wrists so I can smell it through the day. Another great option is putting Peppermint and lemon essential oils into a diffuser around the house.
Just be aware that once the baby comes, if you are planning on breastfeeding, you will need to stop using Peppermint oil. While it is great for nausea, it also dries up your milk supply.
Also in addition to the aromatherapy options, make sure you get plenty of fresh air. Non-polluted air. Sometimes just stepping outside for a breath of fresh air can help mellow a morning sickness episode.
9. Say no to fatty foods. Anything fried, or high in fat are harder to digest. And they will aggravate the morning sickness. Likewise, anything spicy or strong in odors or strong spices could easily assault your stomach and cause nausea.
10. When all else fails use a Prescription. Most people want to avoid prescriptions whenever possible. And trust me, I am one of them. But my morning sickness is often so severe that I have to make a tough decision. Take a nausea prescription and be able to function for my other kids, or go without and be useless for 3 months until this passes. Seeing as I have responsibilities to my other kids, I last as long as I can and then I usually have to give the doctor a call and ask for some help. Some people just have extreme Morning sickness like this. And sadly I’m one of them. So if you know someone who has to have a prescription to combat the morning sickness, don’t judge. For some adding in a prescription for nausea is the only way they can function and still meet their other responsibilities.
If at first the one prescription doesn’t work. Don’t give up. Call your doctor back and ask for adjustments. My doctor and I are currently working on a combination of 3 different nausea medications to get me on my feet each day (at 40% functional). Sometimes if the morning sickness is bad enough you may need more than one prescription to keep you functional. And that’s ok. Don’t just settle to be sick and helpless the entire time. You can find some relief.
Now you have 10 morning sickness remedies that will help you reduce the amount or severity of your morning sickness. And hopefully you will be able to still enjoy your family and dream of the joy this new little blessing will bring to your life.
Thanks for all the tips. We actually just found out we are expecting so I am willing to try what we can. I bought some of the Preggie Pop Drops the other day to try! I am a huge fan of giner ale!
Congrats Kelsey!! maybe we will have our babies at the same time! I hope the preggie pop drops work for you!
That would be so neat Amber! I am looking like my due date is October 21st, what is yours?!
We are due the End of September. 🙂
OMG, where was this when I was pregnant! I was sick as a dog from start to finish!
I am one of the lucky few that never had morning sickness with either of my pregnancies, so I can’t fully understand -but I do feel terribly for moms who suffer with it.
Morning sickness should really be called “waking sickness”, because I was sick the entire time I was awake THE ENTIRE time I was pregnant!
Seriously, it really is ALL the time. Mine is 24/7 this time around. With my other pregnancies, I usually had like a few hours in the day when I felt alright. But not this time…it is 24/7 morning sickness. Bleh.
Great tips. I found that I really enjoy peppermint tea. I drink it when I’m nauseous and even when I’m not!
I had the worst morning sickness with both of my daughters. I tried everything and nothing would work for me. I even had to go to the doctor to have them pump water in to me because I was so dehydrated. It was awful but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I love my girls. 🙂
I haven’t been pregnant in 18 years, but crackers helped me a lot then. Last month I went on my first cruise and used Sea Bands and they were awesome. So, if I were to ever get pregnant again, I would definitely try the Sea Bands.
Most woem I know seem to love the cracker method. It really is one of the best ways to relieve morning sickness fast, in my opinion.
When I was first pregnant and teaching school, I used to eat an otter pop on the way to school every morning. It would at least let me get some breakfast down once I got there!
Oh gosh….I remember those days like they were yesterday!! Morning sickness is horrible!! But I love your tips and hope they can help some of the young moms that read your blog!! I will pass this info on to my daughter’s too!!
These are great tips for fighting morning sickness. I had terrible morning sickness for the first five months for both of my pregnancy’s. Peppermint tea was a huge help for me.
I am liucky that was not sick during either of my pregnancies. I know a couple people that are sick the entire time.
When I was pregnant with my first I was so sick that I couldn’t function and I stayed that sick for months and months. About 25 weeks I started feeling better. Nothing helped. Those preggie pops were a joke. I woke up each morning and ate a piece of bread coated in peanut butter. Then I slept all day. It was so awful.
With my next baby I was very sick as well. However I think the lord knows your limits. Since I had a 2 year old to take care of I was able to keep the worst of my sickness at bay with ginger pills. I swallowed them and I poured them into hot and cold water to make tea. Unfortunately though I lost that pregnancy.
With my 3rd pregnancy I was much better with only basic morning sickness that was more than functional.
I guess it is always different.
Lee
Really great tips! I will keep them in mind if I am ever pregnant again!
These are really great tips! I will keep them in mind if I am ever pregnant again!
These are all great remedies! Luckily, for me I only had to endure 6 brief weeks of nauseousness during my pregnancy. Rest, & bread or crackers, are what helped ease me through it.