›› Morning Sickness
Many pregnant wmen
experience something called "morning sickness" in the first three
months, or even more during their pregnancy. The funny thing
about the term morning sickness is that it implies that this feeling is
limited to the morning. However, most women who experience
any morning sickness at all will report that it happens at various
times throughout the day.
Morning sickness can range from a vague feeling of nausea, to recurrent
indigestion feelings, to dizziness or outright vomiting, whether once
or repeatedly throughout the day. There are, however, some
ways to lessen the symptoms of "morning sickness."
First, it often will occur if the stomach is empty. So, be
sure to eat small meals several times a day. When I was
pregnant, I would eat light meals at the regular time, and then have
snacks in between meals, so that I was eating something about every two
hours. It helped to keep my stomach busy, like
keeping it distracted! Also, think of it as eating like a
baby - because newborns will eat about every two hours around the
clock! I also got hungry in the middle of the night when I
was pregnant, so some of my snacking was at 3 in the morning!
My morning sickness feelings were definitely helped by
snacking. Many women experience the queasy feeling in the
morning because their stomachs are empty at that time. It's
good to keep something, crackers or even peanut butter, near the bed so
you can have something to eat if you're hungry during the night, or
first thing when you wake up.
Second, a pregnant woman will often develop aversions to certain foods,
and cravings for certain foods. These are also symptoms of
morning sickness, but not unpleasant ones, usually. The
aversions, however, should be listened to. Listen to your
nose! If it smells yucky to you, don't eat it. If
you have a craving for something, though, you can eat a small amount if
it is not a "healthy food," or a larger amount if it is! It's
okay to satisfy cravings this way, as long as you're not feeling like
eating something that would be dangerous to you or your baby, such as
alcohol, or even dirt! Some women crave eating something
strange, like dirt, but should avoid that one!
Some foods can soothe the morning sick stomach. Ginger, for
instance, has a proven record for doing this. You can even
get ginger Altoids, which are nice and strong, or eat a piece of the
pickled ginger served at Japanese restaurants. Most grocery
stores have a sushi section, and you can get the ginger there to keep
on hand. Salty foods also seem to help, and I've heard that
vinegar and salt potato chips can help too, because they distract the
stomach. The salty foods help because sometimes the morning
sickness queasies are triggered by excess saliva. Excess
saliva production is common during pregnancy. The salt helps
to stop that, and the vinegar helps dry the mouth, and the potato chips
help give the stomach something to do. If this sounds
unpleasant to you, try saltine crackers.
Good luck with your pregnancy! Remember that any unpleasant
feelings are just temporary!
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
