Morning Sickness Remedies – What Worked This Time Around

Morning Sickness Remedies – What Worked This Time Around

I’m now in my 16th week of pregnancy (if I remember correctly — you don’t keep track as well when it’s Baby No. 3!) and I’m still suffering from morning sickness though it has improved a lot over the past two or three weeks. The term “morning sickness” is silly for me as I’ve been feeling sick during all my awake hours since around 5-6 weeks’ of pregnancy. I’ve been feeling sick since the moment I wake up until I go to sleep and have actually been sick the most very late at night after having gone to bed…

This third pregnancy has been the worst one but I guess it doesn’t help when you’re already looking after two kids and have not got any chances to rest properly. I’ve had a few better days when it’s not been as overwhelming but the first trimester has been tough and most days I’ve just wanted to curl up on the sofa. It was good timing that we took the summer off pre-school meaning I didn’t have to do the school run during this time.

I’ve done my best to try to help myself feel better and less nauseous and these are a few things that have worked for me this time:

• Ice cold water/drinks. I went off most drinks quite soon in this pregnancy except for really cold fruit juice (especially cloudy apple!) and properly ice cold water. I use my stainless steel water bottles and fill them up with tap water and store them in the fridge to always have cold water available to encourage me to drink more.
• Snacks. Having something ready to snack on in the morning or whenever hunger strikes has been very helpful as feeling hungry can make you feel more sick very quickly. I’ve kept crackers and cereal bars available for quick and easy snacks and a bit of an energy boost. Cold sliced apples and cold grapes have been lovely too!
• Smaller meals. The amount of food I can eat in one go has decreased a lot and my meals are now smaller and this helps me not feel too full which can also make you feel more sick, naturally. There are some things that I’ve gone off especially some vegetables so I don’t eat as much of them with my actual meals but instead nibble on fruits and vegetables when preparing the kids’ meals to ensure I get a variety and some every day. Smoothies have also been a great way to still eat things like spinach that I don’t fancy at the moment.
• Classic nausea remedies. Peppermint and ginger are classic nausea remedies that I’ve used before that have been helpful again. I love a minty lozenge or peppermint tea and chewing on GinGins Ginger Chews from The Ginger People has helped distract me too and the actual ginger helps too of course.
• Fresh air and no scents. Even on colder mornings, I’ve opened windows to let fresh air in as I’ve been more sensitive to scents and have needed more fresh air. I’ve also been emptying the bins much more frequently and have avoided scented products to stop the odours and smells triggering vomiting (like they have in the past!). I’ve also avoided the kitchen when my husband has been frying onions or other smelly things!
• A sweet coffee. Normally, I drink a lot of coffee and I like it strong and usually drink it without milk or sugar. During my pregnancy, I’m staying within the daily caffeine recommendation by either mixing decaf with recular coffee for two weaker cups per day or having one cup of regular coffee per day. I soon noticed that having it with milk and some sugar in the morning really helped me feel much better for most of the day so, for now, I take my coffee milky and sweet.
• Not laying flat straight away. Since I’ve been feeling very sick late at night after going to bed, I’ve been avoiding laying flat straight away and have piled up pillows to be more half sat up at first, usually watching something on Netflix, until I’m ready to fall asleep and then moved a few pillows and this has worked quite well.

I think those are all the things I’ve been actively doing to help my “morning” sickness this time around. Hopefully the nausea will go completely soon as I get further into the second trimester.

Includes PR samples from The Ginger People.