Avoiding the Morning Sickness Bucket Brigade
(Warning: micro rant precedes discussion) I’ve always had a problem with the term “sickness” as applied to natural female functions, such as menstruation, pregnancy and menopause. You haven’t contracted the latest virus if you experience any of these conditions, and they aren’t catching! (micro rant concluded)
However, I can certainly understand applying the label morning sickness to the nausea that accompanies the early weeks of pregnancy, having myself followed the up-chuck trail three times while expecting. In any event, no magic pill or therapy exists that can 100% guarantee avoidance of the where’s-my-bucket syndrome. Every woman finds her own solution to nausea that can vary from a slight queasiness to the I-think-I’m-going-to-die variety. First of all, keep in mind that it will end. In the meantime, find below some helpful hints that have worked for others, and send us your own:
- Determine “trigger food” whose smells seem to set you off, and ask family members whether they might avoid those foods for a few weeks. (For me, it was frying bacon. Oh, my God . . .)
- Reduce nausea-inducing food cooking odors by using a microwave. You might just want to eat cold foods for a while. They have much less odor than hot foods. Go hide in the back room while everyone else eats the hot meal.
- Drink ginger tea and eat ginger cookies. Ginger has long proven to soothe tumultuous tummies. Your mom probably gave you ginger ale when you had stomach flu as a kid. You can drink that for morning sickness as well; go for decaffeinated, though.
- Peppermint also soothes, both when ingested and when breathed in as aroma therapy.
- Eat several small meals, rather than three big ones. Keeping food on your stomach seems counter-intuitive, but the smaller volumes of food ingested may be the key.
- Eat two saltine crackers before you get out of bed in the morning. We used to call them soda crackers, and it’s that soda will help calm the belly heaves.
- Sip ice water as soon as you feel the urge to let it rip. Small sips throughout the day also help reduce the chance of dehydration that can accompany repeated vomiting.
- Eat high protein food just before bed to help maintain constant blood sugar levels.
- If one food stays down more easily than another, you should probably eat more of it. Ask your doctor first, if you’re unsure of that food’s nutritional value.
- Discuss with your doctor the vitamins and any supplements that you take, as they often prove difficult to digest. You may be able to adjust your intake for a short time.
- Don’t stop eating altogether; your baby is depending on you!
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