Morning Sickness
Morning Sickness
13 Ways to Counteract Queasiness
You had planned to be a radiant madonna, one of those pregnant women who grow more beautiful with each passing month. Morning sickness just wasn't in the game plan.
Yvonne Thornton, M.D., remembers. An assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell University Medical College and mother of two, she used to make light of her patients' complaints—until she knew better. "What's a little nausea, I thought. And then I became pregnant. I was camped out by the toilet every 5 minutes!"
Of course, your experience with morning sickness is probably a lot different from Dr. Thornton's. Or from anybody else's, for that matter. That's because morning sickness is different from person to person. In fact, you may not even get it in the morning. It can hit at any time during the day. Maybe you'll feel worse in the evening, after a long day at work. Maybe certain smells will trigger it.
Typically, morning sickness begins around week 6 of pregnancy, about the same time the placenta begins serious production of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a special pregnancy hormone. In most women, symptoms peak during week 8 or 9 and wane after week 13.
The good news is that morning sickness seems to be a sign that the pregnancy is going well. A National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of 9,098 pregnant women found that women who vomited during their first trimester were less likely to miscarry or deliver prematurely.
Experiment. What worked for your sister, your best friend, and the woman down the street may not do it for you. "There are as many remedies as there are women," says Deborah Gowen, a certified nurse-midwife with Women-Care in Cambridge, Massachusetts. You may have to try a couple of strategies before you find one right for you.
Eat the way your baby eats. The child growing inside you nourishes itself by raiding your bloodstream for glucose 24 hours a day. If you don't take care how you replenish the supply, your blood sugar levels can drop sharply.
Your best tactic, says Tekoa King, a San Francisco nurse-midwife, is to "switch the way you eat to the way the baby eats, a little bit at a time. Put glucose into your system quickly and easily by eating simple sugars, like fruit sugars. You want sugars already half broken down." Grapes and orange juice are excellent.
Avoid fried, fatty foods. That grilled cheeseburger with onion rings may have looked great to you last week, but you might not want to chance it now.
"Anything fried often seems to make pregnant women more nauseated," says King. The body takes longer to digest such foods, she says, which means that they sit in the stomach longer.
Carry raw almonds with you. Gowen is a big fan of raw almonds for pregnant women. Snacking on them "fulfills the requirement of small, frequent meals. They contain some fat, some protein, and are high in B vitamins. They're portable, too, and tastier than crackers."
Keep a night table nibble supply. If almonds don't appeal to you, keep soda crackers by your bed. Moving around on an empty stomach can make you feel worse, says King. So eat something to bring your blood sugar up before you get out of bed in the morning, or in the middle of the night.
Nibble to keep away heartburn, too. "You should always have something in your stomach, even if it's just a cracker or a little candy bar," advises Gregory Radio, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and chairman of reproductive endocrinology at Allentown Hospital. "The stomach naturally makes more acids during pregnancy. Those acids need something to work against."
Drink lots of clear fluids. Dr. Radio also recommends drinking small amounts of clear fluids frequently. Clear broth, water, fruit juice, and certain herbal teas fill the bill. "I don't mean to endorse a product," he says, "but Gatorade is usually superb because it can help maintain your electrolytes [substances that regulate the body's electrochemical balance]."
MEDICAL ALERT
When Morning Sickness Should Concern You Consult your physician about your morning sickness if: - You notice you've lost a pound or two. Normally, weight gain during pregnancy continues even if you aren't keeping all of your meals down.
- You feel dehydrated or you are not urinating.
- You find you can't keep anything down-no water, no juice, nothing over a period of 4 to 6 hours.
At its most severe, morning sickness degenerates into a condition doctors call hyperemesis gravidarum. Left untreated, it can disturb the essential electrolyte balance in your body, cause pulse irregularities, and, in its severest form, can lead to damage of the kidneys and liver. It also endangers your unborn child. The ketones that result when your body breaks down fat already stored in the body can damage neurological development in the baby. Women with hyperemesis gravidarum are usually hospitalized overnight and treated with an intravenous solution of glucose, water, and vitamins. |
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Find respite with raspberry leaf tea. If you feel queasy, try a cup of herbal tea. Raspberry leaf, chamomile, and lemon balm are among the teas that Dr. Radio recommends to his patients.
Gowen, believes that herbs work best in combination. Chamomile added to peppermint is more effective than peppermint on its own, she says.
Sip ginger ale. Remember how your mom used to give you ginger ale to "settle" an upset stomach? Dr. Thornton is a ginger ale fan, too.
If you're taking prenatal vitamins, check with your doctor. In some instances, they can make you sick to your stomach, says Gowen.
The Alternate Route
Acupressure to the Rescue The next time your mate expresses sympathy about your morning sickness, tell him he can do something to help. That something is acupressure massage. Daily allover massage is ideal as a preventive strategy, says Wataru Ohashi, an ohashiatsu teacher and founder of the Ohashi Institute in New York City. But if your husband won't go for that, show him the instructions for this quickie technique. It can help in a pinch. Have your wife lie on her right side and sit behind her, supporting her back with your left leg. Slip your left arm under hers and grasp her left shoulder. With your right hand, massage her entire neck three times. Then place your palm against the base of her skull and stretch her head away from her shoulders. Next, use your thumb to press down her back in the grooves between the left shoulder blade and spine and then around the perimeter of her shoulder blade out toward her side. Keep the pressure on for 5 to 7 seconds per point. If you find a sore spot, gently give it extra attention. Slip your thumb as far under her shoulder blade as is comfortable for her. Begin with gentle pressure and let your wife tell you if she wants more pressure. Always use your body weight, not your arm muscle power. "The feeling is totally different," says Ohashi. "If you stimulate the external, you can eliminate the internal discomfort," says Ohashi. The trigger points you use in this exercise affect the stomach and the hormonal system, he adds. |
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Trust your body's wisdom. "Eat whatever appeals to you, as long as you're not eating junk," says Gowen. "Avoid caffeine, artificial sweeteners, all drugs. But if all you crave is pasta, then eat it. It really does work when women listen to their bodies."
Keep calm. If you continue to put on weight, and dehydration isn't a problem for you, you're probably doing just fine.
"Women don't tend to lose beyond what their body stores can handle," says King, who has been delivering babies for ten years. "I think we just don't know the magic of what goes on inside the mother. My belief is that you can really be fairly ill with morning sickness, yet you can continue nourishing your baby very well."
PANEL OF ADVISERS
Deborah Gowen, a certified nurse-midwife, works for Women-Care in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Tekoa King, a nurse-midwife, has been delivering babies for ten years and has taught nurse practitioners at the University of California, San Francisco. She is affiliated with the Bay Area Midwifery Service.
Wataru Ohashi is an internationally known teacher of ohashiatsu and founder of the Ohashi Institute, a nonprofit organization in New York City.
Gregory Radio, M.D., is a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and chairman of reproductive endocrinology at Allentown Hospital.
Yvonne Thornton, M.D., is a maternal fetal medicine specialist and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell University Medical College in New York City. She is also director of prenatal diagnosis and an attending physician at the New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center.
