Do you suffer from morning sickness during pregnancy? Here are lots of ideas to help you out with the nausea and get you functioning normally.
Help Me BCP!
I love BCP! I have a suggestion – an article about dealing with morning sickness.
I don’t have any ideas but awareness is so important! I suffer terribly and most people that don’t really don’t understand. I would love it we could start some sort of initiative to help families out there when the mom is suffering. In all honesty, I need more help now than I do after the baby!
While we would love to be able to send a nanny to your door to help you out, instead we took a more practical approach and asked Between Carpools readers for their advice and they sent us tons! Hope this helps!
*Ice cold water with a squeeze of lemon first thing in the morning really helped with my morning sickness.
*With one of my pregnancies, a cup of cold Nestea first thing in the morning did the trick. Don’t ask how or why! Maybe it was the sugar. It’s not the healthiest option, but it worked for me!
*It’s not so much “morning sickness,” for me, but I’ve dealt with nausea 18 hours a day all 9+ months. I would peel small pieces (finger-tip size) of ginger and slice/chop them finely and boil in a pot of water. After boiling for a few minutes, drain into a cup or just pour it into a cup and add a little honey and drink the ginger-flavored tea.
*Someone on my North Woodmere chat suggested putting an ice pack on throat/neck, Said it helps!
*When I became pregnant with my 4th, my nutritionist told me to have a protein (anything, even a tiny bit, if it’s all you can stomach) every two hours until the nausea stage passes. I basically had half of a cheese stick and a few pretzels every two hours, and I felt a real difference from my other pregnancies. It’s something to do with the speed at which our blood sugar drops. Apparently a sudden drop is what causes nausea. Eating protein like crackers and peanut butter right before bed may help nausea in the a.m.
*Morning sickness wrist pressure bands have helped some woman including myself.
*Snacking on light carbs the minute I wake up has helped me.
*A Shaklee vitamin called “Stomach Soothing Complex” has helped my pregnancy nausea. I took two whenever I felt nauseous. I would also smell peppermint oil. Sometimes I would do one, sometimes both. Essential oils should be of good quality. Just apply 1 drop into the palm of your hand, rub it, and smell it deeply for a few minutes.
*Eat something dry first thing in the morning.
*Eat right away when waking up. Something light. Like a rice cake.
*When I had morning sickness, the pharmacist recommended I have cucumbers and almonds. Some have recommended travel sickness bands.
*Ginger ale. Apparently the bubbles and flavor help settle your stomach (it doesn’t work for everyone though).
*Popsicles in fresh flavors like lemon and strawberry helps with nausea and dehydration. Make sure that whatever you eat will potentially taste good on its way up (avoid spicy foods that burn).
*I had morning sickness for 8 months during 2 pregnancies. What helped the most were sour candies (like gummy bears and sour sticks), eating something salty immediately when I got up (my doc told me to keep crackers or pretzels on my night table), and eating small meals very often. Can’t say it got rid of it, but it definitely helped.
*The best tip my doctor gave me was to carry a bag of nuts with me wherever I go. Even if I don’t feel hungry, I should make sure to eat a handful of nuts or dried fruit every hour. When your stomach has nourishment, it really helps to curb nausea. Unsalted almonds and hot tea got me through my first trimester.
About Medications That Combat Nausea:
Many, many of you wrote in to tell us about the drug called Diglesis. Depending on how severe the nausea is, it might not get rid of it completely, but it still helps tremendously. Although it doesn’t work for everyone and may cause drowsiness (as noted below; the doxylamine component is an antihistamine very similar to Benadryl), lots of you told us that it “works wonders” and completely changed their lives during pregnancy. You’ll need a prescription. Here’s more info:
“I’m a pharmacist. While in school I was constantly learning about the risks associated with exposing many different types of drugs to the fetus, and therefore did a ton of research before agreeing to take any drugs during pregnancy, even though I had terrible morning sickness during my first pregnancy and was truly desperate. I came across the research on the combination of doxylamine/pryridoxine.
This regimen has been around since the 1950s, before the thalidomide crisis, before the FDA starting cracking down on the use of drugs in pregnancy. Therefore there is a multitude of data available on the long-standing effects of use of this drug combination during pregnancy. It was one of the few drugs out there that was considered Category A in the old risk classification system, in large part due to the ethical problems with testing drugs in pregnant women with the standards that we have now.
Once I looked into the safety behind it, I was comfortable using it. And for me, it worked really well. It takes away nausea completely. However, one of the most common side effects is that it makes the user very drowsy. Although I felt a lot better while using it, it definitely impeded my productivity.
Doxylamine/pyridoxine is available under several brand names. One of them is Diclegis. I took that one too, I think it’s the first one that came out in 2013. Another brand I hear it is available under now is Dicletin.
Diclegis is expensive, but for those who suffer from morning sickness often, you can get the best price when ordering 60 pills.
I just feel very strongly that there is a lot more safety data available on Diclegis versus other drugs people use for morning sickness, like Zofran, so Diclegis is a much better option and should definitely be tried first.” -Pharmacist L.H.
Please note: There are some that suffer from hyperemesis gravidarum which is severe morning sickness. More information and support can be provided here http://www.helpher.org/.
Yes! Not enough people speak about this. I just went through a pregnancy having HG, and at times, I thought I was crazy. Maybe I was blowing it out of proportion… maybe I wasn’t so sick… maybe I am able to eat today, when in reality, I was terribly sick, and dehydrated.
I spent my first trimester on IV to stay hydrated and took zofran (nausea medication) for most of my pregnancy, to help me stop losing weight.
Hyperemesis Gravidarum is a real medical condition that surpasses typical morning sickness. If someone is pregnant and can’t stop loosing weight, can’t keep any food or drink down, can’t function due to dibilitating nausea eac. please speak to your doctor about your options.
If paying for Diclegis is not an option, my doctor recommended a sleeping pill together with Vitamin B6 (basically the same ingredients, a fraction of the price). I felt more comfortable taking this combination than Zofran (which, by the way, also may cause constipation- another thing we definitely don’t need while going through tough time!) Though it’s not always effective for me, it does provide some sort of relief and I do wake up feeling like a human. I think the key to surviving morning sickness is to take advantage of the “good” moments and eat small, nutritious meals and stay hydrated (Powerade works for me!). It’s so hard when you are trying to keep your good news a secret but also want to scream to the world- “Help! Take a kid or 2 off of my hands and make us some supper!” (No chicken or meat of course ????) Good luck, this is not an easy time but be”H you will will have a beautiful baby at the end of the road. B’shaah Tova ❤️
My doctor also recommended the sleeping pill- Unisom has the same.drug as diclegis, for fraction of the price. Taken with B6, literally saved my life!
Also would recommend leaving Bounce sheets around your nightstand and “problem” areas to help with the smells that trigger nausea.
I had a whole bunch of horribly nauseous pregnancies.For whatever reason being in someone else’s house was always better. For my older kids I’d often go to my Mom’s. Her house didn’t “smell” Sometimes I could drink seltzer and sometimes Snapple. Lemon helped a little but I was afraid for my teeth.Sometimes I could keep down cake. 7-8 months! When my daughter was suffering from infertility I was grateful I hadn’t taken any drugs. Things happen and I didn’t want to wonder if I gave them a problem that lasted much longer than 8 months bc I didn’t want to suffer the wondering if it could have been the drugs….I had this with 7 pregnancies. I did not have a housekeeper and usually had a child home with me but we didn’t have the money to get someone in. Mom’s will do anything for their kids!Knowing there is a finite e d kept me going. I always felt better after I gave birth than before
Thank you for bringing awareness to this subject! I feel traumatized from my last pregnancy (my 3rd) I was bed ridden for 4 months due to nausea and vomiting. None of the standard advice worked for me and I was too afraid to take drugs. It had a huge emotional effect on me aswell because I wasn’t able to take care of my other kids and be there for them which made me feel guilt ridden and very depressed. It’s so important for people to understand that for some women the hardest part of having kids can be the pregnancy.
Yes!!!! The guilt of being so horribly sick that you can’t take care of your kids is so REAL!
Motion sickness wrist bands, vitamin B6, and Preggie Pops (the candies are somewhat helpful, but the lollipops are best).
Just to be aware, some people suffer from severe vomiting and need to take Zofran to function. Studies have shown that it’s safe to take.
Hey! I just wanted to update your information. Studies have shown that use of Zofran in early pregnancy may cause birth defects. The current clinical recommendation is either reglan or diclegis.
Not enough for HG I’m sure, but I took liquid vitamin B6 drops and it helped considerably. The pills weren’t enough, had to be the liquid form.
I found this post so interesting, coming to the end of what was a pretty hard pregnancy in terms of nausea. I can’t pinpoint anything that worked over another and definitely made some not such good food choices…
What is so fascinating and beautiful are the comments of what people have gone thru during pregnancy to bring a child into this world, and another and another with such horrible nausea and weakness! Kol hakavod to all yiddeshe mamas out there! We don’t give ourselves enough credit…!
Love this message. So true!
Cool thing about diclegis- it’s actually one of the few drugs that are catergory A in pregnancy (proven not to be harmful). It was originally mixed with a medication that was causing serious birth defects in children and was thought to be the culprit but it was tested extend and found to be a completely safe component while the other medication was taken off the market. Most medications are not tested because it’s unethical so they usually fall into catergory B or lower.
Another great option for nausea is preggie pops or drops. Little candies that come in different flavors and are chock full of vitamin b6, one of the components of diclegis that abates nausea. They are kosher (star k if I’m not mistaken) and can be found on amazon or the preggie pop website.
The drug components of Diclegis, doxylamine/pyridoxine, were not “originally mixed with a medication that was causing serious birth defects”. Doxylamine/pyridoxine were available under the brand name Benedictin in combination with dicyclomine, another anticholinergic. There is no consistent data associating dicyclomine with birth defects; dicyclomine is currently rated Pregnancy Category B.
Benedictin, as a 3-drug combination containing doxylamine/pyridoxine/dicyclomine, was approved by the FDA in 1956. Later, studies were performed that evaluated each drug individually. No benefit was shown from the use of dicyclomine. Benedictin was thus reformulated without dicyclomine in the 1970s, but continued to be available under the same brand name.
I point this out to clarify that there has, at no point, been any proven association between birth defects and any of the drugs that were available as components of Benedictin.
I was just pregnant and I had constipation a lot will this work??
During my last pregnancy, neither diclegis nor unisom and b6 helped me as much as the Dramamine pills that are specifically for Nausea and morning sickness. Dramamine-N. They really work and don’t need to be taken often! Someone at Sunshine pharmacy recommended it and it was the best thing to know.