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Everything You Need To Know About Nausea During Pregnancy

Nausea during pregnancy

Pregnant body encounters so many strange yet common things. The mother-to-be, for sure, undergoes a number of stages during pregnancy which she didn’t even know existed and most of the times it will be unpleasant. One such pregnancy stage is having morning sickness or nausea. Along with fatigue, acne, constipation and other neverending lists of pregnancy problems, morning sickness could worsen the condition. But that doesn’t mean you will have to endure and smile through it. There are a lot of home remedies for nausea you can try out that could ease the morning sickness or nausea during pregnancy and help you relax a bit. So, here is everything you need to know about morning sickness, what causes it, what are its symptoms and what the home remedies for nausea.

Table of Contents:

1. What is Morning Sickness?

2. Causes of Nausea/Morning Sickness

3. Symptoms of morning sickness

4. Home Remedies for nausea

What is Morning sickness?

Morning sick or nausea during pregnancy

Morning sickness is having an uneasiness and a vomiting sensation. According to the mothers who have had it, the morning sickness is not constrained just to morning, it is pretty much all-day-sickness. Nausea or morning sickness during pregnancy is known with different terms - Nausea gravidarum, nausea/vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), Emesis gravidarum, pregnancy sickness etc.

Morning sickness or nausea is one of the initial symptoms in most of the women. Generally, it affects around 80% of all pregnant women. Although morning sickness causes a really unpleasant experience for the mother, it doesn’t cause any harm to the baby.

Causes of Nausea/Morning Sickness:

Nausea during pregnancy

Nausea or morning sickness could be due to hormonal changes, strong smells, fatigue, lack of exercises, stress and so on. No one is well aware of the causes of nausea. But there are a few suspects:

1. Pregnancy Hormones: The most widely accepted and extensively blamed cause of morning sickness is pregnancy hormones. The rise in hCG hormone at the beginning of pregnancy could cause queasiness and make you feel sick.

2. Weak liver: The liver support in pre-pregnancy and during pregnancy varies widely due to the reason that the variation in hormone production puts additional stress on the liver.

3. Stressed adrenals: The adrenals get easily affected when your liver and pancreas are stressed at the time of pregnancy. The adrenals use the stored sugar and break down the tissues for energy and this could be a cause of nausea/morning sickness.

4. H. Pylori overgrowth: An association is found between H. Pylori infection and hyperemesis gravidarum - severe morning sickness. Treating H. Pylori between pregnancies could lead to no sickness in their subsequent pregnancy.

Nausea during pregnancy

5. Low blood sugar: Although there are no scientific studies to prove, there is a high possibility that low blood sugar level could also be a cause of nausea. The extra caloric drain from the placenta leads to low blood sugar and in turn, morning sickness.

6. Nutrition deficiency: Our daily diet doesn’t include an adequate amount of magnesium, vitamins and the necessary nutrients and this could be a cause of morning sickness too. When moms who suffered from morning sickness in their first pregnancy were treated for magnesium deficiency, they were relieved from morning sickness in their subsequent pregnancies.

7. Electrolyte deficiency: Electrolyte imbalance could also be a cause of morning sickness or it might just be caused due to excessive vomiting.

8. Girl pregnancies: People believe that if you are bearing a girl child, you are more likely to have morning sickness. But there is no scientific proof supporting it.

9. Detoxifying: Your body might be detoxifying itself to provide a clean environment for your baby. As a result nausea and vomiting could be a side effect. This theory is not supported by any hard science.

Symptoms of Morning Sickness:

Morning sickness or nausea during pregnancy

The morning sickness usually starts after week 4 and stays till the 12th week. For some, it might even last until the delivery. But what are its symptoms?

         - Feeling queasy or nauseous (mostly all day)

         - Vomiting

         - Loss of appetite

         - Stomach cramps

         - Weight loss

Other possible symptoms: Dizziness, nervousness, headaches, fatigue, sweating.

Home Remedies for nausea:

Morning sickness could make you feel worse and sometimes, you might even feel terrible about the pregnancy altogether. Although it is difficult to eliminate morning sickness entirely, here are a few home remedies for nausea that could help you survive through such an unpleasant experience.

Home remedies for nausea during pregnancy

1. Ginger: Ginger is well-known in Chinese medicine for its tummy-taming ability. Add cut or grated ginger to hot water or tea or soda and drink or you can prepare ginger ale and drink it at the room temperature. Or chew the crystalized ginger. Consume ginger in any form you are comfortable with and it will save you from the unpleasant experience of morning sickness

2. Sour food: You might be having vomiting all day. As a result, you might be already feeling sour in your tummy. But adding sour food actually works. Try sipping on lemon water or sucking a sour candy or even sniffing something sour such as lemon. That will curtail the queasy feeling you have and make you feel a little better.

3. Belly rub: Use peppermint oil and chamomile oil in the ratio of 1:3 and give a rub to your tummy with a warm and damp towel. The peppermint oil has stimulating property helping the nauseous feeling go away.

4. Mint: The fresh flavour of mint could make you feel less sick. Eating or even sniffing could help you with not-so-fresh mouth after bouts of vomiting and uneasiness.

5. Morning routine: before going to bed at night, keep a packet of crackers next to your bed. While getting out of your bed, make sure to get up slowly and eat the crackers. Empty stomach could end up making you feel sick and have more vomiting. So having bland crackers or saltines could help you.

Home remedies for nausea during pregnancy

6. Smoothies: Eating solid foods become hard when you are having excessive vomiting even at the smell of food. So, instead of eating solid food, try sipping a smoothie. It will neutralize your stomach acids and blood sugar level as well and help settle your queasy stomach.

7. Trail Mix: While you are nauseous to anything, fruits are mostly your way out. Prepare a trail mix with a mix of fruits, nuts and if you like, chocolate chips as well. This will satisfy your hunger and saves you from the obnoxious feeling of morning sickness.

8. Exercise: Pregnancy nausea is so bad that all you want to do in that phase is lie down on a bed and you absolutely don’t feel like even lifting your finger. But offering a mild to moderate exercise to your body could do wonders. Going out for a walk and getting fresh air for good 20 minutes could release endorphins in your body and counteracts the fatigue.

9. Peppermint or lemon hand lotion: The soothing scents of peppermint or lemon could calm your tummy and relax your body. When you apply them, their smell could help in veiling the other unfavourable and unpleasant odours of food that could trigger nausea.

10. Change eating pattern: Unlike the pre-pregnancy period, you can no more eat 3 full meals now due to nauseousness. Try eating 5 to 6 small but frequent meals every few hours. Ensure the food you consume is balanced with carbs and proteins - this helps in maintaining the blood sugar level.

[Read more: How To Curb Morning Sickness]

Pregnancy is never an easy period. But morning sickness or nausea could make it feel worse. According to a study, morning sickness is a sign of a healthy pregnancy. In any case, you are doing great mumma. Just hang in there till this phase pass and your little angel will make you feel it was all worth it.

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