Lets face it no one likes being sick and for around 10% of pregnant women this will be one of the downsides of pregnancy. Symptoms can vary from feeling a little queasy to actually chucking up.

Don’t panic though, according to the NHS  it doesn’t usually last for more than a few weeks and is usually cleared up by around 20 weeks. It can also be one of the earliest signs of pregnancy.

There is no know cause of morning sickness (still not sure why its called morning sickness as it can last all bloody day), but its thought to be due to hormonal changes.

Treatments

Every pregnancy is different and what works for one, may not work for another. But making some changes to your diet to can help relieve symptoms

If these don’t work for you or you’re having more severe symptoms, your doctor or midwife might recommend medication.

Things to try yourself

There are a few things you can try yourself to help relieve symptoms. If they become too back seek advice from your midwife or doctor

• Believe it or not tiredness can make nausea worse, so try and get plenty of rest
• Just the smell from some foods can be enough to set you off so try to avoid them (coffee use to be one I couldn’t stand)
• Before you get out of bed in the morning eat something dry. Toast or a plain biscuit (even a ginger biscuit) are good ones.
• Food that are high in carbohydrate and low in fat (such as bears, rice, pasta & crackers) eaten little and often can help.
• Keep hydrated. Sipping water often can help prevent being sick.
• There is some evidence that foods (and drink) containing ginger may help reduce sickness (check with your pharmacist before taking ginger supplements during pregnancy)
• Acupressure – You can get bands for pressure points on wear on your wrists. These seem to help by applying pressure to the pressure points on your wrists. They worked well for me.

Have you found anything that worked well for you, let me know in the comments.