Pregnancy Lounge

Tag: morning sickness

  • Early Pregnancy Symptoms

    Did you know that some women experience pregnancy symptoms as early as one week after conception? This is true however uncommon. Below you will find a list of the earliest pregnancy symptoms:

    First Trimester Symptoms

    • Implantation bleeding or spotting (usually before your period is due)
    • A missed period, a shorter, lighter period
    • Breast tenderness or swelling
    • Tingling, sore nipples, darkening of areola (skin around nipples)
    • Skin changes, breakouts
    • Nausea, vomiting
    • Constipation, flatulence (gas)
    • Frequent urination
    • Fatigue, sleepiness
    • Food cravings, food aversions, appetite loss
    • Moodiness, irritability
    • Backaches
    • Headaches
    • Increased sense of smell
    • Mild lower abdominal cramps, bloating
    • Continuous elevated basal body temperature
    • Dizziness, fainting
    • Sensitive, bleeding, or swollen gums, excessive salivation
    • Heartburn, indigestion
    • Cervical, vaginal changes (tissue color), sensitivity of the cervix

    Read more on Second Trimester Symptoms

  • Early Pregnancy Symptoms

    Pregnancy symptoms vary greatly in intensity and duration from one woman to another. They also vary from pregnancy to pregnancy. For most women, a missed period is the first clue of pregnancy, followed by nausea and/or vomiting (morning sickness) and breast tenderness. But if you don’t have regular periods, you’ll have to watch for other symptoms.

    Some women start to notice symptoms within days after conception, while other women’s symptoms may develop over a few weeks. A lucky few may never feel any symptoms or have any discomfort at all. Most pregnancy symptoms occur due to rapid hormonal changes in your body following implantation of the egg in the lining of your uterus.

    Knowing and understanding pregnancy symptoms is important because each symptom may be related to something other than pregnancy, including pre-menstrual symptoms and illness. Early pregnancy symptoms can be confusing and often misleading, either making you believe you are pregnant when you are not, or not pregnant when you are in fact pregnant.

    If you have one (or more) pregnancy symptom and suspect you may be pregnant, the next step is to take a home pregnancy test or better yet, have a blood test done at your doctor’s office. Most home pregnancy tests can be taken about 10-14 days after conception or the day following when you expected your period. Blood tests can usually detect if you are pregnant even sooner.

    Earliest Pregnancy Symptoms (first trimester):

    • Implantation bleeding or spotting (usually before your period is due)
    • A missed period, a shorter, lighter period
    • Breast tenderness or swelling
    • Tingling, sore nipples, darkening of areola (skin around nipples)
    • Skin changes, breakouts
    • Nausea, vomiting
    • Constipation, flatulence (gas)
    • Frequent urination
    • Fatigue, sleepiness
    • Food cravings, food aversions, appetite loss
    • Moodiness, irritability
    • Backaches
    • Headaches
    • Increased sense of smell
    • Mild lower abdominal cramps, bloating
    • Continuous elevated basal body temperature
    • Dizziness, fainting
    • Sensitive, bleeding, or swollen gums, excessive salivation
    • Heartburn, indigestion
    • Cervical, vaginal changes (tissue color), sensitivity of the cervix

    Later Pregnancy Symptoms:

    • Weight gain
    • Mild edema (swelling of ankles, hands, feet, and face)
    • White vaginal discharge (leukorrhea)
    • Increased appetite
    • Quickening (earliest fetal movement)
    • Nasal congestion and ear stuffiness, occasional nose bleeds
    • Expanding waistline
    • Abdominal achiness
    • Visible veins, varicose veins
    • Trouble sleeping
    • Breast enlargement
    • Hemorrhoids
    • Leg cramps
    • Dark line down abdomen (linea nigra)
    • Itchy, dry abdomen
  • Morning Sickness Remedies

    Morning Sickness Remedies

    Diet is the best tool to minimize morning sickness discomfort and make it more bearable. Sometimes you may reduce nausea and vomiting by making changes in your diet and eating habits.

    Keep a few simple snacks by your bed, such as soda crackers, graham crackers, granola bars, rice cakes, dry cereal or pretzels. Eating carbohydrate-rich foods and foods high in protein, especially right before you get up in the morning, may help combat nausea. Nibble a few crackers and then rest for 20- 30 minutes before getting out of bed. Snacking on crackers may also help you feel better if you wake up feeling nauseated in the middle of the night.

    Due to increased estrogen levels, pregnant women are particularly sensitive to smells. Try to avoid the sight, smell, and taste of foods that bother you and make you queasy. Many pregnant women want to avoid any activity that has to do with food when they are feeling sick, including cooking meals and grocery shopping. Have your partner prepare meals and shop for food, when possible. Also, when cooking (or when your partner is cooking), make sure to keep windows open and have a fan on to minimize food odors that might trigger nausea.

    The nausea experienced during pregnancy is one of the few that is relieved by having food in the stomach. Eat before nausea strikes, because food will be easier to get down and that way, you may be able to prevent an attack. Eat small, frequent meals or snacks throughout the day (as often as every 1-2 hours if necessary), so that your stomach is never empty, since an empty stomach tends to make morning sickness worse. Low blood sugar levels, resulting from long stretches between meals, can trigger nausea, as can eating too much at one meal. Large meals are to be avoided.

    Women with a higher intake of fat may be more likely to suffer morning sickness than those with less saturated fat. Limit or eliminate fatty, greasy and fried foods, which take longer to digest, particularly during pregnancy when your stomach takes longer to empty. Try to avoid spicy foods which can irritate your stomach and digestive system. Stick to good old bland foods.

    It’s best to avoid fluids at meal time. Drink small amounts of fluids primarily in between meals instead. Don’t drink so much at once that your stomach feels full, as that will make you less hungry for food, although make sure you get plenty of water throughout the day to keep yourself well-hydrated, especially if you are vomiting. Sometimes drinks at cold temperatures help curb nausea better than hot drinks. Fruit juices, Gatorade and popsicles are helpful, as well as sucking on ice chips (an ice pack on your forehead might even help!) Keep caffeine intake to a minimum as it can make you feel worse, contribute to dehydration and further irritate nausea.

    Many pregnant women crave sour or bitter tastes like lemon, which may have a therapeutic effect and can calm your system. Drinking lemonade or lemon water, smelling lemons, or just a small taste of lemon will normally calm an upset stomach. You can put slices of lemon in your iced tea, sparkling water or even simply suck on a lemon wedge.

    Drinking decaffeinated herbal teas (be careful, some herbal teas may be harmful during pregnancy) may help relieve morning sickness. Teas like peppermint, mint, chamomile, red raspberry leaf and ginger can be calming in reasonable and small doses. Ginger is thought to settle the stomach and help relieve queasiness. Ginger ale (made with real ginger), ginger tea (grated fresh into hot water), ginger candies, dried ginger and ginger cookies may all help relieve nausea. Powdered ginger root capsules are another option. It is always advisable to speak to your doctor or midwife first before taking any herbs.

    Sometimes, iron can be hard on your digestive system and become bothersome during pregnancy. Avoid extra iron supplements, especially in your first trimester, unless you are anemic. If you think your morning sickness may be related to your prenatal vitamins, talk to your doctor or midwife. They may switch you to a prenatal vitamin with a lower dose of iron for the first trimester. You might find that taking your prenatal vitamins later in the day, rather than in the morning may help. Also, taking them with food, possibly with dinner may be best, if they cause your stomach to be upset. Never stop taking your prenatal vitamin supplement, unless you’re advised by your doctor to do so.

    Vitamin B6 eases nausea in some women and can be helpful in low doses. Increase vitamin B6 in your diet by eating whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Talk to your doctor or midwife about possibly taking a vitamin B6 supplement, because he or she can tell you how much to take and whether or not the amount in your prenatal vitamin should count as one of the doses. (The amount of vitamin B6 in supplements varies by brand.) Sometimes a combination of Vitamin B6 and Unisom are even more helpful in easing morning sickness. Never take any extra vitamin supplement without your doctor’s approval.

    More Articles on Morning Sickness

    —Morning Sickness
    —Morning Sickness Help
    —Diet and Morning Sickness
    —Morning Sickness Alternatives

  • Morning Sickness: Acupressure and Acupressure

    Morning Sickness: Acupressure and Acupressure

    Avoid taking medications for morning sickness if you possibly can to avoid any risk or danger to your baby. Non-food, alternative medicine approaches that may help include acupressure wristbands and acupuncture are what some women use to relief their discomfort.

    Acupuncture may be helpful in relieving nausea. The acupuncture point is on the inside of the forearm, two thumbs up from the inside of the wrist crease between the two tendons. If you are considering acupuncture, talk to your doctor or midwife first and seek an acupuncturist that has been specially trained to work with pregnant women.

    Acupressure wristbands are soft cotton bands with a plastic bead, which were designed for sea sickness and travel sickness. They provide pressure, without any needles. They have helped many pregnant women through morning sickness (although some studies suggests that it may be largely a placebo effect, opinions are mixed). The plastic bead presses on an acupressure point on the underside of your wrist and works on a similar principal as acupuncture, reducing nausea. They are simple, inexpensive and are sold at many drug, health and boating stores.

    Morning sickness begins during the first trimester, when the your baby is most vulnerable to developing birth defects. Therefore, medications are best avoided during that time unless the benefit outweighs any possible risk to the baby. For the most severe, persistent nausea and vomiting that is causing dehydration or weight loss (hyperemesis gravidarum), your doctor or midwife may prescribe an anti-nausea medication for you that is not known to cause any risk to your unborn baby.

    Since the disaster of Thalidomide in the 1950s and 60s, the use of medical treatments have been commonly avoided when possible, out of concern about the medications’ safety. Thalidomide was used by some pregnant women in over 50 countries, mainly Europe and Canada (but not in the US) to treat morning sickness and was banned worldwide, because women who took the drug in early pregnancy gave birth to children with tragic birth defects. According to the March of Dimes, more than 10,000 children around the world were born with major malformations, many missing arms and legs and most not surviving past their first year. Thalidomide was not tested for effects on unborn babies before it was prescribed to pregnant women. The more reassuring news is that the FDA now requires companies to test drugs for harmful effects on unborn babies before putting them on the market.

    No drugs are currently FDA-approved for the treatment of morning sickness. However, conventional treatment for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy includes medications such as Dramamine, Unisom, Benadryl, Tigan, Zofran, Phenergan, Anergan, Reglan, Prednisone, Zantac, Tagamet, Pepcid, Prevacid and sometimes a combination of Unisom and vitamin B6. DO NOT take motion-sickness or nausea medications of any kind without your doctor’s okay.

    More Articles on Morning Sickness

    —Morning Sickness
    —Morning Sickness Help
    —Morning Sickness Remedies
    —Diet and Morning Sickness

  • Morning Sickness Diet

    Morning Sickness Diet

    Women with a higher intake of fat may be more likely to suffer morning sickness than those with less saturated fat. Limit or eliminate fatty, greasy and fried foods, which take longer to digest, particularly during pregnancy when your stomach takes longer to empty. Try to avoid spicy foods which can irritate your stomach and digestive system. Stick to good old bland foods.

    It’s best to avoid fluids at meal time. Drink small amounts of fluids primarily in between meals instead. Don’t drink so much at once that your stomach feels full, as that will make you less hungry for food, although make sure you get plenty of water throughout the day to keep yourself well-hydrated, especially if you are vomiting. Sometimes drinks at cold temperatures help curb nausea better than hot drinks. Fruit juices, Gatorade and popsicles are helpful, as well as sucking on ice chips (an ice pack on your forehead might even help!) Keep caffeine intake to a minimum as it can make you feel worse, contribute to dehydration and further irritate nausea.

    Many pregnant women crave sour or bitter tastes like lemon, which may have a therapeutic effect and can calm your system. Drinking lemonade or lemon water, smelling lemons, or just a small taste of lemon will normally calm an upset stomach. You can put slices of lemon in your iced tea, sparkling water or even simply suck on a lemon wedge.

    Drinking decaffeinated herbal teas (be careful, some herbal teas may be harmful during pregnancy) may help relieve morning sickness. Teas like peppermint, mint, chamomile, red raspberry leaf and ginger can be calming in reasonable and small doses. Ginger is thought to settle the stomach and help relieve queasiness. Ginger ale (made with real ginger), ginger tea (grated fresh into hot water), ginger candies, dried ginger and ginger cookies may all help relieve nausea. Powdered ginger root capsules are another option. It is always advisable to speak to your doctor or midwife first before taking any herbs.

    Sometimes, iron can be hard on your digestive system and become bothersome during pregnancy. Avoid extra iron supplements, especially in your first trimester, unless you are anemic. If you think your morning sickness may be related to your prenatal vitamins, talk to your doctor or midwife. They may switch you to a prenatal vitamin with a lower dose of iron for the first trimester. You might find that taking your prenatal vitamins later in the day, rather than in the morning may help. Also, taking them with food, possibly with dinner may be best, if they cause your stomach to be upset. Never stop taking your prenatal vitamin supplement, unless you’re advised by your doctor to do so.

    Vitamin B6 eases nausea in some women and can be helpful in low doses. Increase vitamin B6 in your diet by eating whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Talk to your doctor or midwife about possibly taking a vitamin B6 supplement, because he or she can tell you how much to take and whether or not the amount in your prenatal vitamin should count as one of the doses. (The amount of vitamin B6 in supplements varies by brand.) Sometimes a combination of Vitamin B6 and Unisom are even more helpful in easing morning sickness. Never take any extra vitamin supplement without your doctor’s approval.

    More Articles on Morning Sickness

    —Morning Sickness
    —Morning Sickness Remedies
    —Morning Sickness Help
    —Morning Sickness Alternatives

  • Morning Sickness Help

    Morning sickness is usually connected to the sight, taste and smell of certain foods and other irritants such as cigarette smoke. It’s best to avoid strong odors, by keeping rooms well-ventilated and staying clear of second-hand smoke. Surround yourself with pleasant scents. It may help to keep air freshener handy to combat unpleasant odors. Certain toothpastes can increase queasiness, so try and find one that you can handle.

    Fatigue tends to aggravate morning sickness and makes it worse. Rest as much as possible and take cat naps during the day, if you can. Try to lie down when nausea strikes and make sure you’re getting plenty of sleep. Rushing tends to aggravate nausea. Don’t get out of bed quickly, instead stand up slowly and keep morning activities slow and calm.

    Some researchers theorize that stress and emotions may also play a role in morning sickness. Try to minimize stress as much as possible, by giving yourself time to relax. Watching a movie, visiting with a friend, talking to another mom-to-be are all good stress-relievers.

    Other things you can try include: medications, acupressure, acupuncture and dietary strategies.

    More Articles on Morning Sickness

    —Morning Sickness
    —Morning Sickness Remedies
    —Diet and Morning Sickness
    —Morning Sickness Alternatives

  • Morning Sickness

    Morning Sickness

    Nausea and morning sickness is common in early pregnancy, typically beginning about 3-4 weeks after conception and diminishing later in pregnancy, usually by the start of the second trimester. Some women continue to experience morning sickness well into their second trimester and even beyond. Despite its common name, morning sickness can occur at any time of the day, although it tends to be the worst early in the day.

    Morning sickness has long been believed to be a sign of a healthy pregnancy and is linked to a lower miscarriage rate. There is some evidence that pregnancies affected by morning sickness do better than pregnancies in which there is no nausea at all. As you?re hunched over the toilet bowl, you can cling to that knowledge and maybe it will make you feel a little better.

    The cause of the nausea and vomiting during pregnancy remains unknown, although it appears to be related to the production of pregnancy hormones, particularly HCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin) and also high levels of estrogen. Other possible causes include fluctuations in blood pressure, rapid lowering of blood sugar levels, carrying multiple babies, emotional stress, an enhanced sense of smell, excess acid in the stomach and a high-fat diet.

    In most cases, morning sickness won?t harm you or your unborn baby. However, morning sickness can become more of a problem if you can’t keep any food or fluids down and begin to lose a lot of weight. Should your vomiting become severe, you should notify your doctor or midwife if you are unable to keep anything down for 24 hours. This degree of vomiting may require IV hydration. The most severe morning sickness is called hyperemesis gravidarum, which sometimes requires hospitalization.

    Women that experience morning sickness are likely very interested in finding ways to cope with it and minimize the nausea. There is no single guaranteed remedy for morning sickness, but there are a few things you can try.

    More Articles on Morning Sickness

  • Early Pregnancy Symptoms

    Pregnancy Symptoms can be confusing at times since tender breasts can indicate early pregnancy. It can also be a sign of an expected menstrual period. A missed period is usually an early sign of pregnancy, but can also be skipped after a stressful time in one’s life. Putting symptoms together and taking a home pregnancy test can help to put this confusion to rest.

    Missed Menstrual Period

    One of the first pregnancy symptoms is usually a missed or late menstrual period and is the first indicator that a woman is pregnant, although some women claim to know they are pregnant before they miss a period.

    Tender Breasts

    Tender swollen breasts are another one of the early symptoms. While tender breasts are a symptom of an impending menstrual period, enlarged breasts are not. Sore and swollen breasts with a tingling sensation can be an early indicator that a woman is pregnant.

    Nausea and Morning Sickness

    Nausea associated with morning sickness can be a tell tell sign that a woman is pregnant. Many women suggest that they’ve had nausea up to two weeks before an expected menstrual period and before any other symptom. Eating crackers before getting out of the bed in the morning can help with morning sickness and eating several smaller meals instead of larger meals can help with nausea related to morning sickness.

    Fatigue in Pregnancy

    Extreme fatigue can be another indicator of pregnancy, especially if other symptoms are present. One or two naps per day can help a pregnant woman maintain normal daily activities.

    Frequent Urination

    Frequent urination in pregnancy usually occurs between 6 to 8 weeks after conception.

    Read next five Early Pregnancy Symptoms

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