Morning Sickness

Symptoms can start as early as 4 weeks from your last period, they usually peak at the 9th week and resolve by 12-14 weeks. “Morning Sickness” is a misnomer – symptoms can be at any time of the day. Symptoms are usually worse when meals are missed and your blood sugar drops. Our goal in treating is to minimize your symptoms, keep you involved in your normal daily activities and prevent weight loss. Complete resolution of all your symptoms in the 1st trimester is not a realistic goal for all patients.

Dietary/Lifestyle Management

• Feed the nausea – this helps balance your blood sugar
• Small/frequent snacks (every 2 hours) of high carbohydrate, low fat foods

*1 cup of cereal *1/2 banana or apple

*slice of toast *1/2 cup yogurt or cottage cheese

*1/2 cup broth/soup *crackers w/ peanut butter or cheese

• High protein meals
• Dry/bland diet
• Frequent fluid intake

*Cold, clear carbonated or sour liquids (Sprite, 7-Up, lemonade or Ginger Ale) at room temperature cause less nausea.

*Herbal teas with mint, ginger or orange

• Do NOT drink during meals
• Do NOT brush teeth immediately after eating
• Avoid unpleasant odors – get out in the fresh air if exposed
• Suck on peppermints, atomic fireballs or lemon drops
• Keep crackers/cereal and juice at your bedside. Have a small snack when you are up at night to urinate and 1st thing in the morning.
• When you find what you can tolerate and keep down – eat it several times a day- variety will return later!

Non-Prescription Treatments

1. Stop full prenatal vitamins. Instead, take 400 mcg of folic acid daily and resume prenatal vitamin in 2nd trimester.
2. Vitamin B6 (10-25 mg) every 8 hours alone or with Doxylamine (Unisom) 12.5-25mg twice a day (both found at the drug store, over the counter)
3. If this is not effective, take ginger capsules 250mg 4 times a day, P6 acupressure Psi Bands (Amazon)
4. If this is still not effective, call for further advice.

If you are not able to keep down liquids (vomiting less than 30 mins after intake) for more than a few hours, call the office, you may need evaluation for dehydration.