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Not every woman suffers from morning sickness when she is pregnant, and some women suffer from it all day long from the moment of conception to the moment of delivery. It is most common however in the first twelve weeks of your pregnancy and usually as the name suggests in the morning. The symptoms can strike at any time of day however and may last all day or just be intermittent. Some women get vague feelings of nausea and others vomit violently and even the faintest sniff of food.

Eating frequent small amounts of food will help lessen the symptoms. Symptoms are worse in the morning because the stomach is full of nothing but acid and allowing the stomach to become empty during the day triggers a recurrence. Reaching for a dry cracker or ginger nut biscuit before you even get out of bed can help a surprising amount. Eat little snacks, preferably something protein rich or dry crackers, regularly through the day. Avoid large meals that overstretch the stomach, and obviously avoid foods that make you feel ill. Pregnant women often cite coffee as a smell that triggers nausea, and the trigger food is often something that you enjoyed before you were pregnant.

Eating or drinking ginger has good results for a lot of mums, but the smell is too much for others. The same applies to vitamin B supplements. Many women swear by Vitamin B to prevent nausea and it is present in most pregnancy vitamin formulae. I personally found that the only pregnancy during which I suffered badly from morning sickness was the one in which I religiously took my supplements. The only way to find out is by trial and error.

The wristbands used for seasickness work very well for many women. The secret with these is to make sure that they are fitted correctly. They have to press firmly on the correct acupressure point, which in itself can be quite uncomfortable.

If these natural methods fail then several pharmaceutical drugs have been used in pregnancy for many years without problems. Thalidomide has alerted drug companies to the dangers of recommending anything for pregnant ladies, and rightly makes us wary of taking anything, but metoclopramide ahs been used widely with no reported ill effects.

Some unfortunate ladies get hyperemesis gravidarum, this sickness where literally nothing is held in the stomach. Dehydration may lead to the need for intravenous drips and in rare instances intravenous feeding may be needed. Drugs will definitely be needed in an attempt to treat this.

Learn more about this author, Eve Redstone.
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