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Morning sickness is an unfortunate side-effect of pregnancy. It does not strike all women, nor does it strike with the same ferocity among women. Regardless of how severe morning sickness is, chances are it will only last through the first trimester.

Remedies that alleviate morning sickness work well with some women and not so well with others. I have endured two pregnancies, each of which brought different levels of morning sickness and different things that helped alleviate it. My advice is to familiarize yourself with potential remedies and keep trying until you find one that works for you. Eventually you will find something that works, or you will get far enough along in your pregnancy so that your morning sickness will begin to wane naturally.

1. Keep a bit of (preferably bland) food in your stomach at all times. This may mean keeping a baggie full of Cheerios or oyster crackers on hand. Keeping these next to your bed and eating some before getting up in the morning can sometimes help you feel less nauseous, especially if your morning sickness truly strikes you more in the morning.

2. Eat small meals several times a day. The trick is to not become too hungry or get too full. Carbohydrates and proteins are most effective and helping ladies feel less sick, while fatty foods should be avoided.

3. Taking vitamin B6 has been shown to help some women combat morning sickness. While B6 is normally found in prenatal vitamins, it may not be in high enough concentrations to be helpful. Incidentally, the iron in some prenatal vitamins may present a problem for some women and finding an iron-free prenatal supplement may help alleviate morning sickness.

4. Ginger has long been touted as helping to alleviate morning sickness. The concentration of ginger in ginger ale is not high, so drinking ginger beer or taking ginger supplements in a tablet form is better. Many morning sickness teas contain ginger and peppermint.

5. Pregnancy lollipops have been shown to help in some women. These can be purchased online or in some maternity stores.

6. Wrist bands that are used for motion sickness have also been effectively used by some women to combat morning sickness.

7. Avoid things that make you sick. This seems fairly obvious, but is sometimes difficult to accomplish. During early pregnancy you are extremely sensitive to smells and tastes. Be aware of this and adjust your diet accordingly.

Occasionally women experience morning sickness that is severe. If you are vomiting too much you can run the risk of becoming dehydrated. Report any sickness that you think is above and beyond any normal morning sickness to your obstetrician, because there are prescription medications that are available.

The positive thing about morning sickness is that it does not generally last throughout pregnancy. While morning sickness does not go away overnight, you will begin to notice that gradually the time between bouts of nausea increases, and the length of the nauseous feeling decreases.

Learn more about this author, Tina Lehman.
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