After acknowledging that “morning sickness” is a stupid name for a condition that leaves pregnant women hurling in the bathroom sink or behind gas stations during any hour of the day, let’s talk about battling it.
I kept a pack of strong peppermint gum with me All The Time and ate every two hours, usually cereal, until the first 14 weeks of this third pregnancy were over. Between the naps and constant snacking, I felt like a toddler. I still hurled a dozen times. Yes, I counted!
My temporary best friend, only failed me once
I asked the twitter community (twitterverse, I believe we like to be called) for their favorite remedies for those queasy first trimester feelings and got a gaggle of great answers. After enough people said saltines and ginger ale to make me barf, I got a few clever responses. Sorry folks. Are puke jokes funny or not really?
Sweet stuff
- Mmartin4688: suck on Skittles!!!
- just_ough: vanilla ice cream
- Gazerella: smoothies got me through it!
- NHoltwick: McDonalds regular coke. Seriously works!!
- Teondrab: I found that sweet sucking candy and fruit juice, things with sugar helped to ease nausea.
- themobilemama: jolly ranchers helped me get through the work day
- TuesdayGirl: all that worked for me during my last pregnancy was swedish fish.
- injuryboard: My favorite was sucking on Gatorade ice cubes. Preggie Pops are also good.
- erinlong: Cold, bubbly Coke. Dr said I could safely have a few a day! And chew gum!
- LouandBunny: Eat a few cookies before even getting out of bed! Works a treat!
Missy Martin's trusted pal
Salty and strange
- SusanW: Salt and vinegar potato chips totally took care of me. I ate a handful after every meal. Including breakfast. (Eeew.)
Susan Wagner's old friend
More tips, tricks, and odd foods
- leeleepitts: Don’t get hungry, don’t get full. [Heather note: best tip ever]
- CourtKlingbeil: I took everything! Dramamine 2 Zofran. Was sick from 6 wks til the end
Medicine is totally worth it if u need it to function. - madatmama: Seabands. That was the only thing that worked.
- WCopley: Citrus helped me — lemonade, marmalade, lemon drops.
- beingthefunmama: amen to the citrus. Frozen lemonade was also on my short list of ok foods &7-11 hot dogs (i’d prefer to forget those!)
- LavenderPoet: Have something next to the bed so you can have a couple bites before getting up. Cereal or saltines.
- jennathornton3: ginger ale, saltines, coke or anything bubbly…cold things, lemon and of course good ol phenergan
- Debutots_Jen: Yuck, don’t remind me. How about: Try and sleep through those awful 12 weeks. Actually, acupuncture really helped with my 3rd
- DeaCasebeer: take your prenatal vitamins at night & peppermint tea from Starbucks. That is what helped me.
- thewarriormom: I had 5 full term pregnancies. Tea w/ raw ginger root & strong peppermint gum helped a lot.
- leeleepitts: I second peppermint gum. Also, Mac and cheese. It was all I could stomach for about 3 wks.
- beingthefunmama: My cure: eggs w salsa. They were 1 of the few things I could manage (ended up on Zofran for nausea). Protein made huge diff.
- mkmaines: Zofran!
- BabyBumpBeyond: What worked best for me was never allowing my stomach to be empty- lots of healthy snacks! For me, eating plain/dull foods made morning sickness worse! (which makes it 10x harder when u are #glutenfree & pregnant)
- mayberrymom: acupressure wristbands (Sea Bands)
- caglove: Crystallized ginger candy, soda crackers on the bedside table and patience. Good luck!
- PamperedChef_: Anything with peppermint or ginger, like Canada Dry ginger ale helped relieve the nausea. I drank lots of mint tea.
- jolenemarie: Soda crackers, in bed, before rising!
- cookiecreambaby: I took ginger supplement capsules in the morning and then ate saltines with raspberry ginger ale.
- iamti2ger: deep breathing exercises and chocolate lol [Heather note: sadly, I've been avoiding chocolate because I don't want to develop an aversion. Chocolate cake, however, is still fine]
- MissyMuzz : I have a palatable cereal delivered to me in bed it works a treat raises blood sugars enough and gives me a little energy. also a small snack when you go for ur pre dawn 4am pee works wonders.
So, what, if anything worked for you?
ps I learned that you can actually subscribe to cereal from Amazon and other foods to deliver certain quantities monthly (get a 6-pack every month and its a deal). If you’re going through it like I was, it’s a worthwhile option.
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This post was totally not sponsored, but if you click through to the amazon links, we may get a few cents. Thanks and feel better!
I threw up for 8 months, it was great. Protein helped the most, I ate a lot of peanut butter on apples. Also whole milk (I couldn’t drink more than an inch of water without puking) Unfortunately this led to a 40 lb weight gain and I am still way up from where I used to be. But my daughter is healthy and adorable!
I kept pretzels in my desk and drank a lot of ginger tea. I ate a lot of potatoes and plain starchy foods. No meat, no spicy, no sweet–it was a dark time!
I’m in the middle of this awfulness. This is my first pregnancy and I’m having twins. Of course I don’t have any comparison but I swear I have it worse with the hightened hormone levels.
I’ve tried all the natural cures under the sun: Ginger, peppermint, saltines, protiens, etc. Nothing has helped thus far. I decided to try the B6 cocktail; B6 vitamin 3x per day with half a Unisom at bedtime. This has helped a ton with the “morning” morning sickness, but I am still hugging the toilet around 9:00 p.m. I’m 8 weeks right now and I’m praying it will calm down in the next month or two.
If nothing else, at least it’s consistent.
Eating something was definitely helpful. The problem was that I was so grossed out by food! The key for me was to distract myself while eating, so I’d lay on the couch (sitting was too nauseating!), watch morning TV, and choke down some toast. That got me through the first few hours of the day. Interestingly, my nausea wasn’t too bad later in the day.
Watermelon totally helped me — ice cold pieces straight from the fridge. We went through one a week during the first two months.
I agree with citrus. I had lemon drops in all my bags/purses and in the car/desk at work/home. That’s the only thing that really worked for me.
I lost almost 35 pounds in the 1st 4 months of pregnacy. The only thing that could stop me getting sick was Zolfran. I had to take it everyday for the whole pregnacy otherwise I could not eat anything. I understand and sympathize with you.
Jolly ranchers. Sea bands worked until they didn’t. White rice, I think? Fruit juice popsicles – but allow yourself to throw out half after you feel better. Cold cold orange juice – but only a swig. Someone told me almonds, but those didn’t work for me.
oh.. and peppermints. Those worked after the jolly ranchers stopped working. And they were great at work cause everyone just thought I was being conscious of my breath (didn’t tell until 2nd trimester).
i thought preggie pops were awesome until i realized i got the same effect with dum dum pops at a fraction of the cost haha. i also found myself eating constantly (though small portions), ESPECIALLY peanut butter and cottage cheese. sooo relieved once the nausea faded!
Second (third, what have you) the Zofran, which I took both times until delivery, at twice the normal dose for a few months in the middle of both pregnancies. My husband, a pharmacist, taught me the principle that letting yourself suffer because you are afraid of medications that have been proven to be very safe is not noble, just sad. Also, frozen canned mandarin oranges and animal crackers, the cheap kind that come in one or two pound bags and have lots of nutmeg in them. I lived on these for months.
Oh @Hanna I’m so sorry. I have no concept of the 8 months of sick. Just sympathy. Blech.
@Elisa, it really started for me around 8 weeks and culminated on the eve of my 14th week (right after my birthday party in fact). I tried so many things and the gum was my salvation. It only failed me once.
And, can we talk about how pregnancy puking is so different from other ways to be sick to you stomach? When you barf “in real life” the last thing you want to do is eat. I actually threw up while waiting for my lunch to heat in the microwave (because I was starving) and didn’t miss a beat in putting the food in my mouth when it was ready. Ick.
[...] Morning sickness getting you down? Here’s what Twitter recommends you eat. [...]
frozen watermelon! Its all I can eat right now(6 weeks)
Help! I’m like 6 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child. NOTHING sounds edible to me. Literally everything makes me gag and want to vomit. Every 2-3 hours I’m battling nausea so I have to eat something or else. Suggestions are most welcome. I haven’t actually gotten sick yet but the gagging will lead to dry heaves if I try to ignore it. Sucking on peppermints does help but only enough to let me eat something. But I’m thinking that the morning sickness is only going to get worse as I go along because I am still so early timewise. With my first I didn’t really have morning sickness at all; I had other issues.
Renee, i am having the same issues
ill be 7 weeks tomorrow and EVERYTHING seems to make me gag except crackers, but i am soooo sick of eating crackers!!!!!!!!! Im gunna try to go out and get some fresh fruit tomorrow, hoping that will taste good…. i just choaked down an enchilada and almost lost it! ahhhhh
Herbs like ginger, fennel, chamomile and peppermint all have a calming effect on the stomach and deliver some nutrients. But to prevent nausea, the key is leveled blood sugar. The reason why so many people think that sugar is their remedy, is that their insulin/blood sugar levels are swinging up and down too high and low. Keep it level by eating appropriate levels of protein (if your’re pregnant, you may feel this is your full time job) and helthy fats. Good nutrition = healthy mom, healthy baby. A pregnancy focused site is: http://www.blueribbonbaby.org/ Or you can safely eat a Primal Blueprint http://www.marksdailyapple.com or Paleo diet for optimal nutrition. WestonAPrice.org is also a good resource. Eat a protein & fat snack before bed to wake up without nausea. Eat something first thing upon waking so that your metabolism doesn’t ramp up before your eat. And, my husband and I recommend first time parents take a Bradley Method of Natural Birth class. One of the best investments we ever made. Take what you need and leave the rest.
Thanks @Rachel, that’s some good insight that it can be hard to have when all you want is CEREAL.
PEANUT BUTTER!! I wish I’d figured this out with my last pregnancy… I tried everything under the sun (including almost all of the things suggested here) – everything helped for about 2 days max, and then it was as if my body “caught on” to what I was doing and said “nope, we’re going to puke some more”.
This time, I’ve started (slowly) eating two spoonfuls of PB before my shower in the morning (this is 5am), and then a spoonful here and there throughout the day… basically anytime I started to feel nauseated but not hungry. I think it’s the combo of protein, salt and sugar…
Granted, I’m only a couple days into this now, so we’ll see how it lasts, but it stops the nausea almost COMPLETELY, which is something none of the other remedies ever seemed to do (they just kept me from actually puking).
PB sounds like a genius idea.
For the record… PB is still working! I almost feel normal 90% of the time, and I’m only 8 weeks along (didn’t ditch the MS until 14 weeks last time).