Family Forum / Pregnancy / Pregnancy / November 2007

I had m/s with all three of mine.
With #1 and #2 it was 24/7 from 4 weeks through to about 1 hour after
delivery. With #3 it was better than that, but still found it hard. What
helped me was: (other than delivery!)
1. Don't get tired. Particuarly with #3 I noticed that the more tired I was
the more sick I was. If she has a day feeling better then don't let her
overdo it.
2. Eat what and when you want. I was always looking for the perfect thing
that would "stop" the m/s. Didn't happen. Don't worry about eating healthily
if you fancy a bar of chocolate. (obviously if it's something like
liver/alchohol/etc or something that can be dangerous for the baby then
don't)
3. Drink slowly. I get very thirsty in prenancy, but have to drink a sip at
a time. If I drank quickly it came back up. I found some drinks better than
others. Fizzy drinks (esp. cola) relieved m/s better than still stuff. Milk
curdles before it comes back up. Not nice!
4. Ginger: some people sware by ginger to treat nausea. I haven't been able
to eat/drink ginger since about half was through pregnancy with #1 without
retching. It burns your throat as it comes back. But try it. It may help.
5. Lie down: I always found being horizontal helped.
6. Don't try and have "one last bite". I would reach a point in every meal
where I had had exactly enough. Then if I lay down immediately it might stay
down. With #1 I often thought that I'd just finish a mouthful more and
always regretted it.
7. Get a distraction. With #3 I used to do sudukos when I was feeling very
sick. I think I had a book of puzzles with #1. Not thinking about being sick
sometimes helped. With #2 I didn't find it helped.
8. I found salty things helped with #1 and #2 (and very bland things with
#3). Crisps, salty chips etc. At times sucking a sweet helped.
9. When going out make sure you have something to snack on.
10. If she's not keeping anything down then she may need hospial treatment.
See the doctor for that.
Hth
Debbie