Natural remedies for managing morning sickness
Morning sickness is a challenge for most Mamas-to-be. I rarely meet anyone who has had ZERO morning sickness or food aversions.
The truth of it is that it is a normal part of pregnancy, so a degree of acceptance is necessary (insert sad face). HOWEVER… research does show there are strategies you can implement to manage severity.
So keep reading..
I will preface this by saying there is great variation with morning sickness severity; I have used the below strategies successfully for some women, and others they have not provided relief. If you are the latter, I feel for you. Morning sickness can be absolutely debilitating for some women; and if this is you and you fall into category of Mamas who experience hyperemesis gravidarum; please ensure you are working with your selected care provider (midwife, GP, obstetrician)
What you can do:
It is probably a challenge to eat your regular meal size. If this is you, instead of forcing yourself to finish big meals, change things up. Focus on eating regular small meals/big snacks. The added benefit of this is that it will help you to ensure you are still fuelling your body with enough food to support baby’s growth and your energy levels.
Avoid having a completely empty stomach; eat every 3ish hours.
You will naturally be craving carbohydrates (hello bread, pasta, potatoes, crackers); this is absolutely ok. Cell replication is at its highest in the first trimester; your body is busy and it needs energy from carbs to grow your beautiful baby. BUT dysregulated blood sugar does make morning sickness worse. Try to include some protein with your carbs.. even if it’s a few small mouth fulls of chicken, slow cooked meat, eggs, hummus, cottage cheese OR anything you can stomach.
Sipping on herbal tea (warm or cold) to settle your stomach; specifically chamomile, peppermint and/or ginger are the best choices for settling the stomach.
There are some chewable ginger tablets that I personally used; I preferred sucking on them like a lozenge. Reach out to find out more about these as we want to ensure you are staying within the safe intake for pregnancy.
Vitamin B6 is used to successfully reduce nausea. It is best to speak to your practitioner about this as there is often B6 included in small amounts in other supplements (eg your prenatal, magnesium, some zinc formulas etc) so adding all the b6 up is really important to make sure you are not overdoing it.
What else can you do?
If you would like Naturopathic support during your pregnancy; please reach out to me. I work with Mamas throughout their pregnancies to:
Tailor treatment
Troubleshoot and redudce pregnancy symptoms eg insomnia, bowel changes, cramps, restless legs, hydration, fatigue
Maintaining optimal blood work, not simply avoiding deficiency.
Planning for postpartum
Avoiding postpartum depletion
To chat about what this involves, you can book a free intro chat below.
I hope these tips help you to find some relief from your morning sickness symptoms, please share it with a girlfriend if someone you love is struggling.
And in times of struggle, be gentle with yourself and remind yourself “this too shall pass”.
With love,
xo Ell
