Easing Morning Sickness - Dayton,OH

Boy do I know how she feels! Sorry to hear she is feeling so crummy.

Suggestions:

Keep saltine crackers and water by bed- before getting up in am, eat 2 crackers before rising out of bed.

preggie pops-buy them at Motherhood Maternity

Crystalized ginger--eat it, it helps

ginger tea, ginger ale. water with lemon in it

seabands-- used for motion sickness, can help morning sickness

exercise daily with a brisk walk--

eat every 2-3hrs. If you eat small , frequent meals, it helps. -- eat bland foods- toast, rice, applesauce, light soups etc. nothing heavy or greasy!

Hope this helps. It will get better.

Molly

I had morning sickness with all of my pregnancies. I agree about staying hydrated. I found peppermint tea very helpful. I tried the ginger candy for morning sickness, and liked it too. There is also a homeopathic remedy called Nux Vomica. It's very safe and effective. I hope she feels better soon.

B.

I tried every trick in the book, and the only thing that allowed me to function was the prescription Zofran. Phenergan just knocked me out for 3 hours easily and I would still get sick. Have her ask her doctor about Zofran. The orally dissolving tablet was the way to go for me because even a little bit of water to swallow a pill came back up more times than not. Good luck!!! I hope that she starts to feel better really soon!!!

Zofran. It's not approved for use during pregnancy, but I took it with my first and have a perfectly healthy 21 month old now. I'm taking it again with my current pregnancy. Works wonders!

My SIL had to go several times. For me, if I put something on my stomach before I even got out of bed it helped. I kept crackers right beside me by my bed and popped a couple before I got up. That's the hard part when it's just regular morning sickness - convincing yourself that food (small amounts of the right kind) will actually help.

Also, did her Dr. prescribe her phenergan or anything?

Phenergan knocked me out too, and i had a 3 year old to care for, so i abandoned using that. I tried every trick in the book too...not much worked for me. Crackers help[ed some. I could'nt do saltines though, because the salt on them was too much, so i preferred oyster crackers. I would wash them down with Perrier mineral water. Call me crazy, but regular water made me gag! Perrier has a slight fizz to it, and a mild lemon-lime flavor...that seemed to calm my tummy. Like another mom said, i couldn't go grocery shopping either because #1, i was so sick & nauseous, and #2, the smells at the grocery store overwhelmed me! I had to travel with a plastic bag at all times in case i had to vomit. Ewww. Morning sickness is the worst! I had it with all 4 of my kids, and with each pregnancy, it only increased...so i feel for your niece! It's a vicious circle...you know you need to eat, but the sheer thought of food makes you want to vomit. I'd start with the oyester crackers to nibble on throughout the day, and ask her if there is anything else that sounds appetizing to her. Try carbonated water too-it really does ease the tummy.

I had hyperemesis graviderum in my first pregnancy. That is just a fancy word for really bad morning sickness! I was nauseous all day long and once i started throwing up i couldn't stop. This also resulted in several trips to get rehydrated. My doctor put me on a medication for nausea, it is a medication that was originally given to cancer patients undergoing chemo who also fight nausea and lack of appetite. It has been approved for safe use during pregnancy. I believe it is called zophran. Unlike a medication like phenergan it does not cause drowsiness. Also it comes in a tiny disolving tablet that you dissolve in your mouth so it works quickly.
Tell her that she needs to just do what works for her body. She needs to stay hydrated. For me water tasted terrible, but if I added a little kool-aid or crystal lite powder I could drink it. Also, my mouth always had a terrible taste so I had bubble gum all the time. I found basic carb foods settled easiest. I carried a bag of cheerios everywhere I went because sometimes that was the only thing that would calmly stay in.
Also, there are several companies that now make little lolly pops and hard candies for morning sickness. You don't have to buy any special ones like that. Often just having some hard candies to suck on, especially pepper mints, tends to help things stay calm.
She probably has several aversions right now. For me going to the grocery store was overwhelming. I couldn't even walk by the spice aisle or the deli without smelling everything and thinking I would vomit right there. Maybe your family could take turns volunteering to do some grocery shopping for her.

I also have had terrible, round the clock morning sickness/vomiting with both pregnancies. I was sick for about 7 months with my first and I'm 12 weeks along with my second and it has been almost as bad this time.
During the first pregnancy I used to take a 25mg B6 supplement along with 1/2 of a Unisom tablet. It made me drowsy, but did take the edge off the nausea. However, I just started taking Zofran, a powerful antiemetic. It is helping more than anything else I have tried. I haven't thrown up in 36 hours, which was unheard of before I started it.
Your niece can try peppermint, ginger, eating small bland meals frequently, and all the other more natural remedies, but in my experience anything that does actually work will only help for a short time, and the effect will be minimal, which is to say it may help her feel less bad, but probably won't be enough. I would suggest talking to her doctor about Zofran. It has been a lifesaver for me.

It sounds like she is hyperemetic (sp?) and possibly needs for the doctor to give her medication to help. Hyperemetic just means she's throwing up.. a lot! It sounds like it is really interfering with her day to day life too. Sometimes when it interferes with daily life the doctor will prescribe something like Zofran. It won't stop the nausea completely but will stop the vomiting from being so bad.

Some other things that are known to help:

Is she taking a regular prenatal? She can talk to her doctor about switching to 2 flinstones vitamins a day and b6. Sometimes prenatals are very harsh on our stomaches and that doesn't help when we're feeling sick.

Unisom- there's something in it that helps, but I can't remember what. I know a few pregnant women who were told to take it and they said it helped. This is something she would want to talk over with the doctor though.

Like others said too: preggie pops, sea bands, ginger tea/soda/cookies, saltines, flat soda helps some women, citrus flavored things like lemonheads or lemonade, peppermint tea, sleepy time tea, chamomile tea.

Also if she can find something that goes down well enough for food or drink then she needs to go for it. Even if it means she's drinking sleepy time tea all day (hey, its decaf anyway) and eating sandwiches. I noticed with this pregnancy that the more I tried to make myself eat certain things, the worse it got. Once I gave in and just ate what sounded good, things weren't quite so bad.

I hope she's able to find a solution so she can get a break from this.

Ginger and/or peppermint. She can make teas or just suck on peppermints and I've also come across some ginger losenges at health food stores. These help calm the stomach AND the tea will help keep her hydrated.

My Dr gave me a list of things to take. I don't remember all of them, but she suggested Unisom & Vitamin B6 together. Have her check with her DR.

I agree with all of the previous posts about things like:
lemonheads, lemon water, ginger, ginger ale, crackers, etc

Good luck to her, and God bless you for trying to help her feel better.

I completely understahd! I had all day sickness too ~ just the smell of food (even anything bland) made me vomit, as did anything to drink, even 2 or 3 sips of water. While some of the previous posts are worth a try, if your niece is like me, she will vomit anything up, no matter what it is. Since I absolutely couldn't keep anything down & was also severly dehydrated, my dr. gave me sapositories (sp?). I know it's gross, but they did help. Good luck! I hope she gets some relief soon!

Ginger. Take fresh ginger root, slice thin steep in hot water or tea and add honey. It took 6 nauseous pregnancies before I discover this, and it works.

Hi, I can relate as I had the same thing with my 4th and final pregnancy. You've gotten lots of wonderful advice as to different things to try to make your niece feel better. But I'm thinking more of just day to day help. Do you live close enough to her to help her with her daily chores. Help with her laundry, meals, anything like that? That would have been a godsend for me when I was so sick during my pregnancy.

Hi L.
There is a incredible all natural product by Shaklee called Soothing Stomach that works miracles for morning sickness. Most of the time it is the OTC pre-natals that cause it. ____@____.com check it out.
S.

Ginger tea and ginger snaps really helped me during my first trimester of this pregnancy. Also, my doctor suggested vitamin B6, which I think really helped. I continued to take it into my second trimester because I think it helped give me a bit of energy. A friend of mine who is also pregnant had a terrible first trimester. She swore by anything ginger, especially ginger preserves. She's from Washington state, so I'm not sure they can be found in the Midwest, but it might be worth looking into. Good luck with your niece!

one thing that helped me was to eat a bowl of oatmeal before bed. It is a food that "sticks around" so my stomach wasnt completely empty when I woke up, which helped as I was sickest when I was hungry.