morning sickness

[greendog]

My wife is 9 weeks pregnant (first baby) and is suffering quite badly from the dreaded morning sickness.  It's pretty constant and I'm a wee bit worried about her as she's having a great deal of difficulty eating and drinking. Done the Doctor's Surgery thing, just wondering if there's any experienced mums out there willing to impart some good tips or advice.

Thanks in advance.

[trionam]

I had morning sickness also but it want as bad as your wife I was still able to eat most times, unfortunately some women get it very badly, there is not a lot you can do but give her lots of support it normally passes after three months, they will be checking her weight at her antenatal visits so try not to worry.

[Hgrove]

Ginger biscuits seemed to be the standard advice I was given (I did not try them because I hate ginger).  The extreme form of morning sickness is called hyperemesis gravidarum and would require hospitalisation but it's rare.  Otherwise I would go along with above advice.

[patriciather]

Make sure your wife drinks plenty of fluids and see if she can eat tiny amounts of food little and often.its a good idea that before she gets out of bed to eat a ginger biscuit and a cup of weak tea and get up ten minutes later-ive known this to work for two of my sisters who had dreadful morning sickness try it and good luck

[SGKelloe32]

Definitley ginger biscuits, they worked for mebefore i got up, i would have a couple of biscuitsand a glass of water, worked every day!

[libertie]

Ginger is very good for morning sickness (also travel sickness) try ginger sweets or tea for variety, as it is the ginger that works not the biscuit.......if you get my drift!!

[kags]

Hi greendog - don't worry, the doctor and midwife will keep an eye on her and as long as the baby is growing normally all will be well. I was sick all day every day for 4 months with both my children, then just sick 4 or 5 times a day for the rest of the pregnancies. I initially lost nearly 2 stone in weight, but both babies were big and healthy. As mentioned above, the important thing is fluids so if she finds something she can drink (apple juice for me) get loads in and she can sip at it all day. I carried a carton of juice absolutely everywhere with me, and the xonstant threat of hospitalisation motivated me to keep drinking. As for food, the only thing I wanted to eat was mashed potato, so that's all I did eat, and the doctor told me if you can keep it down for an hour the majority of the nutrition is absorbed by the body - so I used to lie down for as long as I could after eating to try and keep it down for an hour! I got really stressed about nutrition, but remember the baby is a parasite, it will take everything it needs from reserves in your wife's body so it's more important to eat something that will stay down rather than worry about eating a balanced diet at this stage! It passes in most women by around 13 weeks, and then your wife can go back to eating healthily again. The other thing that was recommended to me was a travel sickness bracelet, I tried it but it didn't work at all, but I know it does work for some women. Good luck, it's all worth it in the end! 

[smudge]

You've all beaten me to it, but I would also suggest ginger biscuits first thing in the moring. It helped ease my morning sickness. Good luck with the forthcoming birth.

[OBonio]

Our doctor prescribed something for my wife (12 weeks gone today... now we can tell ppl :o) when she was suffering with morning sickness.  He did say to only take it as a last resort though.  We went with the ginger biscuit theory which did help.  And also the 'eating a little often' has worked well too as opposed to lunch and dinner (this works well for me too, as I can cook what I want for dinner).  Other than that, if it really is getting bad, go back to your GP.

[THFCUK]

i had all day sickness, what ever i took down i brought it straight back up again, i was a size 10 all through my pregnancy. my daughter was healthy as you like and still is.  i went to my doctor and she said to me as long as i drink lemon cause that absorbs into the body and stops dehydrating.

[greendog]

thanx everyone. i've got some good ideas to try out now.

[dirtyharriet]

I was advised to wear seabands , unfortunately by the time I had received this advice the morning sickness had passed, so I don't know how reliable it is.

[ginger 69]

i was sick for the whole time i was pregnant with my first two children who were both healthy good weight girls. But both times i needed to go in hospital to be drip fed as i was weak. Once discharged i got some of those milkshakes that are meal replacements (not the weight loss ones) and had one every morning which helped a little.  Morning sickness may be caused by a increased sense of smell so avoud smelly smells! And with my third child, who was a boy i was not sick once!  so don't worry it may not happen again. Morning sickness is associated with the hormones that stabalize pregnancy so it could well be a sign that normal things are happening and everything will be fine. X

[Greedyfly]

Ginger biscuits curb sickness for me

[OBonio]

dirtyhariet : That's the other thing my wife tried, the sea bands.  She claims they worked well (though I'm dubious).  I think they work for some and not others.  And you get a great dent in your wrist!  So a combination of sea bands, ginger biscuits, eating little often and not talking about squeamish things (like the actual birth) got my better half through the first 12 weeks.

[cazza0310]

Be really nice to your wife-shes having it pretty rough at the moment. Morning sickness for me was like a living hell-half way through I told my partner that I could never go through pregnancy again.(but I will-hopefully soon) 

Morning sickness takes control of your life-the constant feeling of nausea ontop on the changes going on inside your body and the lack of food is exhausting.

Lots of cuddles and affection are highly reccomended by me as being more worth while than ginger biscuits or seabands (the thought of putting a gigner biscuit in my mouth made me gag-even though i love them and the seabands just hurt my wrist)

There is no cure for morning sickness we just have to grin and bear it-mine lastred about 16 weeks and i lost about a stone and a half. Some days all i would eat would be a kitkat (4 fingers over a 24 hour period) but I had to eat what I could when I could and there was no point stressing a healthy diet because i could not force myself to eat.

The good news is that it did wear off completly-by 20 weeks I was loving pregnancy-my energy levels had shot up and so had my appitite-so\ hang in there.

My partner admits the 1st few months were hard cos theres nothing he could do and its hard to understand how it feels when youve not been through it.

Best of luck to you and your wife-shes lucky you care enough to post this message! By week 49 it will all have been worth it.

ps you need to do all the washing up and all the ironing cos that helps alot too (my fella didnt fall for this-hope you do)!! :-)

[harriet99]

I had morning sickness all through my pregnancy, right up to my 21 hours in labour. The doctors could not prescribe anything that had any effect, the ginger biscuits and tea thing certainly didn't work and I could keep almost no food down, by 16 weeks I was in hospital on a drip.  By about 7 months I discovered crunchy nut cornflakes and ice cold milk, it was delicious and I actually managed to keep some of it down so I ate this three times a day to term. The whole time I was ill I would have loved for my husband to just give me a few kisses and cuddles just to show that he cared but he just made me feel like a freak and failure. Apparently "millions of other women manage to have babies all the time and aren't sick and throwing up everywhere" very comforting....not! Of course when the baby was born she was healthy and perfect in every way and all my husband did was strut around with his daughter in his arms and his chest puffed out as though he had done something fabulous. I got back to normal in no time and loved being a new mum. The kisses and cuddles from my husband soon returned but too little too late i'm afraid. I never forgave him for treating me like a freak during my pregnancy and I just could stop thinking that he may abandon our daughter  at the first sign of chiken pox or appendixitis when she might be slightly less than beautiful or jolly. I divorced him when our baby was almost 2 years old. Rightly or wrongly I could not forgive him for allowing me to suffer alone and for kicking me when I was down (metaphorically). The answer to your question is be nice to the expectant mother of your child, love her, kiss her, cosset her and let her know that even with a pale green complection and vomit running down her chin that she is loved and is doing the most important job of your lives. x

[donnaa5dcp]

Hey - Get the sea bands (boots) Very very effective, I was most sceptical, but THEY WORK!!!

[Lorri]

I had really bad pregnancy sickness at the beginning of my pregnancy.  I ended up in hospital with severe dehydration.  They said that I was suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum.  I couldn't keep any liquid or food down and was being sick about 30 times a day.  If this happens to your wife make sure she sees her doctor again straight away.  I have been given anti-sickness tablets now which I have to take every day for the length of my pregnancy to ensure I can eat and drink.  Good luck finding something to help your wife!

[one_mad_cow]

Anything containing Ginger or just a plain Rich Tea biscuit.  I would advise Digestive's but last time I did that I fainted in the shower!

[blueeyedlass]

well i have to say that i tried all the ginger biscuits and ginger ales and found that nothing worked untill i tried the acupuncture bands they do slightly hurt and feel uncomfortable at first but they slacken off a bit and all i could keep down were sugar puffs.