Morning sickness during pregnancy

Morning sickness during pregnancy

What is morning sickness?

Morning sickness is a nauseous feeling which a woman experiences during her pregnancy.

How many women suffer from morning sickness?

Research has shown that about half to two-thirds of all pregnant women worldwide suffer from morning sickness.

Is morning sickness harmful to your baby?

Most women are well aware that once they become pregnant they would have to deal with a lot of health issues including nausea and vomiting. What every mother shows concern about is the effect of morning sickness on her baby.

It is true that no pregnant woman welcomes the constant feeling of nausea. However, vomiting is something all pregnant women have to adapt themselves to and most of them do so successfully.

Generally, as far as the baby is concerned, morning sickness is harmless. If the episodes of vomiting become too frequent and severe, it might cause the baby to suffer from stunted growth due to lack of proper nutrition.

If such a situation arises, a pregnant woman should seek advice from her physician or nurse.

What are the causes of morning sickness?

In most cases the exact cause of morning sickness remains unknown. However, there are a few factors with might contribute to triggering morning sickness in a pregnant woman. Some of these factors are mentioned below:

Hormones

It is common knowledge that the level of hormones tend to rise in a woman’s body during her pregnancy. However, the increase in level of hormones such as HcG and oestrogen makes pregnant women feel nauseated.

Blood pressure

Fluctuation in blood pressure tends to make every person feel dizzy and nauseated. This statement holds true,to a greaterextentin a pregnant woman, as the sudden changes accompanying her body due to her condition, such as the level of hormones, gradually takes a toll on her body and health.

Odour

During her pregnancy, a woman might develop a heightened sense of smell. This enhancement of her senses causes her to become extremely sensitive to odours in the environment. Quite often, pregnant woman start to vomit when they are in proximity to something which carries a foul smell.

Genetics

It is believed that a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum which causes severe nausea and vomiting in a pregnant woman is a result of a defective gene which tends to run in families. Therefore, pregnant women who have had family members with hyperemesis gravidarum, are likely to suffer from the same condition themselves.

What are the symptoms of morning sickness?

Nausea and Vomiting

A pregnant woman suffers from nausea and vomiting. This occurs due to all the changes which take place within her body, for example the rise in level of HcG in her blood.

Loss of appetite

Due to vomiting every now and then, sometimes a pregnant woman tends to avoid having food as she feels afraid that she would feel nauseated again.

Depression

A pregnant woman has to deal with a lot of factors both physically and emotionally. On the other hand, she keeps worrying about the health and well being of her baby all the time.

The frequent challenges that a pregnant woman has to face every single day, at times causes her to become psychologically weak and thereby results in her falling into a state of depression.

How to manage morning sickness?

Morning sickness is a condition which cannot be avoided. However, there are a few measures which can be taken by the pregnant woman in order to cope with it.

Mentioned below are some of the ways in which we can manage morning sickness:

Change of Environment

Given the fact that a pregnant woman has a sensitive nose, she should try to make sure that she removes any foul-smelling stuff present around her. Spray perfumes around in your surrounding or get fresh flowers to make the surrounding smelling good with fragrance.

Diet Improvement

A pregnant woman should avoid food which makes her nauseous. It is said that a healthy pregnancy diet high in carbohydrates tends to relieve morning sickness to a certain extent.

Drink more water

A pregnant woman spends quite a bit of time vomiting, so it is important that she keeps herself hydrated by drinking lots of water in order to compensate for the loss of fluids from her body.

Take regular rest

The more time a pregnant woman spends moving around, the higher the frequency of vomiting. Therefore, it is recommended that a pregnant woman should rest as much as possible.

Wear comfortable clothes

A pregnant woman should wear loose clothes so as to prevent adding pressure on her already heavy, yet delicate abdomen.