Ah, one of the "joys" of pregnancy is nausea, (aka morning sickness - something of a misnomer). We don't know exactly why some women have this and others don't. We believe that rising levels of hCG hormones probably have something to do with it and often women are reassured that the pregnancy will probably have a good outcome because of the nausea which indicates to them that things are progressing as they should hormonally. But women without nausea also have healthy pregnancies.Traditional measures
What we do know is that everyone is different and what works miracles for one, doesn't help another expectant mom. You'll hear lots of advice as women report their success stories and usually we try just about anything for relief. Some of the tried and true methods include:
- eating small, frequent meals, not allowing an empty stomach
- keeping crackers at the bedside for early morning combat
- taking B6 (25-50 mg. 3 times daily) with or without 1/2 Unisom at bedtime
- using accupressure through anti-nausea wrist bands (sometimes called sea bands)
- sucking on ginger, or slowly chewing it as a candy
- sucking on ice chips, sipping water regularly to avoid dehydration
- taking prescription medications which sometimes have unpleasant side effects such as drowsiness
One Nontraditional method
Some women try all the usual tricks without improvement, so it might be worthwhile to look to other alternative therapies. While any medications or supplements should be cleared with your doctor, some nutritional adjustments are safe for everyone. Nutritionist, Karen Hurd, has a suggestion for nausea of pregnancy that has been shown by several women to be helpful. It certainly can't hurt since she advocates beans, an excellent source of protein, loaded with vitamins and fiber.
Karen's article can be found here. She discusses how these increasing hCG levels affect digestion as the liver responds by producing larger amounts of the digestive hormone, bile. She says this is what causes the nausea. She also cautions us not to overlook simple solutions to a complicated problem. Here is a synopsis of her theory:
"Bile is a digestive enzyme designed to break down the fatty acids that we eat. When we have no fatty acids in our duodenum (the first part of the small intestine and what most people commonly call “the stomach”), there is nothing to digest but YOU! This causes us to feel nauseous."She cautions us not to think the solution is to eat more fatty foods.
"...when we eat foods with fats in them, it actually causes a further release of bile. Now we have the original bile making us feel queasy PLUS a new onslaught of this same nauseous-causing substance."Here's Karen's suggestion
"... the Western high fat diet contributes to an elevated bile production. But even more significant is the lack of soluble fiber in the Western diet. If we Westerners would eat soluble fiber in ample amounts, we could eat all the fat we wanted and never suffer adverse effects. Soluble fiber is found in legumes (there are other sources but they are so minimally endowed with soluble fiber that it is not worth mentioning them for the cure of morning sickness). Legumes are pinto beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans (also known as chick peas), black-eyed peas, lentils, black beans, red beans, navy beans, white beans, great northern beans, crowder peas (also known as field peas), yellow-eyed beans, and the list goes on. They are also termed 'soup beans'... The answer is to eat legumes. Now you must know to what extent you must eat legumes. If you are feeling nauseous, you must immediately consume your beans. You will need to eat at least 1/4 cup of cooked legumes. If you can eat more, it is even better. You will see relief in under 20 minutes."
(Read more recommendations on treating morning sickness with legumes - click here or on post title and click here for one mother's experiment with this - so far so good.)
If you have a suggestion or tip, please comment!
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