Morning sickness cruelly strikes us when we are supposed to be glowing and feel incredible because we’re growing a baby.
Instead many of us are crippled by constant nausea and spend hours vomiting and dry retching at the smell of anything and anything.
Morning sickness, or all-day sickness as is often the case, is the pits, and unless you’ve had it yourself it’s hard to understand just how debilitating it can be.
But alas we can’t stay in bed all day or hide away from the world for nine months (sadly) because we have jobs, often other children to take care of and a whole lot of living to do!
Try these 7 tips to help ease your morning sickness:
1. Keep crackers close by
Leaping out of bed on an empty stomach during the height of morning sickness is not wise. Before you even get out of bed make sure you’ve got something carb-like in your stomach, keep a little container of dry crackers beside your bed. Take a stash for your handbag also; empty tummies seem to make morning sickness worse.
2. Go ginger go!
If you’re not able to stomach raw ginger then try it crystallised or buy some ginger chews from supermarket, there is even ginger sauce and ginger, lemon and lime marmalade. While fresh is always best it’s not always possible, especially if the smell of it makes your stomach curl. There are supplements available at the chemist that can help, if taken regularly.
3. Flat fizzy drinks
Now this might not work for everyone but back in the day many parents used to give their children flat carbonated drinks such as ginger ale because it helped to settle a sick tummy. Worth a shot right?
Tip: Why not combine flat fizzy drink AND ginger by drinking flat ginger beer, non-alcoholic of course!
4. Acupressure wrist bands or bracelets
For more than 2000 years acupressure has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to promote relaxation and wellness and to treat diseases. It makes sense there’s now special products that target pressure points in order to relieve feelings of nausea. Again, when you’re feeling sick from dawn until dusk why wouldn’t you try everything on the market?
5. Take your mind off it
Sure it’s probably easier said than done, but try to keep your mind amused or distracted with other things. Concentrating on a difficult project, having a massage or keeping yourself busy in the garden might help stop your mind from giving in to your body’s urge to vomit. Or not.
Hint: If you can take a day off then just do it, running yourself in to the ground to prove you can do it all isn’t worth it.
6. Poke your tongue out
It sounds really odd we know, but apparently when you pull your own tongue out of your mouth it’s actually supposed to stop the act of vomiting. A tad icky sure, but it could make for a fun and amusing game if you’ve got little ones to entertain!
7. Seek professional health
There’s no point in suffering unnecessarily, if you can’t seem to function at a reasonable level due to debilitating morning sickness then seek professional health. Speak to your GP or an alternative medicine practitioner such as a naturopath, herbalist or someone who specialises in acupuncture. There’s no medal for bravery when you’ve got morning sickness.
Love the Healthy Mummy Team xx
