Natural methods to help you cope with morning sickness
According to the NHS, morning sickness effects around 8 in 10 woman, with either nausea, vomiting or both hitting them. Coping with morning sickness can be tough, but remember this is your body responding to the hormones and changes of pregnancy. The first thing to note, is that you can suffer morning sickness at any time of the day or night, and although it is hard when you’re going through it, it generally gets better by weeks 12-16. Now is a great time to start to tune into your body and its needs, which will be so helpful as your pregnancy progresses and the time comes to birth your baby.
Although there is nothing you can do to get rid of morning sickness, there are some ways to help. I’ve mentioned my favourite natural remedies below, so if you’re early in your pregnancy and finding it a bit tough, try giving 1 or more a go and see if they help make you more comfortable.
my top tips for coping with morning sickness
- Prioritise rest. This is harder if you already have children, or have a demanding job, but now really is the time to prioritise getting rest whenever you can. Catch a cat nap, have a lie down and do some relaxation, get to bed really early.
- Ginger. You will of likely heard of using ginger as a way of coping with morning sickness before, and it really can help. You can try nibbling on ginger biscuits or having it as a tea, or even get some candied ginger to have easily accessible.
- Eating little and often. Not letting your stomach get too empty, as nausea often feels worse on an empty stomach, by eating small, frequent meals. This will also be helpful if you are struggling to eat full meals. Also snacking on plain foods such as crackers and plain biscuits can help.
- Calm breathing. The Calm breathing method that I teach on my hypnobirthing courses will really help you with coping with morning sickness. A few rounds of calm breathing, where you breath in through the nose slowly for around 4, and out through the mouth for around 7, helps to calm the nervous system and relax the mind and body.
- Travel bands. Travel bands work by using accupressure points on your wrists. You can pick these up easily from boots of amazon.
- Lemon. I’ve had a few mums tell me that smelling or even nibbling on lemon has helped them with nausea. You can freeze them or have some cut up ready to go in the fridge.
- Positive affirmations. Affirmations are such a powerful tool, and we discuss them a lot on my hypnobirthing courses. They can sound a bit hippy, but really they are just a positive statement, and repeating that positive statement can really change how we experience certain things. Next time you are feeling ropey, repeat the following affirmations, “My body is doing amazing things, I can do hard things, This too shall pass” along with some calm breathing and see how it helps.
Of course sadly there is no way to guarantee that any of these suggestions will help you when coping with morning sickness, but they are certainly worth a try. Please note that here I am talking about normal morning sickness. Some woman do experience very severe morning sickness, called hyperemesis gravidarum, in which you will need specialist medical care.
If you are suffering with morning sickness early in your pregnancy, I really feel for you, I had it with all 3 of my boys and it was a tough ride. But it does get better, and I hope some of these tips help.
If you are looking for ways to support yourself on your pregnancy journey, and preparing for a positive birth, please join us on one of my hypnobirthing courses, where you’ll learn tools, techniques and knowledge to help make your pregnancy and birth better!
Did you suffer with morning sickness? What helped you? Share in the comments to help other Mums to be out!