42. Natural Remedies for Nausea During Early Pregnancy

Are you wondering how to stop your pregnancy nausea or at least make it more tolerable?

The first trimester can feel like forever when it’s a constant battle between nausea and food eversions, so let’s talk about it!

In this episode, we’ll dive into:

• What causes nausea in pregnancy and how long will it last…
• Is it bad if I don’t feel nauseous? Is my baby okay…
• Tips and ticks to prevent nauesa from starting in the first place…
• Natural remedies to deal with nausea if it does begin…
• When should I seek help for severe morning sickness…
• … and so much more!

Every pregnancy is unique and you don’t know how you’ll feel. Being prepared and having these options available to try if nausea does suddenly come up I hope helps you enjoy your first trimester as much as possible!

>> Save Your Seat in the Virtual Pregnancy Support Group starting February 21st<<  

Product References

Promix Collagen Peptides

Pure Encapsulation

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👋 WHO AM I?

Welcome, friends! I am Beth, a certified nurse midwife, doula, and childbirth educator. My philosophy is rooted in autonomy, informed decision making, and positive mindset to help expecting parents plan for a beautiful, stress-free hospital birth. I am here to provide value to YOU through tips and practical advice, either to guide you through pregnancy or to help you prepare for childbirth, postpartum and beyond. There’s no fluff here - only info that adds to your positive experience and saves you stress and uncertainty.

Transcript

Hello and welcome back to Your Birth Bestie podcast. Today I will be sharing my best tips for dealing with and preventing nausea and vomitting in the first trimester. Some women are lucky to not experience this at all, but for the majority of us, it’s our reality at some point and comes in a wide range of severity. So whether your nausea comes and goes and is pretty mild all the way on the other end of things when moms have severe morning sickness of hyperemesis gravidarum, I hope you find relief soon and that this episode can give you some ideas or things to talk with your provider about if needed.

And then if you are feeling really crummy and maybe you’re only 5 or 6 weeks pregnant and don’t have an appointment scheduled for several more weeks with your provider, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the clinic and get some help. Many moms don’t feel supported before that first visit which I talked about in the last episode, but I just want you to know there are options out there so you can manage this and feel better soon.

Let’s first get started by talking about what causes pregnancy nausea and how long does is last. The two things happening here are the increase of hCG or human chorionic gonadotropin, which is the hormone that you are testing for when you take an at-home pregnancy test. And that hormone continues to rise, actually doubles every three days or so for the first 8 to 10 weeks. So, I usually tell moms that peak pregnancy nausea is usually around 9 weeks and then will hopefully start to taper off. 

The second thing is changing hormones including estrogen and progesterone which can lead to nausea. The hormone changes can affect the digestive system and also the brain’s response to certain stimuli, to food eversions, and overall the sensation of nausea.

So from 4-5 weeks if you’re someone that gets morning sickness early to 10 weeks or even more in some cases around 12-14 weeks or even longer, it can feel like forever. It’s hard to predict how your body will respond to the pregnancy changes, but that’s why I think it’s important to have several ideas of what you’ll do if things start taking a turn and you’re not feeling so well. Because of course we still have other responsibilities like work or kids to care for, or both, so it can be challenging to navigate that first trimester. Usually nausea does go away, so hang in there! 

And then for the moms out there who don’t have any symptoms of nausea or food eversions at all, which seems super nice right, I have actually seen these moms struggle as well because they feel in order to have a healthy pregnancy, they need to be sick because that indicated their hCG levels are rising and everything is good. So you can see how this could cause worry if a mom is feeling totally fine.

But I do want to reassure you if you can relate, that you don’t have to feel awful and nauseous all the time to have a healthy pregnancy and baby. Some women are just not sensitive to those hormonal changes and my advice would be to try to enjoy the days you aren’t feeling sick! Because honestly at any point it could pop up or it can come and go and focusing on something being wrong without anything else to support that should be avoided. It’s easy to worry when your experience isn’t like your best friend or you sister or others are commenting on what is going on and comparing… None of that is helpful, so just a reminder that every pregnancy is unique and there is no universal way every  mom should be feeling.

So now for ideas on how to prevent nausea. And really the goal here is to stabilize hormones and support your overall well-being. The first things I want to mention is stabilizing blood sugar levels by eating balanced meals and snacks including a combination of protein and carbs. For me and many women I know this is true in pregnancy, but carbs are easy right! I could eat all the pasta, crackers, breads all day, it’s the protein part I definitely struggle with. And what I’ve found this pregnancy to help has been putting unflavored collagen or an organic protein powder mix into smoothies. The brand I recently found is Promix and they have great unflavored collagen. 

Also, eating small, frequent meals throughout the day helps prevent an empty stomach, which can trigger nausea as well as the dip in blood sugar. So small, frequent meals. This is also hard too when you don’t feel like eating, but if you can just little bites of something can be helpful. We have to do the best we can, so if this isn’t possible that’s okay too, I know it’s a hard time.

Magnesium-rich foods like nuts, seeds, whole grains, and wheat or supplements can help with nausea and the digestive system. I’ve mentioned this brand before, but I take Pure Encapsulation supplements and those have been great for me, so something to consider if you’re looking for supplements. Taking your prenatal vitamins at night can also help at avoiding nausea.

The last thing I wanted to mention too is movement. We all know how good exercise is for us, but it’s one of the things that went out the window for me when I started feeling nauseous and fatigued in my first trimester. So if you can relate, please know you’re not alone and you’ll get back into it eventually, but doing a few minutes of stretching or a 10 min walk a few times per day or literally moving your body in any way for any amount of time that you can tolerate, has the potential to impact your body and mind and help you feel better even though it’s the last thing you might want to do. Listen to your body, and do the best you can, it’s really all you can do and that is okay!

These proactive measures can help to minimize hormonal fluctuations and provide nutritional support, hopefully helping you have a more comfortable first trimester.

And then despite your efforts to try and prevent nausea, let’s talk about ways to treat it. Everyone has their own opinions and things that work for them, so I will name several that seem to work for many women and you can choose which you’d like to try.

So many moms love Preggie pops that you can buy at Target or Amazon, there’s ginger or peppermint lozenges or tea that can help, ginger ale or sprite, mint or sour candy like sour patch kids. Drinking water with lemon in it can be helpful and refreshing, chewing gum as well. There are also anti-nausea bands for people that get sea sick and they are called Sea bands that use acupressure points. I personally think they work great, so definitely worth a try in my opinion. And then if these don’t work, you can also talk to your provider about medication options. The first line that is usually offered is something called Diclegis which is actually a super expensive medication that I’m not sure insurance covers fully, but it’s a combination of two other pills called Unisom, a sleep aid, and vitamin b6. And this is a very inexpensive option that is the same as Diclegis and can be effective. One downfall is the Unisom can make you feel sleepy and not everyone loves taking it. So something to try and know that is out there. If this doesn’t work, there are other medications too that can be prescribed. Sometimes it does take time to find a regimen that works for you and it might even have to be tweaked as pregnancy progresses, so communicating with your provider is really important here.

And then if things are just not going well, you’re vomiting all day long, can’t keep any food or drink down, losing weight, you’re dehydrated and fatigued, this is not normal. This could be severe morning sickness or something called hyperemesis gravidarum that needs a more intensive regimen of medications and support, sometimes hospitalization for IV hydration. Some women will fight through some really awful symptoms, but knowing there is a chance you could have this condition I think is important and making sure you’re seeking care when it’s necessary is important to know. Of course I hope this doesn’t happen for you, because nobody wants to have to go through this and struggle day to day, but finding support groups to handle the mental aspect of this condition can be helpful too. Pregnancy can be such an exciting time, but it can absolutely be a challenging journey too, especially this first trimester. Finding ways to cope and like I said before “survive” the challenges in whatever way works for you I think is what we are all aiming for in the first 12 weeks.

Thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope your pregnancy nausea symptoms are mild and if they are not, I hope you find the resources and support you need. As you progress throughout your pregnancy, I would also love to invite you to my virtual pregnancy support group starting early in 2024. It will be a 12 week program where we meet on Zoom for an hour, once per week and talk through prengancy, birth, and postpartum prep, as well as newborn care. They’ll be lots of other bonuses too including access to my online birth course, 24/7 community support, and evidenced based resources to help you make informed decisions during pregnancy and birth. If you’re interested please fill out the form in the show notes or DM me the word ‘GROUP’ on Instagram and you’ll be the first to get all the details!

I am so excited to meet many of you soon and will see you back here next Tuesday. Bye everyone!