In early pregnancy it is common to be hungry and yet feel your stomach turn at the smell of food, with nausea carrying on all day. When it becomes severe, the burden is heavy enough to unsettle daily life as a whole.
Morning sickness is sometimes read as a sign that the baby is growing well, but when the symptoms go too far they can affect the mother's strength and nutrition. It helps to know how to adjust the way you eat and drink, and how to check yourself for dehydration.
If smells have become overwhelming, how should meals change?
Eating small amounts every 2 to 3 hours instead of three meals a day helps during the worst period, because nausea worsens when the stomach empties completely. Keeping dry carbohydrates such as crackers or biscuits by the bed and chewing them slowly just before getting up is an effective way to help prevent nausea caused by an empty stomach.
Oily or strongly scented food easily triggers nausea in early pregnancy, when the sense of smell is heightened, so meals built around cool, bland, protein-rich foods works better than hot soup. Sour foods such as lemon or plum help settle nausea by regulating saliva.
- Small and frequent — instead of three meals a day, eat a little every 2 to 3 hours to reduce nausea from an empty stomach
- Dry carbohydrates against an empty stomach — keep crackers or biscuits by the bed and chew them slowly just before rising
- Choose low — fat, low-odour protein — cool, plain food rather than hot dishes reduces the stimulus to the sense of smell
How do I tell morning sickness I can ride out from the kind that needs care?
When the body runs short of fluid, morning sickness tends to worsen in a vicious circle, so enduring it is not always the answer. If your urine is a dark brown and you are passing it 3 times a day or less, that should be read as a signal that dehydration is under way.
If drinking a lot at once is difficult, letting ice melt slowly in your mouth or sipping an electrolyte drink in small amounts, while monitoring whether you can keep the fluids down, can help. If your weight has fallen 5% or more below your pre-pregnancy weight in a short period, the situation may go beyond ordinary morning sickness, so weight should be checked regularly.
- Check dehydration by urine colour — dark brown urine passed 3 times a day or less can mean dehydration is under way
- Watch how fluid is absorbed — let ice melt in your mouth or sip an electrolyte drink and see whether the body takes it in
- Track weight loss — a fall of 5% or more below your pre-pregnancy weight should raise the question of poor nutrition
Do I have to give up caffeine completely during morning sickness?
In early pregnancy the placenta is not yet fully developed, so caffeine can affect the baby directly, and a foetus cannot break caffeine down and clear it as an adult can, so it stays in the body far longer. Material from the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology also explains that the vasoconstriction and diuretic effect of caffeine can reduce blood flow to the uterus and lower the oxygen supply.
There is no evidence that caffeine intake itself directly causes birth defects, so there is no need for undue anxiety. Keeping to 200mg a day or less, roughly a single cup of coffee, and shifting toward decaffeinated drinks is the realistic approach. Green tea and black tea contain caffeine too, so the total intake has to be counted.