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Danielle Bean

Danielle Bean
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is Editorial Director of Faith & Family. She is author of My Cup of Tea: Musings of a Catholic Mom (Pauline 2005) and Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living (Pauline 2007). Though she once struggled to separate her life …
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Rachel Balducci

Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and together they are the parents of five lively boys. Besides being a mom, she is also a writer and a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has maintained her personal blog at Testosterhome.net where she …
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Lisa Hendey

Lisa Hendey
Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com, a Catholic web site focusing on the Catholic faith, Catholic parenting and family life, and Catholic cultural topics. Most recently she has authored The Handbook for Catholic Moms. Lisa is also employed as webmaster for her parish web sites. …
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Arwen Mosher

Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their young children Camilla and Blaise. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site is ABC Family. …
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Rebecca Teti

Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
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Robyn Lee

Robyn Lee
Robyn Lee is the managing editor of Faith & Family magazine. She is (yikes!) an almost 30 year-old, single lady, living in Connecticut with her two cousins in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law …
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Hallie Lord

Hallie Lord
Hallie Lord married her dashing husband, Dan, in the fall of 2001 (the same year, coincidentally, that she joyfully converted to the Catholic faith). They now happily reside in the deep South with their two energetic boys and two very sassy girls. In her *ample* spare time, Hallie enjoys cheap wine, …
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Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Fr John Bartunek, LC, STL, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and …
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Sara Fox Peterson

Sara Fox Peterson
Sara Fox Peterson is the wife of one wonderful man who was (finally!) baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church in 2008 and together they are the parents of four young children. She holds and B.S. in biology and an M.S. in human physiology, both from Georgetown University, and has been …
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Eating to Control Pregnancy Nausea

The trick is protein

You might notice up there under the menu bar that there’s a Food category on this site.  I was excited about that when I first saw it; since cooking is one of my favorite hobbies, I figured I’d have a lot to contribute there.  Then right before the site launched, I found out I was pregnant, and the nausea of the first trimester hit me hard.  Now… oh dear.  I can barely manage to get food on the table for my family, and I certainly don’t want to spend any extra time talking about it.

However, Darlamom asked about tips for keeping the nausea at bay during pregnancy.  I’ve suffered big-time from nausea right from the beginning of both my pregnancies.  It is my constant companion, reminding me minute-by-minute that having food taste good and stay in my stomach is a privilege, not a right. 

Bearing in mind that every woman is different, I do have a tip for nausea control.  It’s research-based (which means, um, that I got the idea from a friend whose husband is a doctor) and was developed through a lot of trial and error on my part. 

It’s simple: as long as I eat lots of small meals throughout the day, avoid high-sugar foods and drinks, and include protein every single time I eat, then I don’t get sick.  The trick is that every meal helps keep my blood sugar steady: doesn’t drive it up quickly, and doesn’t set it up to crash later.  I’m craving fruit constantly, but as long as I have peanut butter with my apple or milk with my blueberries, I’m fine.  Sometimes I have to force myself to prepare and eat things I don’t really want, and end up forcing down a fried egg on toast before I’ll let myself eat the juicy peach on the counter.  But it’s totally worth it because it keeps my nausea within reasonable limits, and my rate of lunch-losing episodes is much lower this time around.

I hope this’ll help Darlamom or any of the rest of you who might be dealing with first-trimester nausea, because it’s the best I can do on the topic of food right now!  I can’t wait until I’m in the second trimester and can start reading and writing about food without having to cower and clutch my stomach at the same time.


Comments

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Marilyn Shannon has a helpful book published by Couple to Couple League, Managing Morning Sickness that explains the whole blood sugar /nausea connection.  You are so correct about this.

 

Protein and many other remedies can help ease the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Be aware though that severe nausea and vomiting is hyperemesis gravidarum, known as HG.

“Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is a severe form of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. It is generally described as unrelenting, excessive pregnancy-related nausea and/or vomiting that prevents adequate intake of food and fluids. If severe and/or inadequately treated, it is typically associated with:

loss of greater than 5% of pre-pregnancy body weight (usually over 10%)
dehydration and production of ketones
nutritional deficiencies
metabolic imbalances
difficulty with daily activities
HG usually extends beyond the first trimester and may resolve by 21 weeks; however, it can last the entire pregnancy in less than half of these women. Complications of vomiting (e.g. gastric ulcers, esophageal bleeding, malnutrition, etc.) may also contribute to and worsen ongoing nausea.”

Just a little FYI from an HG survivor. So many women are told that it is their fault that the home remedies don’t work for them or it is all in their head or they aren’t tough enough or don’t really want their babies.
It is a disease and a disease that can be treated.

http://www.hyperemesis.org

God Bless.

 

Arwen,

You’re absolutely correct about eating protein with every meal or snack during the first trimester. I found that this was the only way I could keep food down and continue eating throughout the day during my (ahem) 15 weeks of nausea and vomitting for this, my current pregnancy.

My doctor also told me to eat a little protein right before bedtime to help ease my stomach into morningtime. I found that keeping saltine crackers by my bed never helped me at all, but if I ate some yogurt or string cheese w/crackers before I fell asleep, then I was better off in the morning.

Thanks for your post. I pray that your morning sickness doesn’t last too long!

 

I’ve suffered through more pregnancy nausea than I care to remember and you are absolutely onto something with the protein, Arwen. Last pregnancy, my husband was my hero because he grilled me a steak every single night during that first trimester. Not so good on the grocery budget, but awfully good on my poor stomach. The only thing I would keep down most days.

 

Arwen speaks truth!

I was leveled by the nausea with my third.  A friend told me to think of protein in terms of a through-the-mouth I.V.:  small, constant amounts of the protein/carb balance to keep my blood sugar from spiking.  100% better.

With respect to HG, it’s no figment of the imagination, character flaw or weakness of the part of the mother.  My cousin was so sick with her second baby that she was in the hospital on the verge of organ failure (she was determined to carry the baby, praise God) when her feeding tube finally started to turn the tide.  What a frightmare.  God love those of you precious mothers who have endured this trial for your children.

 

I also survived HG, Karen, and thank you for the explanation of the disease.

It’s a whole different ball game when drinking a sip of water makes you vomit bile and blood. Ugh.

That being said, it’s nice to know protein can help with normal morning sickness.

 

During the first and second trimester I had a lot of morning sickness and I tried any suggestion I could get. I did read the Couple to Couple League book and tried what they wrote, but it didn’t work. The only thing that landed out working were cups of hot ginger tea and ginger candy. I would drink the tea morning and night and eat the candy whenever I started feeling ill…it worked liked a charm.

 

I always took comfort in the following, I hope it helps!  Morning sickness helps pregnant women from ingesting teratogens (substances which can be harmful to the baby).  Women are most morning sick to those foods highest in teratogens, and least morning sick to those foods low in teratogens.  It’s not like these are super dangerous, just that while full grown humans can eat them without any trouble, things like plant toxins or BBQed meat aren’t things you want a baby ingesting large amounts of.  Also, morning sickness peaks during the first trimester, during the time the baby is most vulnerable, given the formation of the major organ systems.  Last, morning sickness is unpleasant, but it is a sign of a healthy pregnancy - it is your body doing what it should be doing.  I know it’s no fun - but it’s not actually a bad sign!

 

Another thing that can help is citrus. Not eating it, but smelling it. A fresh lemon, lemon juice, an orange, whatever…. I learned this tip from the nurses in Maternity when I went for my umpteenth bag of fluids and Zofran drip because I was so sick. It didn’t work for me everytime, but then again, I had HG my entire pregnancy, and lost 18 pounds in the first trimester this last time (and I am of a low-regular body weight to begin with). I vomited at least once every day for each of my pregnancies, usually multiple times…. and have to say, that it wasn’t only the thought of the babe that made me look forward to delivery, but that an end to the sickness would come. lol Morning sickness bites! I hope you feel better soon!

 

Interesting to read your tips.  There are suggestions that morning sickness could be an evolutionary function designed to stop foods being consumed that might hard the pregnancy.  I guess it makes sense, though I wish nature wasn’t always so cruel!

 

All, these are great tips, especially the one regarding eating proteins. I am 13 weeks along, and my nausea has gotten worse from it originally was. I have tried all home remedies, but to no avail. I will surely try to get more proteins into every meal and see if that works. Good luck to all of you dealing with morning sickness, or must I say, all-day-sickness!

 

I tried to start out the day by eating saltine crackers or dry toast. sprite or ginger ale also helps. i did have to ask my ob about this and he told me to take dramamine to help to prevent this. when you take this about an hour and a half before you eat it works miracles. also having peppermint candies in my purse helped too. my nausea lasted until about 16 weeks.fertility

 

When trying to control nausea: Drink clear or ice-cold drinks. Eat light ... can be used to control vomiting associated with pregnancy, motion sickness, ... Thanks…..good post

 

I think you can also use pure resveratrol ultra. However, I suggest that you consult your doctor first. Never ever drink any medicine, supplement or other pill before your doctor nod to it.

 

I’ve suffered through more pregnancy nausea than I care to remember and you are absolutely onto something with the protein, Arwen. Last pregnancy, my husband was my hero because he grilled me a steak every single night during that first trimester. Not so good on the grocery budget, but awfully good on my poor stomach. The only thing I would keep down most days.


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