Anything to Alleviate Morning Sickness?
QUESTION
Dear Midwife,
One of the ladies that I work with has extremely severe "morning" sickness all day long. Is there anything that she can do alleviate that? I am concerned because she has already lost about 5 pounds in the last week from getting sick. Thank you.
ANSWER
Sorry to hear she is so sick. Severe morning sickness resulting in dehydration will require a more aggressive treatment, but typical morning sickness (nausea and/or occasional vomiting) often is helped by some simple techniques. The things I suggest for m/s include:
- Drinking buckets of water
- Vitamin B6 (either 100 mg tablets every day, or injections every two weeks)
- Anything with ginger (ginger snaps, ginger ale, fresh ginger)
- Putting food in your stomach every two hours (whatever will stay put)
- Keeping saltines next to your bed and eating them when you are up in the night and before you get out of bed in the morning
- Anti-seasickness wrist bands
- Yoga or other relaxation techniques
- Plenty of exercise.
If none of those work, there are medications. If she is *really* sick and is not an "uptight" person, you might ask her if there are any twins in her family or her husband's!
-- Cynthia, CNM
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Cynthia Flynn
Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, teaches in the College of Nursing at Seattle University and is President of the American Association of Birth Centers. She also practices midwifery at Valley Medical Center where she cares for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.
Cynthia hosts a monthly "Ask the midwife" chat as well as answers questions via our expert section.
Listen to Cynthia live on Pregnancy.org Live: Before, During and After.
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