How much should I be eating?

[isthismummy]

I'm currently 7+4 with twins. I had an early scan last Friday and two heartbeats were seen.

I'm suffering really bad morning sickness (had to have meds off GP) I'm exhausted, feel like I have mild flu and generally feel awful.

I'm really unsure of how much I should be eating at this early stage and would really appreciate any advice please. I've been gripped by the most incredible hunger, but also feel really sick. Therefore I can't stomach a lot of foods and what I can cope with changes from day to day. I'll admit that I'm generally quite restrictive with food and until last week I hadn't even eaten lunch in years! Today I had...

Breakfast: slice of whole meal toast with tinned spaghetti

Lunch: Jacket potato with cheese and side salad

Snack: wholemeal pitta bread and hummus

Dinner: more toast and tinned spaghetti (I couldn't stomach anything else)

Is that OK given I'm struggling so badly with morning sickness? Or is it too much/little? I'm also a vegetarian, so struggling a bit with my protein.

Any opinions gratefully received

[halfwitpicker]

I have no idea with regards to multiple births but with a single baby I was eating way more than that. I was permanently hungry.

[isthismummy]

Were you halfwitpicker? I think the trouble is I have quite a skewed attitude towards food. In my mind that's loads. If I'd eaten that much in a day before pregnancy I would have thought I'd been really greedy!

Going to have to adjust my thinking by the looks of it...

Thanks for your reply

[Buglife]

isthismummy congratulations! And commiserations, morning sickness can be terrible. First, do not worry about how much you eat as long as you are eating something and not bringing it all up. Keep hydrated. You don’t need to eat loads at all, the babies are taking everything you’ve got nutrition wise which is partly why you feel so crap! They will get what they need from vey little. Many women lose weight in the first trimester (I did both times) and it does not impact the babies growth/development at all. When you are that sick you cannot eat. Simple. No amount of trying will make you able to force food down if you have an aversion to foods and are very nauseous/vomiting. The main thing you need to care of in this trimester is YOURSELF. The babies are going to get on with their growth anyway, you need to eat what you can manage, rest a lot and if you feel the sickness is too much speak to your GP about Anti sickness meds you can have in pregnancy. Very common to go off meat and veg and strong tastes. I’ve read many sickness threads in my two first trimesters and mainly people seem able to manage carbs and more carbs, and salty crunchy things like crisps! I basically grew my first DS on salt and vinegar crisps and this DC (I’m 19 weeks) on cheap packet noodles. In normal non pregnant life I cook fresh meals from scratch and love strong tastes. In my pregnancy life I am all about basic foods! Have a look and post on the Hypermesis thread on pregnancy because it is so helpful if you are sick. Hope it passes soon!

[Waterdropsdown]

Congratulations
I would defo not worry about how much you are eating. I ate so much when pregnant with twins, and I was sick most days between 5-8am and sometimes in the evening. Eating was the only thing that made me less sick - I’d get up in the night and eat a bowl of Rice Krispies. I put on about 6or7 kilos by 12 weeks but didn’t care. By the end I gained 30 kilos but again didn’t care. 15 months on I’m about 4 kilos over what I was before but I’m pretty sure my arm muscles count for some of that I never went on a diet post pregnancy. Just go with the flo eat what you want when you want.

[Worried67202]

Hello, congratulations!

I’m about 13 weeks with twins too 😊. I have hyperemesis and have so far lost 2 stonebsince falling pregnant, I’ve recently changed anti sickness tablets after a stint in hospital and they’re really helping however I still have no appetite. I just wanted to reassure you that until about 11 weeks I barely kept a single thing down and babies have been measuring perfectly and growing exactly as they should. My consultant just told me to eat whatever I could stomach at this stage (whether that is healthy or not) and make sure I’m taking vitamin supplements. The babies are still very very small at 7/8 weeks and will be pulling everything they need from you, it’ll be you that suffers (not ideal either) but babies will be absolutely fine.

Hope you feel better soon

[isthismummy]

Thank you for the replies everyone🙂

Things have unfortunately gotten worse since I posted. I've been off work all week as the nausea/sickness is that bad. I can barely get out of bed and I'm throwing up from 5pm at night like clockwork. I feel quite pathetic to be honest, but I can barely function.

I've been living off whole grain toast, crumpets, rusks and the occasional boiled egg. I've discovered that bland food isn't so vile when it comes back up (not envy)

I've lost three pounds since week 6 (week 9 tomorrow) and gone down to 8,2. I have my booking appointment on Friday, so I will speak to midwife and see what she says.

[MerryMarigold]

congrats. I had twins too and it was hard to about week 12. I was going to say lots and lots of egg. Anything you can stomach or crave. I craved a lot of pineapple. Later I found out it does have something important in it, I forget what. Definitely eat plenty when you're feeling better and particularly protein/ iron.

[Buglife]

Oh dear mummy, it can be awful. That sounds an awful lot like I was at first. Bland carbs were all I could think of without nausea and as you say they have the benefit of being pretty inoffensive to bring up. First off take the sickness leave you need to take, regardless of how your work act. You know you can’t really function feeling that ill. Definitely see what other drugs you can take. I didn’t in my first pregnancy as I was cowed by all the people telling me “everyone feels sick at first” “ooh I wouldn’t take drugs when pregnant” but honestly they are safe and you don’t have to feel like hell just because you’re pregnant. So I took cyclazine this time which made me less sick but didn’t take away all the nausea. Drink lots of water and if you can get some Fybogel or similar as it’s easy to get constipated if you stop eating fibre foods and throw up a lot of liquids. That doesn’t help on top of it all.

There’s nothing harmful to the baby if you lose weight. It’s inevitable with the sickness.

It’s a hard time and you are allowed to dislike it! I think sometimes women are expected to get through sickness and not complain because your PREGNANT aren’t you, but no one else would go through weeks of feeling like that and not take any bloody time off or try to alleviate it!

[Whitelisbon]

I threw up almost everything I ate from 6 weeks until I had my c section at 37 weeks when I was pregnant with twins.
I decided early on that I'd eat what I fancied, seeing as most of it came back up again.
They were grown almost exclusively on salt and vinegar crisps, galaxy chocolate, and greggs jam donuts. None of which I can stomach anymore. The only thing I could drink was Apple and blackcurrant oasis, which I bought in bulk!
They were over 13lb between them when born, and are now very healthy 4 year olds currently doing gymnastics on the sofa
Eat what you fancy, when you fancy it, they'll take what they need anyway.
Good luck.

[Wuffleflump]

Higher weight gain in pregnancy is strongly correlated with later and larger multiple babies, and the main concern with twins is prematurity.

It is important to eat, so work out what you can stomach. It's better to get the calories with what you like / can stomach than eat too little.

That said, you have plenty of time left to gain weight. Hopefully the sickness will stop at some point, and then you can eat more.

www.reuters.com/article/us-twin-pregnancy/study-questions-twin-pregnancy-weight-gain-limits-idUSTRE7A04NQ20111101

americanpregnancy.org/multiples/weight-gain-with-multiples/

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK235233/

[Egg]

I went from around 8 stone to just under 10 stone with my twin pregnancy (they were born at 37 weeks). I don’t remember really eating much more than normal and I was also lucky I wasn’t sick, although did feel nauseous for about the first half. I think previous posters are right that, if you’re that sick, just eat whatever you can manage right now and don’t worry too much about the nutritional content. Good luck!

[Egg]

Oh also with both my pregnancies I lost weight in the first 12 weeks before starting to gain.

[MySockIsWetAgain]

I believed in "eat what you feel like eating". Now is not the time to restrict calories. However, if you feel sick eat what you can. For me it was ginger beer and crackers until week 12, and then I suddenly couldn't stop thinking of bacon sandwiches.

[villainousbroodmare]

Take iron. Lots of it. I'm 30w with twins and wretchedly anaemic despite taking a lot of iron since bloods done around 10w. Now looking at iv iron drip next week. Anaemia has ruined this pregnancy for me.

[isthismummy]

Thank you for all the replies and advice everyone

vilainous that sounds awful. I'm so sorry I'm not anemic luckily. I had my bloods tested in a&e yesterday following a 17 times in one day vomiting session. Hooked up to an IV drip in the waiting room. Such fun.

I'm 12 weeks now and no bigger than at 7 weeks. I also weight exactly the same. I can't help worrying. I'm naturally quite petite (5,4 inches and 8,2lbs, so I don't know where these babies are hiding.

Food of the week is rusks and milk. I'm clearly regressing back to infanthood myself

[isthismummy]

MySock at the bacon sandwiches. I'm vegetarian, but theres days where I could have happily eaten a still breathing animal if I'd let myself.

[juneavrile]

My sickness passed early in the second trimester. But my appetite really changed to carbs and bland foods for the duration. I was concerned about growing the babies - getting them to a decent size in case they were very prem. I'm not sure how much research has gone into this, but it just seemed to make sense to me. I drank a lot of milk. And really enjoyed it with cake or biscuits. Maybe for the first time in my adult life, I just went with my appetite.

I don't think I started to gain weight til about week 25, put on 2 stone by 38 weeks when they arrived. I had about 5lb to lose a few months after they were born (did not diet). They were a respectable 5 1/2 lbs a piece.

Hope you're feeling a bit better op. Be easy on yourself.

[isthismummy]

Thankyou @Juneavrile. I'm glad to hear your two made it to a decent weight. Hopefully the milk made all the difference

Appetite still rubbish at 14+4. Nothing appeals whatsoever. Went for pub meal a few days ago, had veggie burger and sweet potato fries and threw it all back up three hours later. I'm living on rusks, milk, grapes, yoghurt, biscuits and the odd plate of spaghetti on toast when I can stomach it.

Had a scan last week though and twins are measuring fine even though I've gained no weight at all so far. I miss eating. Having no appetite is rubbish

[juneavrile]

What you're living on is fine. The babies will be getting plenty of goodness from those foods and they do cover protein, carbs and fat. If any help at all, oat cakes / biscuits are more nutritious than plain wheat flour. Organic milk is significantly more nutritious than non-organic and whole would be better than semi skim. Breakfast cereal can be a good option because it's bland and fortified with vitamins and minerals.
Are you taking a supplement? I did for a while and then discovered that it was making me feel sick.