Relieving pregnancy nausea

[Cockadoodledude]

Hi there, first time poster here.

My wife and I found out she is pregnant with our first a few weeks, and since then I discovered this forum and have found it very helpful.

We are now 7 weeks along and my wife has felt quite nauseous the past 2 weeks, with a reduced appetite and energy levels.

I was wondering what top tips anyone has to help me relieve some of her pain and lift her spirits?

So far I've had moderate success with cooking nice meals (appetite has been hit&miss), light massages (dependent on how achy she is), regular compliments and forfeiting tv rights (been watching a lot of xfactor/chick flicks).

I understand different women will have different triggers/irritations, but do aromatherapy oils/scented candles help? Anything that I absolutely should be doing but aren't?

Thanks in advance.

[NaturalMama86]

Hi cockadoodledude!

Wicked name by the way, and good on you for being so pro active and searching ways to support your partner!

Some of the things I've found helpful, and the women I mentor have found helpful in getting rid/easing morning sickness have been;

-ginger tea (just fresh ginger sliced and put into warm-hot water)
-peppermint tea
-fennel seeds (either in water as tea, or chewing on them)
-plain or ginger biscuits
-cutting out caffeine
-gentle belly rubs with coconut oil and a couple drops of peppermint oil, also rubbing same mix between thumb and forefinger, and gently downwards from neck to shoulders.
-holding tissue over my nose! weirdly this really worked!
-eating little and often
-also increasing foods high in iron and b vitamins

The reduced appetite is quite common. A good approach to this is to make a small thinking switch, when not really feeling hungry but should eat something, mentally say I'm eating this to help my baby grow healthy and strong.. .even if all your wife can manage is a small handful of almonds (great energy boosters and safe during pregnancy), grapes, apricot, apple, energy bar or other small but energy boosting snack.

As she's still quite early in pregnancy theres quite a few aromatherapy oils and scents you need to be careful of... amazon has a great load of books on aromatherapy and it's uses during pregnancy if you're interested in looking into that.

Also, a book which I'm constantly recommending, and helped me during my 4 pregnancies is the gentle birthing method by Dr Gowri Motha . It's got some great tips and recommendations plus a nice week by week guide. There is some super hippy stuff in there too (some of which was even too much for me to adopt, even as hippy/alternative as I am!) But, on the whole, it was the best resource I have found hands down.

Anyways, hopefully thats enough food for thought for you now! And good luck to you and your wife in this special time.

[Cockadoodledude]

Wow that's quite a comprehensive list NaturalMama86...thank you!

The ginger tea and reducing caffeine is something we've recently tried and starting to see benefits from.

Also thank you for the reading recommendations. I'm definitely keen to do as much reading as possible before the baby arrives. I'd put my baby knowledge pretty low on a 0-10 scale, so treating myself like a sponge and keen to absorb as much knowledge from experienced parents as possible. :-)

[chanel223]

Get out of bed slowly in the morning. Try eating plain crackers or dry cereal before you get out of bed in the morning. Drink No to morning sickness tea. These things helped me a lot.

[SpecialStains]

I had hg and sadly crackers/ginger etc were not helpful for me, but coca-cola (the full sugar kind), ice pops, coco pops, fizzy water, grapes, melon, and beige carbs like crumpets, bagels, toast, mashed or baked potato etc worked best.

Really don't worry too much about appetite. Babies are parasites and take what they need from Mum, and for most this stage passes by 12 weeks. My husband was fab at offering me multivitamins each morning (though often too vomity to take them), not cooking foods when my nausea was bad (poor man had a quiche on Christmas Day, because all cooking smells set me off) and was great at doing all food prep and leaving me food so I didn't have to deal with the fridge/kitchen (would both make me vomit).

My ds is now 1 month and I'm amazed at what can be grown on a diet of coco pops and fizzy water! (Disclaimer: I'm normally a v. Healthy vegetarian, but pregnancy sickness isn't something you can control, just go with whatever your wife fancies eating).