Nausea question - any advice?

[Cosmogirl]

Hi ladies,

I am fifteen weeks today and still feel nauseous, though the vomiting seems to have slowed a lot recently [am having the odd no-vomit day now] and I feel better 'in my head'...if that makes sense. More active and less low in mood.

I am just curious to hear when people stopped feeling nauseous in their pregnancies. My diet is extremely odd because of the nausea and still not able to stomach many hot meals. Oddly pain au chocolat seem to work wonders and so far have stayed down whenever I've eaten them. Surely I can't continue to live off pain au chocolat for the next 6 months though?! Just feeling a little down I guess because I thought by 15 weeks the nausea might have bogged off and I could resume a normal diet again.....

Positive stories would be much appreciated. But, if you did have nausea the whole 9 months, how the hell did you cope and what did you eat to get through it?!

[pollyblue]

I felt really really sick until 14 weeks and was starting to think it would never stop but it did, almost overnight.

The only things I could stomach were jacket potatoes, cornflakes, ryvita and any fruit sweets like fruit pastilles or opal fruits. I got quite anxious because we're always being told how important good nutrition is in pregnancy but even the smell of a 'good' hot meal would have me heaving.

It is miserable isn't it? Glad you're starting to feel better now!

[Cosmogirl]

Thanks Polly. I do feel so much better than I did a few weeks ago but I am just desperate for some more improvement, so I can really start living again and enjoying the pregnancy.

The thought of lots of foods still turn my stomach. I hope I am better by Christmas, so I can enjoy the meal etc... would be such a crap time to be feeling sick....

[PussinJimmyWhoooos]

I was sick up until about 4 months I would say - it was at its peak between the 2nd and 3rd month and then tailed off during the 3rd to 4th month. I used seasickness bands which helped a lot - have you tried those?

In those early days all I could stomach for lunch was waffles and beans...the sort of meal that meant minimum time in the kitchen as could not stand the smell of it all. I was crying to the midwife that my child was going to be emotionally stunted and screwed up and she just smiled and said the baby will take what it needs from me and waffles were not that bad!

Carbs seem to work really well when pg imo - especially things like coissants etc - they settle the tummy for a while...weird but true!

[3mum]

Bland carbs are very good tummy settlers -dry toast, rich tea biscuits, water biscuits, croissants, scones etc (I attribute most of my weight gain in my pregnancies to these!).

Also good are extra strong mints or smints and bizarre but true, nibbling on flakes of the pickled sushi ginger you can buy in jars in supermarkets (assuming you like ginger). I found that most effective of all and its vaguely healthy.

[EBenes]

First pregnancy, all the way to delivery, second pregnancy, was last sick at 30 weeks, but I'm not ruling its return out. To begin with I ate a similar diet to your pain au chocolat regime, vegetables make me sickest of all, my stomach absolutely won't tolerate them. However, after about 20 weeks, fruit was okay - can you eat fruit? - and turkey bagels didn't make me worse. Toasting a dry sandwich - or putting a cold filling in warm toast - seemed to make it more like real food. Be assured, your baby is leeching all the goodness out of your bones and will be fine.

If vomiting has slowed at 15 weeks, I bet you'll be all done by 16-18 weeks.

[Seeline]

I stopped being sick almost overnight at about 4 1/2 months. Up until then I'd survived on rice krispies and cake. As the nausea died down, I was able to cope with microwaveable meals which meant little time in teh kitchen and reduced smell factor! By 5 months I was back to normal, although carried little bags of dried fruit with me, as I found that if I did get too hungry, teh nausea did return. By the way DS is now 7 years old and very healthy!!

[LoveActually]

Hello CosmoGirl. I'm nearly 27 weeks and I must admit my digestion has not been the same since I got pregnant. Unlike you I didn't actually vomit up any food but I did feel queasy till about week 18, then I got a chest infection so was off food for another three weeks. ~And now I've got heartburn!!!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
I am still finding to hard to stomach bread/cheese/milk but chips are okay as is ice water, ice water all the way

[LoveActually]

Oh and Smash with Flora buttery! xxx

[mrsgboring]

First time round was sick till 24 weeks and felt off until the delivery but could eat most things (so long as high fat, high carb and vegetable free!) from about 30 weeks.

Second time round last time I hurled was 10 weeks, less iffy about food as time went on.

This time am 10 weeks, have been sick a bit - not yet abated, but I can spend more time lying down as SAHM and that has really helped.

My best anti-nausea food is chocolate, oddly enough. Simple carbs are really good but I can only eat them if they're high sugar or high fat.

It's a gradual curve, I've found, that things start getting better without you really noticing, just suddenly realise that the thing you're eating would have had you running screaming a few weeks ago.

Things I find that help are 1) reading or watching Tv whilst eating. 2) Lining up a sure fire winner food to be eaten after a very small try of something else. 3) Best of all is going out to eat - not seeing the food cooking, the boost of it being a trip out and abit of a treat, and the fact that restaurant and cafe food is usually more indulgently flavoured.

If you feel down about fruit, could you persuade someone to bake some into a cake for you - banana cake, or a fruit crumble or something, and see if you could tolerate it that way? But it really really doesn't matter. It makes you feel rubbish, but IME it is manageable if you don't stress and feel guilty about it but just do what you have to do. 3rd time round I am managing much better because I know I just have to fill my trolley with complete shite, eat it and grit my teeth through nine months.

HTH a bit.

[ranirani]

have you tried basi things like ginger tea an ginger buscits? helped me a lot in the vry early pg, 1st trimester, after a week of ginge tea th sickness wasgone completely.