Why do some women get 'morning' sickness whilst others don't?

[MorningSicknessIsHell]

I am 8 weeks pregnant with DC3. I've just dropped DC2 off at nursery and just about made it home, gagging, retching, hiding behind a postbox and other things to conceal my face on the walk back home.

I have a few friends who seem to sail through there pregnancies, maybe a little nausea but nothing they find debilitating... is 'morning' sickness a genetic thing? My mum was very sick with me and my sister.

I've tried medications, ginger , those wrist band things, I've tried eating as soon as I wake up. I really hate the first trimester and I'm finding it so unfair that I have to be sick!

@MummyZuma

Hi, I did and it was all OK I don't know why im still feeling like this. It just feels really different to my last pregnancy and I think k that's what is getting to me the most

It's just not your previous experience, so it makes sense why you are worried. I'm glad that all was ok with the scan. Maybe have another one in a couple of weeks to keep reassuring yourself?

I hope everything goes ok

I don't think it's genetic.
Dm said to me that she had half an hour of nausea with #1 that unfortunately corresponded with the arrival of the tea trolley.

I managed 24/7 sickness including vomiting from a point too early to test to about an hour after birth with all three.

Amazing I did it three times really.

I had terrible trouble staying pregnant and eventually had a successful 6th pregnancy. No nausea or sickness, sailed through pregnancy, the worst part by a long way was the anxiety in the early months.

Labour was induced due to reduced movements and ended up in an unplanned C-section after progress stalled.

When I had HG i read that there was a genetic element, an age element, if you experienced motion sickness can’t remember if there was anything else. But it’s protective for the baby apparently. I had to eat constantly to keep the nausea down but couldn’t eat anything but plain carbs plus had anti-sickness meds. Think I would have been puking constantly for 20 weeks without them. I tried all the home remedies and b6 and magnesium nothing helped apart for meds, didn’t help the nausea though. Talk to your GP about getting some help at the very least with the throwing up.

I’m so sorry you are feeling so horrible OP, still gives me shudders. I hope you feel better soon.

I think it’s just luck. I had no sickness at all with DS, take the same multivitamins etc this time and horrendously sick and nauseous until about 24 weeks. This one is also a boy, due roughly same time of year and everything.

Interesting that some people think it’s genetic. My mum and sister had awful pregnancies; I sailed through mine - not a moment of sickness and never needed to nap. Labour was awful, though, really horrendous.

I had awful morning sickness with my first, and found i had to eat more or less constantly to try to manage it - it was the only thing that helped!! I gained 4 stone in that pregnancy and only managed to lose 2 before I got pregnant with the next one. Very limited morning sickness with the second, and almost none with the third (still had the spare 2 stone for that pregnancy too!). I've often wondered whether being 2 stone heavier made the difference.

Although I'm still carting the 2 stone around a decade later and definitely no further pregnancies planned.... should maybe think about doing something about that...

I think it's just down to your body and how it handles the hormones at that time tbh.

#1 was a boy, I was 18. Sickness from 4-20 weeks then nothing. Born by EMCS.

#2 was a girl, I was 25. Sickness from about 4 weeks right through to birth. Born by ELCS.

I have 3 siblings (1 singleton girl, 1 singleton boy and twin pregnancy) and my Mum never had any morning sickness or nausea and were easy labours/straightforward vaginal births.

I assumed it was genetic as every woman on the maternal side of my family suffered with terrible morning sickness. As in bed ridden, hospital stays, long periods off work, inability to function.

When I think back to my pregnancies, I do not know how I survived. First time I felt like death, second time I coped as I had been through it previously.

I am in awe of women who have minimal symptoms such as slight nausea or feel a little weak if they do not eat on time.

I felt amazing during my first pregnancy (girl) except the last couple of weeks when i was huge and fed up, never a day's sickness. My second (boy) i felt well but had very little appetite, and my third (girl) i felt unwell a lot, but was only really sick about one day a week. I put it down to being older as i was in my 30s with my 3rd but 20s for the first two. The only other difference i recall was that i took folic acid with my 3rd, it wasn't a thing during the first two pregnancies. (Old gimmer).

I’ve heard it genetic too, my mother and grandmother sailed through their pregnancies, as did I, I got heartburn in the last few weeks of both my pregnancies but not any nausea. I really feel for women who suffer, it must be absolutely miserable.

My mum and nana had no morning sickness and neither have I with any of our pregnancies. All quick births too.

I had HG through all my 4 pregnancies (not sure why I had 4), my mum was the same. I couldn’t even swallow my own saliva (and I seemed to produced so much at the time). There is a theory that it happens more to slightly built/slim ladies (think Katherine Middleton) but not sure if that’s true.

My third pregnancy (after being hospitalised with the 2nd) I made sure I got meds straightaway and kept eating what I could (mini milk ice lollies mainly) to keep the nausea/sickness at bay. I did try everything though from acupuncture though to a music cassette that was supposed to equalise the balance in your ears that’s how desperate I was!

I was surprised by how many other women were miserably sick for the first 20 weeks.
RE motion sickness - I can read in the car, happily sail on choppy seas etc so was very disappointed that I felt constantly nauseous for 40 weeks.
I found standing up, walking around and talking with people very helpful for managing nausea and reducing vomiting. Luckily this is what I do all day at work. If I had an office job I suspect I would have ended up in hospital because I was so sick on my days off.

There's no pattern to mine.

1st pregnancy - no morning sickness, sailed through the whole thing, easy labour. Girl.

2nd pregnancy - awful morning sickness (signed off work for weeks), painful hips, painful back. Easy labour. Girl.

I had HG and was sick until the minute ds was taken out of me (emergency c section at 42 weeks). Cocktail of medication, IV fluids. DS came out at 10lb 8 so not sure where all that weight came from on the plus side, I lose 1.5 stone in the first trimester and quickly gained most of it back in the third.
I was very very jealous of people whose sickness lasted the first trimester and very frustrated that I wasn't one of the lucky ones that don't get sick.
I worked from home and spent many a work days on the bathroom floor with my laptop or cuddled up in bed with a bucket and my laptop

No idea. I got morning sickness with both pregnancies (had termination with one, miscarriage with another).

Definitely not morning only either...

I was taking folic acid and vitamins with the second one but didn't make a bit of difference. DM told me it was normal, she'd had it.

@Oneortwo2022

I was surprised by how many other women were miserably sick for the first 20 weeks. RE motion sickness - I can read in the car, happily sail on choppy seas etc so was very disappointed that I felt constantly nauseous for 40 weeks. I found standing up, walking around and talking with people very helpful for managing nausea and reducing vomiting. Luckily this is what I do all day at work. If I had an office job I suspect I would have ended up in hospital because I was so sick on my days off.

I was utterly miserable, also a terrible traveller and I have heard it is related. Around the same time, there was a Doctor , male who decided it was "8all in your head" If he had ever crossed my path he would have been very sorry

@Ellaraine

I read that your diet before you got pregnant determined whether or not you got morning sickness.

I've heard a theory that 'skinny/undernourished' girls get far worse sickness than healthy/larger girls ... Does that ring true for any of you ? It definitely adds up in my family, but would be so interested on a wider scale !

I'm a size 12, not fat not skinny, diet is mostly vegetables and fruit... Both pregnancies I've been tired, boaked at the slightest of smells, but actually vomited a total of about three times across all of them, and completely managed to keep up my normal activities. My mum and sisters (all pin thin when starting pregnancies, or in one case recovering from a big illness so quite run down) had horrendous morning sickness

I had no morning sickness whatsoever in both pregnancies.
I count myself very very lucky.

@penjo, I would have had a good diet before and during my pregnancies. Lots of fruit,protein,calcium.wholegrains etc. I wasn't skinny,a good size 12. I didn't get morning sickness or nausea,pregnancies were very easy.

My sil had hyperemedis gravidarium on both pregnancies. Sil wouldn't have been very skinny but didn't have a good diet, fizzy drinks processed foods etc,which she fully admits herself. She has since been diagnosed with B12 defiencey and gets regular injections so that could also be a reason why.

@AthenaPopodopolous - not always. My daughters pregnancy I had no symptoms at all and felt energetic and wonderful throughout. I’m due a boy in a couple of weeks and although I’ve again has no sickness or nausea I have felt absolutely beat, exhausted and like a walking zombie throughout. This boy pregnancy has definitely been harder than my girl pregnancy.

I’ve always just taken folic acid for both my pregnancy’s, but it seems a lot of people I speak to that has taken Pregnacare vitamins have suffered terrible with sickness and it was slightly eased when they stopped taking the pregnacare. Not blaming the brand itself but it does make me wonder if sickness is related to have too much of one vitamin that might be included in the multivitamin they take?

I've got two boys I had awful morning sickness with my first and none at all with my second. My second labour was amazing, short and the pain was fine with a bit of gas and air. My first was premmie so not the greatest but still an ok labour.

I've got 3DC, had awful sickness and nausea whole pregnancy with my first, even throughout labour. Had bad sickness with my second but it tailed off at 12 weeks. Had barely more than a bit of nausea with my third.
My mum was never sick in her pregnancies.
I could be completely wrong but I think it's just down to the individual and sensitivity to the hormones. The same reason some women struggle more with PMT and menopause whilst others don't.

I’ve had horrendous morning sickness with all of my 3, boys and girls.

Sick from 5 weeks until birth.

First pregnancy was 20 years ago and no one was interested. No midwife, dr would help me. ai asks a consultant about medication and she said, “so you would rather risk your baby’s health than feeling a bit sick”. I was being sick ten times a day, not able to hold down fluid. I don’t know how I was still standing when I had my planned section at 38 weeks. I was being sick on the table
and they were telling me off as I must have eaten - I Hasnt, I was puking bile as usual.

Next two pregnancies, 11 years later abs last year they threw all the drugs at me. But what worked well in one didn’t in the other, so while the actual puking stopped if I took them religiously, I still felt sick and like death until I gave birth.