Down syndrome pregnancies

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I was wondering if anyone who has had/having a pregnancy with a baby with Down syndrome whether you also had extreme sickness? (As equal to Hyperemesis)

mine was horrific because my hCG levels were six times higher than they should be - I wondered if this was a teller for DS pregnancies?

im pregnant again (9 weeks? And have no sickness)

I have a young adult child with Down Syndrome and didn’t suffer any nausea or sickness at all, I sailed through the pregnancy with very little symptoms and felt great. Down Syndrome wasn’t detected on scans although I had a gut feeling something wasn’t quite right but I didn’t know what, baby never kicked but just kind of rolled around, scans showed a small baby but exH and I aren’t exactly giants so didn’t worry too much.

No sickness here either (other than standard pregnancy nausea). Also had a feeling something wasn't quite right (but nothing picked up on scans or tests). Kicked a lot less than the other pregnancies in hindsight.

The idea that HCG causes morning sickness has pretty much been debunked. It's actually the level of GDF15 that is the factor. https://www.hyperemesis.org/research/genetics-faq/
I realise that doesn't help you much directly, but it might help you Google research better if you want to do that.

Have you had a scan to confirm everything is okay with the current baby? No sickness at all is unusual in a healthy pregnancy if you have previously had a pregnancy with strong morning sickness. Some women do of course experience very different pregnancies, but for most if they are sick in one pregnancy then no sickness whatsoever in another can be a warning sign. I don't want to worry you, but I know someone this happened to, and she wishes she had not waited for her dating scan to find out the baby had died. You may want to book a scan (probably have to be private) to check everything is well. I'm really sorry if this is not helpful, please ignore if you are happy waiting. There's a good chance everything is absolutely fine!

No sickness at all is unusual in a healthy pregnancy if you have previously had a pregnancy with strong morning sickness

I’m not sure this is true and could be scary for the OP. I was very sick in my first pregnancy with my son. My subsequent successful pregnancy was with my twins and I had no nausea at all, let alone sickness.

Yeah we’ve had our scans and all is okay so far! We assumed my last one was hyperemesis until we found out about my hormone levels and one of the specialists specifically say ‘you won’t be this sick next pregnancy, it’s the down syndrome’ but I’ve never seen anyone else post about being sick with a DS baby so I was wondering if it was a sign but seems like it isn’t! I must have just had an extreme case and there was also other things wrong other than T21.

Thanks @PilgorTheGoat 🩷🩷🩷 I also have three friends who have had zero symptoms throughout their entire first trimester and all have healthy baby girls

Didn't have sickness with first pregnancy, and now not with this one either, just some mild nausea in first trimester. One healthy boy and waiting for a dating scan soon for this one. I have worried about my lack of sickness, but a few other women I know with healthy children have said they also didn’t have sickness during pregnancy, so I think it’s more common than you know. I didn’t think they routinely checked HCG levels unless there was suspected something amiss?

I agree it is pretty common to have no sickness/mild sickness in ANY pregnancies. What is less common is for a woman to have severe sickness in some pregnancies and then absolutely none in another. There are exceptions, as I said in my previous post, and as @PilgorTheGoat says above she is one! But it is definitely worth noting that lack of sickness when there has been strong sickness in a previous pregnancy is recognised by the NHS as one of the potential symptoms of silent miscarriage. It is not in any way definitive, but it is worth bearing in mind.

I appreciate that it could have been worrying for OP, but I would have felt bad not saying anything if she had gone for a dating scan blissfully unaware, and wished she had found out sooner. I'm very glad to hear OP has had a scan and everything is fine!

I don't want to worry you, but I know someone this happened to, and she wishes she had not waited for her dating scan to find out the baby had died

Bloody hell. You couldn't find any better way of responding to the OP's thread than that?

@MightyMichaela I had no sickness at all with my DS, and was sick as a dog with DD.

Ive been sick as a dog again this time and am having a silent miscarriage. There are no hard and fast rules.

They check your hCG level in your combined screening test at your 12 week scan - they check the NT (the neck) and then your Papp-a level and hCG level. Then all three of those together are put in a computer along with your demographics and that’s how they work out the chance of the genetic abnormalities e.g. 1:5 chance of Down syndrome.

thank you for your reply! It is reassuring to hear others without nausea (although I am definitely not lacking in the headaches, hunger or tiredness!)

Yes I agree. That's why I've said (twice now) that there are exceptions.

I’ve had 3 pregnancies. One with T21 and the sickness was notably worse in that one.