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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

My friend has terrible morning sickness

35 replies

Mrswhiskerson · 28/09/2011 10:26

My best friend is two month pregnant and suffering from very bad morning sickness , she has lost a lot of weight in a very short space of time and feels miserable .

Does anyone know of anything she could do/eat /take to make her feel better?

I would love to cheer her up a bit .

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itisnearlysummer · 28/09/2011 10:33

I was recommended dry toast, rich tea biscuits and ginger biscuits.

Tbh, none of them worked for me. I was 9 st 8 when I got pregnant and the same when I had DD 5 weeks early weighing 3 and a half pounds.

I would recommend practical help - shopping, housework and her asking the doctor. I really feel for her. I got told so many times to stop making a fuss and pregnancy isn't an illness but I can say, without reservation, that I have never been as ill in my life as I was when I was pregnant. Some people sail through it and some people don't.

itisnearlysummer · 28/09/2011 10:35

Sorry that probably didn't help much. I was just anticipating all the 'women have been having babies for years', 'it's not an illness, it's just pregnancy' type responses!

ScarahStratton · 28/09/2011 10:36

I found the only thing that helped me was making sure I didn't get dehydrated. I used to keep water by my bed and had a drink every time I got up for a wee. If I got dehydrated the sickness would get much, much worse. Tiny amounts of food were better for me too, very bland food like mashed potato, which is also not too awful to sick up. :(

Best time to eat was soon after I'd been sick. Rice was hell, it bloody hurts if it goes down your nose.

filibear · 28/09/2011 10:36

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cocoachannel · 28/09/2011 10:36

For me, it was a case of eating little & often. As soon as my stomach was empty I was sick.

Try posting this in 'Pregnancy', you will get a lot of advice there. Also get your friend to join MN and post in there for support, which will make her feel better.

ps. you are a very good friend!

ScarahStratton · 28/09/2011 10:38

YY I had medication, tbh it only took the edge off it, I was sick all day right the way through both pregnancies. It was hell, if you've not had it I don't think you can really appreciate how horrific and draining it is. :(

I got told to just man up and get on with it a lot. I felt very stabby then.

GaramMasalaGirl · 28/09/2011 10:42

A friend of mine tried travel bands (the ones you put around your wrist)

They transformed her life....might be worth a try?

itisnearlysummer · 28/09/2011 10:42

ScarahStratton - that's the only time I could eat, very tiny amounts just after I'd been sick. I still couldn't eat much and would often still throw it up.

filibear - I had some medication during my 1st pregnancy, but it really worried me because of the problems with thalidamide and it didn't really work anyway!

I got very good at both silent sicking and knowing which foods would be best on the way back up. Cornflakes, crackers, plain crumpets - good; cheese - very very bad!

DementedHousewife · 28/09/2011 10:44

I had hyperemesis gravidiarum with my first pregnancyfrom 5 weeks in untill I gave birth, and quite literally the only thing that helped me after being admitted for rehydration was anti emetics. Ondansetron was the difference between puking a few times a day and puking 20+ times a day.
HG is the pitts and if she is losing weight then she probably needs to be seen by a doctor at the very least have her urine checked for ketones.

ScarahStratton · 28/09/2011 10:45

Silent sicking, yup. Amazing how quiet you can be. :(

Travel bands didn't work for me, but they are worth trying. Hell, anything's worth trying.

itisnearlysummer · 28/09/2011 10:46

Oh and waking in the night to be sick, curling up on the floor in the toilet cubicle at work to be sick, constant pre-sick wobbly mouth and drooling, the smell of pretty much everything making me sick, constant stomach pains and burning throat from being sick, worrying about what violent wretching and no food was doing to the baby. Happy days!!!!

I'd forgotten about the travel bands. I tried those, but they didn't work either, oh poor me!!!

WildEyedAndHairy · 28/09/2011 10:48

Been mentioned already I see. These are worth a try. I sipped ginger beer as well as making sure I never got too hungry.

itisnearlysummer · 28/09/2011 10:49

For me pregnancy was a survival mission. I kept my head down and just got through it. My children are brilliant but it is mainly pregnancy that made the decision for us to not have a third!

DementedHousewife · 28/09/2011 10:51

Travel bands didn't help me at all. I hated the constant mouth watering coupled with the excessive sense of smell, feeling drained and hating every single minute of being pregnant. My finest moment wretchingso hard in Sainsburys I actually wet myself. Vomiting induced incontinence was horrid. I used to sit on the Loo when being sick weeing whilst wretching into a bowl.
My SIL had the cheek to tell me 'pregnancy isn't an illness'. My reply was very colourfull as you can imagine.

SjuperWolef · 28/09/2011 10:52

ice lollies helped me out, instead of eating i'd have an ice lolly to take the edge of the nausea then have a bit of toast with scrambled eggs - all i could keep down for about 14 weeks - really hope she gets out of it soon, its horrible.

mrsgboring · 28/09/2011 10:52

Bland foods were the worst for me, oddly (I think a lot of people thought I was faking because of it )

Chocolate is the only food I have never thrown up in pregnancy. Seriously. Didn't even think to try it for three weeks and was gobsmacked when I found out.

Also Haribo, biscuits, cherries and KFC were good but not foolproof, and in one pregnancy I could manage crisps so long as they were highly flavoured. As time went on I could eat Indian takeaway so long as it was really dry and I had tiny amounts at a time.

Had little fads for the kind of disgusting convenience food that toddlers eat but they only worked for a week or so at a time.

Rest is essential and the best thing. And reading a book or watching telly while eating also helped me a bit. (Not conversation)

Hope something helps your friend soon

lizzie83 · 28/09/2011 10:53

I had awful morning sickness throughout even sick the day my waters broke and was even admitted hospital twice with dehydration. Eventually I was put on the right anti sickness tablets which reduced the amount of times I was sick a day. My advice would be if it doesn't get better maybe try tablets and try different brands to find one to suit. As for what to eat, for weeks I could only keep down crisps - not ideal but the doctor said if that was all I could keep down that is all I should eat until feeling up for something else. Home made ice lollies were a great help as I could keep them down whereas I couldn't keep water down. Also, I was recommended pineapple by the midwife for the simple reason it tastes the same coming up as going down - sorry to be graphic. Hope this helps. Its all worth it in the end.

pissedrightoff · 28/09/2011 10:58

I was like this and the only thing that helped curb the nausea was Pombears.

Lottie4 · 28/09/2011 11:00

Your friend doesn't want to know this but I had sickess up until 5 months and still felt sick two months after that. On the 2/3 occasions I suddenly wanted I normal size meal I certainly regretted it, so for me little and often was better - if you're going to be sick it's much better if you haven't got much in you!

It sounds awful, but my doctor actually recommended lots of stodgy sweet cakes as she said carbohydrate often helped and if I was likely to bring it back up very soon, at least my body would have taken some energy from the sugar. Obviously she needs to keep sipping water/plain drinks even if they come back up quickly. I had an appauling diet when I was pregnant, but my DD is really healthy and gets over colds, sickness bugs a lot quicker than her friends so this hasn't affected her.

I would also suggest she has a word with her doctor/midwife so they can monitor her and I think there is more help they can offer than when I was pregnant 10 years ago.

buttonspoon · 28/09/2011 11:01

I had terrible nausea - seems to run in my family as my sisters were all the same. I agree that practical help might be something that she needs - going out to get shopping and doing cleaning etc was just horrendous when feeling like you want to throw up. I also couldn't cook because the smell made me feel ill. Certain things made it worse like beef, garlic, fish - all things I normally love!

I ate bland stodgy things like bread, rice cakes, sometimes cheese if I felt like it. She needs to eat what she feels like, when she feels like it and try and drink lots of water - not always easy.

Congratulations to your friend though - I hope it gets better for her.

beatrixkitto · 28/09/2011 11:01

I had really bad nausea/sickness up untill around 2/3 weeks ago (am now 10 weeks) I found flat diet lemonade at room temperature throughout the day helped me alot.

Tortu · 28/09/2011 11:02

Skittles and oranges. Think it was the sugar, but it worked for me.

Also, tell her to stuff being healthy and just eat what she can. Ignore the whole 'must eat organic food and good things for my baby' thing. If she can survive on jaffa cakes and nutella and keep them down, do it.

I would have loved somebody to come round and clean the house/ cook food. That would have been really lovely and helpful.

ChocolateTeacup · 28/09/2011 11:08

Lucozade really helped me, but I was brought up to have lucozade when I was ill

Eating little and often and tell her to just eat what she feels like and sip water when the nausea appears

ScarahStratton · 28/09/2011 11:11

My mum came down and stayed with us. And MIL took over ironing duties and made lots of cake for me. Cake was good, very calorific and stayed down fairly often. GP put me on Ensure so I was getting some nutrition, the chocolate one was ok if I heated it up and turned it into hot chocolate. The only other one that I could bear was the chicken soup.

Most of the time I was on a drip though. Low point was throwing up toast in hospital and ants trying to eat it. I hate ants and they were climbing on my bed. :(

I counted how many times I was sick one day. Big mistake. Total blue funk depression ensued.

MrsHuxtable · 28/09/2011 11:16

Yep, if it's really bad and she is losing weight because she can't keep food down, she needs a doctor, medication and posibly IV fluids in hospital. No amount of Lucozade, ginger nuts or other home remedies will work if she has Hyperemesis.

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