Feeling sick and not at work

[Annabear76]

I'm 8weeks pregnant and really struggling with sickness. I'm really sick in the afternoons til bed time. The food I eat just doesn't settle and then I struggle to sleep. I'm off work today as I was sick a lot last night. The doctor said I should take this week off work but I don't know whether to. I'm a primary schoolteacher and I always feel guilty when I take time off, I found it hard last week at work and don't know if I can face it.
Any advice appreciated.

You and baby come first - if GP has advised you to take time off then you should do it.
My GP signed me of work for 2 1/2 months with my first pg - a week at a time. I was sick 24/7 and felt sick all the time and really couldn't have done my job properly. Could you really manage 30 little ones feeling the way you do?
Hope you feel better soon.

It's rubbish isn't it sorry to hear you're feeling like this.

What has helped me in the past with sickness is grapes, apples and malted milk biscuits oh and brushing my teeth would take away the sickness feeling for a short period of time! In to my second pregnancy now and these are still working for me

Fingers crossed it will pass for you around 14 weeks

Ginger nut biscuit with my breakfast and lunch help keep sickness away for me.

I am a CM, so understand how hard it is to manage sickness whilst looking after children! I would suggest taking it easy, if GP said you should have a week off, then do!

Another thing I do is make myself a fruit smoothie, and sip this throughout the afternoon. It is good to make sure I get my 5 a day, but also keeps any hunger at bay, which makes my sickness worse!

Sorry you're feeling rotten. I would say take time off to rest (lying horizontally really helped me! ) and focus on trying to keep hydrated and fed somehow. I know it's difficult to take time off but taking time now might actually reduce the total time you need to take off; for many people the more dehydrated and underfed you get, the worse your sickness can get, starting a really nasty cycle. I'm sure in my case having time off helped - made such a difference to have lots of rest and convenient access to food the moment I felt I might be able to keep something down. Have you explored medication with you gp?

Yep, avoid getting hungry. Hunger will flip over to nausea very quickly!

When I was at my worst, I found dry salted crackers and frozen grapes a life saver. I could only keep drinks down if they were ice cold too. Everyone is different, but I found I had to eat first thing on waking up - just a couple of crackers - and then stay in bed for 20 minutes or so while they settled my stomach. Then ate little and often through the day - couldn't stomach large meals or any hot food at all. Plain carbs were the easiest for me to digest, so crackers, plain biscuits, cold pasta (not overcooked though as squidgy textures were a no no) and frosted flakes with no milk.

It's bloody miserable, make sure you get plenty of sleep because tiredness will make you feel worse too. Definitely rest if your GP has advised it, they're there to look after your and baby's health, so if they reckon you need time off, don't feel guilty - it's a professional recommendation after all!

Hope it starts to ease up for you soon

No helpful ideas for reducing sickness but from the point of view of your employer, it's actually better for you to have a week off than be coming and going all the time.

If you phone up and say the Dr wants you off for a week, then your head can book a sub for the whole week, the kids will get consistency and there will be some lesson planning as the sub will have some time to work out what the kids know and how to progress. If you go in tomorrow and then have to stay off again on Wednesday as the effort has knocked you out then the head end up with a random sub who has to start from scratch.

Don't feel guilty, when I was a manager random days off messed my rota up enormously, I was much happier when someone said they were going off for several days and I could replan everything to fit in their absence.

eat less and often, worked for me, esp salt and vinegar crisps, apples, and oj. also make sure you get enough sleep at night. good luck. it will get brtter i promise.

hi am 2 month pregnent same happening with me cut lemon nd put some salt on it lil bit nd try to taste t u will feel better

I'm also a primary teacher and 15 weeks pregnant. I've just returned to work after taking 6 weeks off, honestly if you need time off take it. I could not have worked and am only just starting to feel semi human.