Please make me feel better about my hyperemesis diet

[Wouldloveanother]

11w2d and I’ve had hyperemesis since 7 weeks.

Since then I have lived off toast, cheesy pasta, chicken flavoured super noodles, crumpets with peanut butter and the odd piece of fruit or boiled egg. Once or twice I’ve managed a small ‘meal’ such as bangers and mash or spaghetti bolognese. But by small I mean about a mug full.

I have been drinking a can of full fat cola a day as it’s the only drink that settles my stomach. Otherwise squash or more rarely lucozade.

I’m taking pregnacare and had a really good diet before this so hoping I have some reserves, but I’m a bit panicky about just how shit my diet has been and the effects on the baby.

Any ‘this was me and baby is fine’ stories gratefully received.

Nothing except beige food passed my lips from weeks 5-12/13 ish. I could eat hash browns, cheese pasta, biscuits and strangely Neapolitan ice cream but only the cheap stuff. My baby is here, 5 months old and seems completely unaffected!

You're baby will be absolutely fine! It's not like you're smoking and boozing. The foods you mention have nutrients like any other food, they're just less nutrient-dense.

Your baby! Gah!

I had hg throughout my first pregnancy- hospital admissions, cyclizine etc. I had two days vomit-free during the 42 weeks - I never had a single "normal", full meal. I lived on dry toast, mashed potatoes, boiled eggs, tuna and dark chocolate. DD is fine if a little wacky- she was born tall and slim but within healthy parameters, she's still tall and slim a decade on.

I hope you feel better soon. In my last pregnancy the sickness vanished at 18 weeks and it was wonderful... so there's hope.

Yup a slice or two of toast a day if I was lucky for maybe 16/17 weeks then moved on to some more beige food, scotch pancakes, sometimes a mcds Mayo chicken, chicken dippers and potato smiley faces. I was like this definitely up to 3rd trimester and even in 3rd trimester I still couldn’t eat normally certainly no green veg maybe peppers if I was having a good week. Baby came 10 days early 7lbs 5 and perfect.

I lived on full fat cherry coke, water and chocolate buttons for 4 weeks solid until they got me on the right meds.
I'm now 36 weeks and baby is fine. Doctor was of the opinion that I just needed to get anything in me as it was better than nothing.

Your macro nutrients are covered, you have carbs, protein (cheese, egg, peanut butter) and fat, you are getting most vitamins and some fibre, and any micro nutrients you may miss will be covered by the vitamin tablets.

You are doing well.

Focus on looking after yourself, eat what you can and give yourself a break.

I lived on dry toast and full fat cola for over 20 weeks with ds1 due to hg. He came out at 8lbs 10oz and was as healthy as a horse! Absolutely zero issues and he's 5 now.

There are a lot of different nutrients in eggs, peanut butter and wholewheat bread and pasta, it really isn't that bad!

Not hyperemesis but due to something else I could hardly eat in the third trimester (two pieces of toast per day). DD was born on the 99th centile for height and weight! I had lost 2 stone. So keep up with the pregnacare and eat what you can eat. The babies are tiny and really don't need so much. Your body feeds the baby first and then you. So worst case you might get every cough going the first months after pregnancy.

I had hyperemesis in 3 pregnancies, from 7 weeks until between 30 weeks to full term. I lived on the liquid from packets of knorr chicken noodle soup and tinned mandarin oranges on a good day. Sometimes dry toast. The smell of the fridge was enough to set me off so I didn’t ever open it! I hope things improve for you soon, just eat little and often whenever you can and push for the right medications. Once I found a combination that worked for me the actual vomiting lessened but the nausea (which was the worst part for me) persisted 🙁. My babies were all fine, a decent birthweight and developed into happy, healthy children.

My diet with my eldest was skittles eaten very slowly, one at a time. And lucozade sport. From week 7 - 10. Occasionally pasta, plain with a small amount of butter after 10 weeks until approximately 18 weeks when I started to be able to eat more normally. Eldest is now 5, very tall and doing really well. No health issues or anything. I didn't even take my pregnancy vitamins coz they made me puke.

Ritz crackers, skittles, and full fat coke.

She's 6 and perfect.

Grapefruit, sips of water and vegetable soup from 5-12 weeks. I couldn’t even look at any dinner with chunks of meat. DS is 4 now and he’s fine.
Hope it passes for you soon.

I had a few days with just pick and mix and dry toast.
Your baby will be fine - just do what you can

I had 38 weeks of hyperemesis. I lived of nutritional drinks on prescription (Fortijuice in blackcurrant flavour). Before seeing the dietitian to get that I was eating salt and vinegar crisps. That's it. And getting IV rehydration daily in hospital. My DC is now in secondary school and all's well.

I'm sorry you're feeling so awful. It's truly dreadful but it will end.

I wish I had eaten as well as you do during my pregnancies 🤣 For both I drank a litre of lucozade most days, and lived on a mixture of chocolate, salt and vinegar crisps, and doughnuts. Some days I couldn’t keep anything down. This was from 5 weeks to 14 in my first and from 5 weeks to the end in my second. I couldn’t even take supplements (except folic acid).

Both kids are fantastic … so healthy and happy and intelligent. However, I have been to the dentist for quite a few fillings since then!!

Honestly, your baby will be fine. They’ll take everything they need from you. As my obstetrician said, they are excellent parasites.

Good luck with your pregnancy and I hope the HG passes soon.

I didn't have hg, but all I ate for at least 12 weeks was toast, ready made mash, haribo and McMuffins occasionally. It was fine.

I didn’t even have hyperemesis (wasn’t actually sick just no appetite) but all I ate for until 12 weeks was plain hula hoops and bread and butter. I lost 5kg weight but baby was fine. You’re doing a lot better with the balanced diet than I did! Babies will always take what they need, don’t worry.

I only ate Fondant fancies, tunnocks carmels and ribena mixed full sugar coke or lemonade for the whole 9 months. I was told I was pregnant in A&E both times having been "stuck down" with vomiting whilst in public and blue lighted to hospital. I lost 3 stone. I was so fragile and unwell, it was terrifying, genuinely terrifying for my DM and DH. Babies born at 40wks - 6lb 1 (went down to 5lb 8) and 36 wks - 5lb 7 (went down to 5lb 2). Now 17 and 19, both over 5'10", both very very healthy. Both got all 8/9 in 10 GCSEs. Please don't worry. Your body will suffer, but it will care for your babies, it is what it will prioritise. Eat what you can when you can. After the birth eat everything and do not worry about your weight, just eat and eat and enjoy.

The only thing that didn't make me throw up in my first pregnancy was jelly sweets, so I lived off them. He was (and still is) perfect.

I just ate anything I could keep down and not my normal healthy diet. I ate loads of Rowntrees fruit gums (don't know if you can still get them) because they made the vomit taste less bad. Sorry TMI.

I actually lost weight myself and came out of hospital dead skinny with a 7lb 14oz baby.

lemon sherbets, ready salted crisps, coke, and instant noodles (one particular brand) were literally all I ate during both my HG pregnancies. DC1 is now 6, DC2 is 1 and both healthy and strong. As my GP said, babies are like parasites - your body may suffer, but mostly they will take what they need from you and be just fine. I’ve been left with damage to my teeth from HG, but otherwise doing okay. It’s horrible but you will get through this. Best wishes.

Toast, chicken noodles and coca cola for me. She's now a very healthy 6 month old. Hope you feel better soon! It's awful.

during that 7-12 weeks with my first I had two spoons of cheerios for breakfast with milk, and for the rest of my diet a few crackers a day, some lollies, a couple of dried apricots, soft drink and water, a few crisps, cucumber
some mandarine pieces, ice cubes, tinned peach slices, lemon sorbet. I lost a lot of weight obviously but baby was fine. I moved up to amazing things like plain toast, potatoes, chips and chocolate, red meat, smoked salmon after that. My now 7yo is tall and athletic and very very exuberant.
i hope this thread makes you feel better!

I lost weight with my twins for the first three months at least.
Lived off custard and sometimes cake.
My doctor told me that babies are parasites and not to worry.
Both dc were fine and now at 14 taller than me.