There’s a lot of talk out there about pregnancy and morning sickness. However, when I google it, I see a lot of pretty similar information that’s really not that helpful (see some examples below). Basically, what I learn from a simple search is:
- Morning sickness is very common and normal.
- It doesn’t just happen in the morning – it can happen any time of day or last all day.
- The exact cause isn’t known, but some possible causes include hormone changes (hCG, estrogen, and GDF15), being pregnant with multiples, having it in previous pregnancies, having a sensitive stomach, etc.
- Rarely it gets so severe that it’s classified as hyperemesis gravidarum and may require hospitalization to restore fluid levels.
Common suggestions for treating it are:
- Vitamin B6
- Ginger
- Antinausea medications
- Take prenatal vitamin at night
- Eat a little snack before getting out of bed
- Eat several small meals throughout the day
If you’ve been pregnant, you’ve probably heard all this before and maybe tried all those things.
For this post, I’m just going to tell you about my personal experience. This is just me, a regular mom who is not a doctor or expert in anything, telling you, another mom, some things I have learned on this topic from my experience. I understand that everyone is different, and even each pregnancy from the same woman is different, and that’s fine! I just hope that maybe something in my experience will help another mom out there who isn’t getting the help she needs from google or her OB.
Also, if you don’t want allllll the context (I talk too much), feel free to skip down to the bottom where I outline exactly what I suggest to help with morning sickness.
My first pregnancy experience
Let me share a quick overview of my first experience being pregnant. I got pregnant in September 2020 at the age of 28. Before getting pregnant, I ate an okay diet, consisting of all the food groups, including treats. I didn’t drink soda or caffeine, and I was generally aware of and cared about proper nutrition and fueling my body with good food. I ate a lot of organic foods, grass-fed meat (as well as conventional), a mixture of raw and conventional dairy, and I probably ate out about once a week.
During my first trimester, I experienced morning sickness first thing. I remember putting a can of almonds and a banana on my night stand every night so I could sit up and eat them first thing in the morning before getting out of bed.
I was generally nauseous all throughout the day, but didn’t actually start throwing up until about 14 weeks. I experienced food aversions that lasted my entire pregnancy and just always had a hard time eating food without feeling gaggy. I remember eating a lot of yogurt and cottage cheese as they consistently sounded good and didn’t make me want to run away from the table.
While the need for a morning bed snack left after the first trimester, the general nausea stayed, and if I ever went too long without food, I did not feel good. Even into the 3rd trimester I would throw up if I got too hungry. I also threw up during my entire labor.
I also remember my gallbladder giving me trouble, which I learned is common in pregnancy, and as one who had had gallbladder struggles off and on for years, I was familiar with the feeling.
I began to experience heartburn during the second trimester and that was not fun. I also lost a lot of sleep every night due to sinus congestion.
Instead of taking a prenatal, I took a combination of various nutrients from Standard Process that I thought would be good, such as their multivitamin, folic acid, calcium, etc.
Those were my main complaints, but overall I enjoyed my experience and loved being pregnant!
My second pregnancy experience
I got pregnant with my second in September 2024 at the age of 32. I am now 24 weeks along – almost at the 3rd trimester!
It’s been a totally different experience. Again, I can’t say for sure what has caused the difference, but I figured sharing might give you ideas or help in some way.
First of all, my diet leading up to this pregnancy was completely different. I spent the year and a half leading up to this pregnancy eating a mostly whole food plant based diet (by “mostly,” I mean I did eat honey and included more oil and salt than is generally accepted by true WFPB eaters). I did not eat meat or dairy products and I avoided all processed/refined sugars. If I needed a sweetener I would use pure maple syrup or honey. I didn’t have cheat meals; I didn’t take “just one bite” of anything; I was committed.
I got pregnant in September, and quickly began looking for a functional medicine doctor who could help me more completely address the asthma issues I had been dealing with as I prepared to give birth again.
As the first trimester weeks moved along, I started to feel that dreaded, but expected morning sickness feeling around 6 weeks. Again, I felt generally nauseous all day, but this time I noticed I didn’t have to eat a snack in bed. I could make it down to the kitchen just fine. I did throw up once due to being extremely sleep-deprived – the nausea was definitely worse when tired.
Meanwhile, I was getting established with a local functional medicine doctor who assured me she could help when morning sickness kicked in, in addition to addressing my main concern of asthma. I had my initial visit with her and did blood work all before 6 weeks. By the time the nausea started kicking in, I was already meeting with her to go over blood work results and set up a plan.
She told me, based on my blood work, I should consider avoiding wheat, eggs, dairy, and corn, and add in some good quality meat. She also suggested several supplements to replete my low vitamins and minerals.
I began implementing all her suggestions at week 9 of pregnancy and immediately noticed a huge shift in symptoms. All “morning sickness” type symptoms completely disappeared right away. I could go hours, even in the morning, without food and feel totally fine. I rarely felt gaggy or had any food aversions at all.
I honestly spent the entire last month of the first trimester not even feeling like I was pregnant! Okay, I did feel that extreme tiredness you get when creating a new life, but that was it. When second trimester hit and I got a bit more energy, I felt even better. It’s been amazing.
Not only that, asthma improved, too. I haven’t used an inhaler in over 3 months, which is a miracle for me.
I have had a couple episodes of thinking I might have a bit of heartburn coming on, but then it goes away and doesn’t turn into anything.
And my sinuses have steadily improved as this pregnancy has gone on and I rarely (if ever) lose sleep over congestion.
When I first switched to a WFPB diet, I had to work through some really bad gallbladder episodes and I learned a lot about how to support and heal the gallbladder. Eventually those issues resolved. However, I always wondered if they would resurface during my next pregnancy, and so far they haven’t! So, that has been wonderful.
The only other main difference I can think of is this time I am having a girl, and my first was a boy. But they say having a girl is a risk factor for more morning sickness, so could that be a sign that what I’m doing is working?? I guess we’ll never know.
To the point: Here’s what I suggest for addressing morning sickness
Work on Channels of Elimination
Before I got pregnant the second time, I learned from a midwife that morning sickness will often go away when the body is able to eliminate toxins effectively.
This means you want your liver, kidneys, and large intestine to be working optimally. Ideally, you can support these organs before you even get pregnant to give yourself a head start.
This is what I did during that year and a half before getting pregnant. I cut out inflammatory foods, nourishing my body with nutrient dense foods, and I did several rounds of herbal detoxification, cleaning out my elimination pathways. Like I said before, I noticed a profound difference in my gallbladder health during that time, and it continues to benefit me during this pregnancy!
Even if you don’t prepare beforehand, there is a lot you can do during pregnancy to support yourself. Drinking lemon water every day is a great way to clean out your liver and kidneys. There are also many safe herbal remedies and tinctures you can use to support any of these organs. Castor oil can be applied topically to your liver, kidneys, or even your entire torso to break down blockages and promote better flow.
Your Prenatal Matters
From other experiences I’ve had working with pregnant women, I knew that sometimes it’s actually the prenatal causing a lot of the morning sickness symptoms. The hard part about this one is it’s really tough to trial-and-error it. You don’t want to go out and buy a bunch of different bottles of prenatals just so you can give them a try and see how you feel.
I don’t have any great advice on this, other than just consider it as you look into decreasing your morning sickness.
For the first 9 weeks of my current pregnancy I was taking a prenatal vitamin tablet four times a day from Pure Synergy. It does have high-quality ingredients and overall I approve of it. But like I said, I did have a bit of nausea during that 6-9 week range. At 9 weeks I switched to a liquid multi-vitamin and mineral that my functional medicine doctor recommended. It’s called IntraMAX by Drucker Labs. I knew right away it was making a difference. I take it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and then I feel just great for hours. I usually eat breakfast about 2 hours after I take it. Amazing, right? This has been my experience taking it from day 1 at 9 weeks pregnant.
At bare minimum, make sure whatever you’re taking has folate, rather than its synthetic counterpart, folic acid. That’ll do you a lot of good.
You Might Need More Than a Multivitamin
In addition to the IntraMAX, my doctor recommended an iodine protocol (I gradually worked up according to her instructions and now take 10 drops, three times per day) as well as zinc and a couple other vitamin supplements, all based on my blood work.
Basically, you need a lot of nutrition during pregnancy! Many of us go into it depleted from years of poor diet or previous pregnancies, or both. If your body can get the nutritional support it needs, it will feel a lot better.
Your Diet Matters
Unfortunately for me, I learned that my body has been creating antibodies against wheat, creating unnecessary inflammation, most likely contributing to my severe asthma symptoms. For this reason, my doctor recommended I cut it out for several months and let my body reset. I was eating so much wheat before this, it was definitely my sustaining force. Cutting it out, especially in first trimester was hard! I complained a lot. I really missed my spelt breakfast and my sourdough toast and my whole wheat tortilla wraps.
However, I knew I wanted to give my body the best shot at healing from asthma and having a good pregnancy, so I did it. I also cut out corn, as mentioned above, and continued to not eat dairy or eggs, again per the blood test results.
I also believe adding in meat was a great thing for me. It was hard to get enough protein and calories in without meat, even when I wasn’t pregnant, so I knew adding meat might be a good idea once I got pregnant. I have focused on grass-fed and finished beef, organic free-range chicken, and wild caught fish, and continue to avoid pork and highly processed meats. During pregnancy your blood volume increases substantially and you need enough protein to make that happen!
I know many people are just trying to stay alive and keep food down during pregnancy, but if you have any sort of ability to be selective in your diet, it will go a long way. You may even want to consider getting bloodwork done just to see if you have any sensitivities that might be getting in the way of a healthy, inflammation-free pregnancy.
Consider Complementary Therapies
In addition to the diet and supplements, I began doing red light therapy regularly as well as using the BEMER, which stands for Bio-Electro-Magnetic-Energy-Regulation. I believe adding these into my daily routine gave my body even more support, with better circulation, blood flow, energy, reduced inflammation, and natural healing. I also go to the chiropractor each week and get tested with the QEST4 bioenergetic testing system regularly, which I did during my first pregnancy as well.
The good news is you can make a difference in your pregnancy experience! The bad news is, I can really only give you general ideas – look at diet, prenatal, and improve your channels of elimination. The specifics of how that looks for each person will be different according to your needs and situation, and that’s where it’s hard. It might be worth it to look into working with your own functional medicine doctor who can tailor a treatment plan to you!
If you’ve had good success relieving morning sickness symptoms in pregnancy, I would love to hear about it!
Resources:
Morning sickness – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic
Morning Sickness: What To Do About It
Morning sickness during pregnancy: Symptoms, treatments, & causes | BabyCenter
