Categories: For Parents Pregnancy

About half of pregnant women will experience some nausea and/or vomiting related to their pregnancy.

The majority of women who experience morning sickness will have the worst symptoms from six to twelve weeks of pregnancy, and then the symptoms will gradually improve and, in most cases, go away by the sixteenth week. A particularly severe form of morning sickness, called "hyperemesis gravidarum" is much less common, but requires medical interventions and, ususally, hospitalization. It is defined as vomiting severe enough to cause weight loss, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalances which are dangerous to the health of the mother as well as the baby. Any persistent vomiting and inability to keep fluids down should provoke a call to your midwife or doctor.

For the more common morning sickness, there are a number of safe and effective remedies. Among them are acupressure, herbal medicines, and homeopathy. Acupressure has been shown in a randomized, placebo-controlled study to control nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (Journal of Reproductive Medicine 46:9, September 2001). The point at which to exert the pressure is three of the woman�s finger widths above the transverse crease of the inner wrist, directly between the two tendons felt here (the tendons of palmaris longus and flexor carpi radialis.) You can apply the pressure for a short period of time with your fingers; a positive effect is usually felt within five minutes. You can also buy a wrist band to apply continual pressure to this point. It is called a BioBand or a Sea-Band; you can buy BioBands at www.biobands.com, or Sea-Bands at travel stores and some pharmacies. Alternately, you can make your own. Form a wrist band with Elastic, and sew onto it a rounded button. Take care that when in place there is firm, but not uncomfortable pressure exerted on the point. For more information on acupressure and acupuncture in pregnancy, visit the web site of Debra Betts, an acupuncturist from New South Wales in Australia.

Herbs that are useful for nausea include ginger, raspberry leaf, and peppermint or spearmint. All of these can be taken in teas. Ginger is also available as a candy, as crystallized ginger-root, as a condiment for food, and as ginger-ale. Sip small amounts of these teas, hot, cold, at room temperature - whichever appeals to you the most - at frequent intervals. Keep some ginger candy by the bedside and suck on it when you first wake up.

Homeopathic remedies may work even when nothing else does. Homeopaths suggest starting with remedies labeled 6c, and take these every two to eight hours as needed. If the remedy hasn't helped by the third dose, it's probably the wrong remedy. Here are a few to try: for nausea later in the day accompanied by intolerance to heat and a dry mouth, try pulsatilla, a remedy derived from the windflower. For constant or persistent nausea and vomiting maccompanied by excessive salivation, try ipecac, derived from the dried root of a South American plant. If these don't work, ask a homeopathic practitioner for other suggestions. (Adapted from New Choices in Natural Healing for Women, Rodale Press, Inc., 1997; NS, 2/2002).

Excellent information on remedies for morning sickness can be found on the HealthZone website. Morning sickness is very common from the time you first suspect that you may be pregnant (in fact, it may be your first clue) until about 12 weeks, when the raging hormones settle down a bit and so do those early pregnancy woes - headache, fatigue, breast tenderness, and morning sickness. It may be true that morning sickness is a sign of a healthy pregnancy, since it implies that the hormones supporting the pregnancy are adequate. However, serious nausea and vomiting that lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances are not healthy or normal; this condition is known as "hyperemesis gravidarum," from the Latin for "excessive vomiting of pregnancy." It makes women truly miserable and may even endanger the pregnancy. Hyperemesis may require more intervention than you can provide yourself; you need to contact your midwife or health provider. Frequently, some intravenous (IV) hydration will work wonders when a pregnant woman vomits everything she tries to swallow for 24 hours or more.

For more information about herbs in pregnancy, check the list at the GardenGuide web page, or buy Susan Weed's book, Wise Woman's Herbal for the Childbearing Years.