How can I help my wife with her morning sickness?

Question

My wife is 6 weaks pregnant and is feeling very sick most of the day. She is driving me nuts; I cooked dinner tonight and she could not even face the smell.

Answer 1

Ask her what sounds good. She can take Unisom for the morning sickness. That is the only thing that helped me. You can also change her prenatal vitamins to Flintstones because they are A LOT easier on the stomach. I also found that citrus (lemon, lime, orange)suckers or popsicles helped.

Answer 2

Hmmm
I know what you mean after being through two pregnancys,
(as a Father), My wife could not abide the smell of a bacon butty, smoked kippers, or even a pizza.
Somewhat sicky in the bathroom most mornings.
I found a solution. She became very partial to porridge with jam.
This may not work for all, but worth a try for breakfast.
It is filling, mostly odourless, and nutritional.
I know that bringing home a Kentucky Fried Chicken, or a Mc.Donalds is not a good idea.
Whoops, there we go again !
So simple fare seems to be in order.
Rice, cereals, ice-cream etc.
All the best to you, your wife, & your offspring

Bob the Dad.

Answer 3

Support her...accept the fact that it's difficult for her, and don't ever admit that any of her behaviors "drive you nuts." Smells can be a VERY strong nausea-inducer, trust me, I know this first hand. A pregnant woman's sense of smell is greatly enhanced by hormonal changes, and things that used to smell good - or, were at least tolerable - may not during pregnancy. Ask her what you can do to make things easier for her...if that means preparing less-stinky food, then try that. Your wife needs to know you're there for her, not just gritting your teeth and bearing with it. Make sure she gets adequate fluids and takes her prenatal vitamins. Talk to her about her problems and be compassionate towards the symptoms she's experiencing. If all else fails, ask if you can take her to her OB to get some relief. Morning sickness is probably the most awful thing about pregnancy, so make it your place to take care of your wife while she's going through it.

Answer 4

Eat on your way home from work. Do not cook in the house or eat around her even of she thinks she feels ok the smell will soon make her feel ill. I cannot describe how awful sickness is. Just please give her lots of cuddles back rubs and love during her pregnancy no matter how annoying she becomes, she is keeping your baby warm and safe so dont be selfish.
Get her some ginger biccys to nibble on and some fruit boiled sweets , this is all that helped me but all woman are different. It takes a while for the sickness to go i'm afraid, can go on til 16 weeks or more. Just high doses of hormones causing it.

Answer 5

WHile you are clearly being very helpful by cooking etc, it really is not her fault, trust me.. its no fun at all feeling sick all day, every day, sometimes for the WHOLE pregnancy.

it helped me to lie down on my side when i felt nauseous .. i found sitting down restricted the flow of my digestion. i drank a lot of peppermint tea too and boiled water. ANd i ate raw ginger a lot - the ginger helped instantly, but i had to keep eating it throughout the day to control it.

The other thing is - if she can possibly throw up a little, it kind of alleviates the nausea. SHe will feel better, maybe for the whole evening!

However if she is vomiting a LOT already , not keeping anything down etc you might have to see the doc because extreme vomiting can be harmful to the baby. The doctor may prescribe some anti-nausea medication - however s/he MAY say that the medication has not been extensively tested on pregnant women - you and your wife may have to decide if you want to take that risk.

Good luck!

Answer 6

If the sickness is very bad she should see her doctor - there are safe drugs that can be taken to combat it, but they prefer you to cope without if you can. I was given Cyclizine to help because my sickness was really bad. Stemetil or Phenergan are also safe but you must only take them on Dr's prescription and its best to cope without drugs if you can.

If the smell of cooking makes her sick then try to be understanding, when I was pregnant and having morning sickness, my other half would come home from his pub job at 1am and start frying sausages! OMG that was hell!! Don't fry or cook things that make her feel sick and leave the door/window open to let some fresh air in. Try a salad if she can't stand the smell of cooking.

Ask her what she feels like eating and prepare it for her. Even if she can't face anything other than peanut butter on toast or something for a few weeks it won't hurt her or the baby as long as she's taking her prenatal vits.

Encourage her to sip thirst quenching drinks (fruit squash worked for me) and herbal tea (fennel and chamomile are good). Ginger root powder capsules are safe to take and can calm her stomach or you can break the capsules open and make ginger tea (you can also stew sliced ginger root).

Make sure she eats a few bland but filing meals a day. A bowl of porridge really helped me every morning - morning sickness is made worse by low blood sugar.

Hope she's feeling better soon! Mine got better around 14 weeks.

Answer 7

Hi, I ahd very severe morning sickness (called Hyperemesis) and after that volunteered at a charity- if you put blooming awful into Google it will pull them up, on the side menu is a list of self help tips, these are excellent and work for all women with pregnancy sickness, not just those who are severe.

A few tips though:

fluid is the most important thing to take in, especially in summer- ice pops, lettuce, melon are all good for this. dehydration is a real risk with pregnancy sickness.


Tiredness and sickness are thought to be linked. Therefore your wife shuld rest a LOT.

Vitamin B6 can help some poele, as can homeoptahy and acupuncture.

Eat what you fancy, little and often for a good chance of keeping food down.

And remember that whilst it can seem mild, please dont say she is driving you nuts!! Morning sickness can be a horrid start to a pregnancy!

Here's the web link, hope it helps. best wishes and congratulations to you both.


http://www.hyperemesis.org.uk/

Answer 8

Ginger usually helps, either ginger nut biscuits or ginger and lemon in hot water for her to smell. You could even try to get her to eat some plain jacobs crackers to settle her stomach. These might not always help but they can be a temporary relief. Dont be suprised of she reacts that way to food, its not her fault! I went through a stage that if i so much as looked at a carrot i head my head down the toilet bowl. She might be better off just eating pasta and plain foods for a while until the morning sickness passes.

Answer 9

Morning sickness can be an all day problem. Any strong odors, like the smell of food cooking, can cause the nausea. Light teas and crackers can settle her nausea. I loved graham crackers; however some women can only handle saltines. Bland foods are the best. For me the smell of meat cooking was the worst.

Answer 10

You could get her some different prenatal vitamins.
If she is taking otc vitamins, get her some prescription vitamins.

If she is taking prescription vitamins, get her prescription changed to premesis Rx. I have much less morning sickness with that.

Much of nausea in pregnancy is caused by her digestive tract slowing down (due to hormones). Does she have constipation problems too? Make sure she eats lots of fresh fruits and veggies to keep the food moving through her fast enough.

All bran cereal will help too, plus it has a HUGE amt of iron in it, and if she is taking premesis, she will need more iron in her diet, since premesisRx doesn't have iron in it.

Actually, a diet very high in iron can also cause nausea.

One last word, (and it's a good one): ZOFRAN.
Zofran is a loooovely prescription drug that removes the worst morning sickness. It is prescribed to people who are nauseated by their chemotherapy medication, but a Godsend for pregnant women with hyperemesis gravidarum.

It takes a while to get the prescription approved, so get your wife to ask her doc for it immediately so she will be able to take it in about 10 days.

Believe me, my nausea was soooo bad, and I felt PERFECT with zofran.