Suffering from morning sickness? We feel your pain. We’ve been there with bells on and we know there’s nothing “morning” about the 24-hour nausea that plagues early, middle and late pregnancy for those unlucky mothers-to-be.
But there’s good news. Amazingly you get used to losing your breakfast… and lunch… and tea… and every snack in between. It’s never pleasant but there’s things you can do, and stuff you can eat, that will make it slightly more bearable.
We canvassed our 2,000+ Motherload mums to bring you The Motherload guide to morning sickness: What to scoff and what to skip while suffering the effects of the dreaded morning sickness.
Some foods taste better on the way back up than others and getting it right can mean the difference between a burned oesophagus and a second chance at a tasty treat (ok, not quite, but at least your oesophagus isn’t on fire, right?)
Top tips for coping with morning sickness
- Drink plenty of water: “Anything where you haven’t had a lot of liquid is badddddd!!! Drink loads of water so the sick slides out nicely!” Emma
- Avoid acid foods: “Fruits and citrussy things burn the back of your throat for hours” Orla
- Stick to sweet: “Sweet flavours seem to survive the trip and the after taste isn’t nearly as bad” Anne
- Take your vits with something you can stick: “Prenatal vitamins are torture! I could only keep them down with dessert as long as I went straight to bed afterwards” Coralie
- Dairy is the enemy – unless it’s frozen: “Ice cream good. Milk or cheese bad” Beth
- Take the meds: If all else fails your GP can prescribe special anti-sickness meds
- Weight loss isn’t always a plus. See your GP if you can’t even keep down water: “I puked so much that I lost too much weight and my morning sickness was upgraded to hyperemesis gravidarum (HP). Ended up in hospital on a drip! It was OK in the end but those first fifteen weeks weren’t great.” Coco
Scoff
Jam Sandwiches
“Taste the same on the way out” – Faye
Ice Cream
“Always pleasant. Going down and going up” – Leanne
“Actually pretty refreshing the second time round” – Claire
Orange Lollies
“Goes down as a lolly, comes back as juice” – Nicola
Juice
“Juice vom is definitely the best vom” – Chloe
Chocolate
“Creates happiness. Eat as much as you can” – Joy
“Milk or dark, white chocolate is a no!” – Rose
Cake
“As long as it’s moist, dry cake just gets stuck” – Clare
Diet Coke and Carbs
“Anything healthy made me gag” – Alexa
Cheap Frankfurter Sausages
“Virtually no difference in flavour in either direction” – Kay
Ready Brek
“Easy to throw up – looks and tastes exactly as it did the first time it was in your mouth” – Rachel
Jelly
“Smooth and silky, exactly what you want in a vom!” – Charlotte
Skip
Milk
“Comes back as cottage cheese! Bleuuugh” – Anna
Cheapy Freezer Dinners
“So stodgy it’s hard to bring them back up” – Stephanie
Fruit
“Burrrrrns!” – Christy
Rich Tea Biscuits
“Just awful” – Steph
“Feels like suffocating!” – Amanda
Weetabix
“Comes up like something the dog ate” – Emily
Cheese Burgers & Fries
“Actually anything that came from Macdonalds” – Christy
Jacobs Crackers
“Great for sorting out the nausea. Hard work getting back out though” – Tyra
Tuna Mayo
“Really fancied it despite feeling so sick so I felt a tad betrayed as it shot it’s way back! Second hand fish!! Rank! – Katherine
Watermelon
“A lovely craving but coming back up it bloody hurt! – Charlii
Ginger Biscuits
“Someone told me they’d help the nausea. Perhaps they didn’t mean, eat an entire pack in one go?” – Anna
Tomato Soup
“Felt like acid and looked like a crime scene” – Victoria
Did we forget one? What were your best and worst morning sickness foods? Let us know in the comments or join the banter on our forums now!
About Anna-Belle
Anna-Belle, 35, is a writer, editor and entrepreneur, loves to drink nice wine, eat (and occasionally cook) really interesting, delicious food and the odd dirty burger, leave half-drunk cups of tea around the place and go surfing or snowboarding about once a year to make herself feel cool again
Oh! And she’s a mum to two gorgeous children: Jacques (2015) an Alethea (2012), and wife to Chuck (1983). The family live in Northern California, USA after stints in the UK, Singapore, and France.