In No Particular Order
- Avoid hunger. Keep something in your stomach at all times - Eat something every 2 hours throughout
the day. Eat breakfast after the nausea subsides.
- Don't skip meals or snacks.
- Try dry or bland foods - start nibbling before you get out of bed and continue throughout the day.
(crackers, vanilla wafers, dry cereal)
- Avoid coffee, tea, or spicy food.
- Avoid fatty or overly-rich foods.
- Open the windows while cooking.
- Do not become dehydrated. Dehydration can cause morning sickness.
- Get up slowly.
- When the nausea is at bay, ask yourself:
- What foods would make the nausea less bad? Salty? Sugary? Liquid? Dry? Hot? Cold? Spicy? Bland?
Soft? Hard? Crunchy? Color? Flavor?
- What food or beverage, no matter how silly, would have the most appeal right now? Find the
right combination - for example: hard and sour - carrots dipped in vinegar.
- The goal is to find a "band-aid" food that will curb or prevent the nausea so that
you can tolerate eating a few other foods
- For Example:
- Salty: Noodles with salted or grated cheese, thin slices of ham, V8 juice, pretzels, salted
green apples slices, pickles.
- Bitter/Sour: Lemonade, lemons, limes, grapefruit, cranberries
- Yeasty/Earthy: Brown rice, pumpernickel bread, hummus
- Crunchy: Baby carrots, celery sticks, cantaloupe, nuts, almonds, taco shells
- Bland: Mashed potatoes, rice, custard, oatmeal
- Soft: Noodles, ice cream, farina, angel food cake, pudding
- Sweet: Candy, sherbet, jam, honey, dates
- Fruity: Fresh fruit, fruit ices
- Wet: Milk, juices, gelatin, broth, bottled water, ginger ale
- Spicy Salsa, curried dishes, ginger-bread
- Hard: Toasted bagels, frozen jelly beans
- Hot: baked fruit, soup, cinnamon toast, hot cereal, oatmeal
- Cold: frozen desserts, potato salad, iced raspberry leaf tea
- Ask yourself what time of day you are most nauseated or whether a situation, person, or place triggers
nausea. What about someone’s perfume, lotion, morning breath?
- Identify the places that are most pleasurable to eat.
- Fresh ginger, peppermint, and chamomile might be helpful.
- Try a high-protein diet – eat protein through the day.
If you are suffering from morning sickness – you aren’t crazy, strange, neurotic, and except in severe case – your baby is fine. Hydration is the most important thing. Then food. Don’t feel guilty if the bag of potato chips or sniffing lemons gets you through the day. The most important thing is to eat what you can and worry about optimal nutrition when the dust settles and you regain control of your appetite.
These suggestions and ideas are based on Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy: The Complete Guide to Eating Before, During, and After Your Pregnancy by Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.
