What Is Morning Sickness?

Morning sickness, also called “pregnancy sickness” and “nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (or NVP)”, is a very common condition that occurs in pregnant women, as well as women who are taking birth control pills, hormonal contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy. About 50 to 90 percent of all pregnant women experience morning sickness. Many doctors think that morning sickness is a good thing because it means that the placenta is correctly developing.

The symptoms are very distinctive. They consist on nausea that may be mild or severe, and that frequently appears on mornings after waking up (although it can appear at any time of the day as well). If the nausea is strong enough, it causes vomiting.

Care must be taken in order to detect if the episodes of nausea and vomiting are in fact the morning sickness or if they reflect a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum, which is much more dangerous and can have catastrophic effects on both the mother and the child.

Causes Of Morning Sickness

Morning sickness is presumed to be caused by a combination of the normal hormonal unbalance that occurs during the first months of pregnancy and other agents like the sudden change of alimentary habits, also typical of pregnancy.

The first and most important factor that can cause morning sickness is an excess of certain hormones in the blood. Pregnancy causes your body to suffer a lot of changes, not only physical but also psychological and hormonal too. When there is too much of a certain hormone in your system, your body loses its chemical balance and reacts in consequence.

Major dietary changes are also known to induce morning sickness. A pregnant woman should increase consumption of certain good types of food, like milk, for example. However, many women make changes in their diet that can make the body more susceptible to hormonal unbalance. For instance, a big change in the amount of sugar consumed may induce episodes of morning sickness.

Treatment Of Morning Sickness

Although morning sickness is considered to be a common condition, there are some things that a pregnant woman can do to reduce the severity of the nausea and the probability of vomiting.

Eating meals in small bulks instead of having them complete is known to help. Keeping a constant liquid consumption helps prevent dehydration. Keeping some crackers on the night table can be useful, as it helps if you eat something before you wake up in the morning. Also, be aware not to lie down after eating, as it can induce nausea. Skipping meals and hanging out at places of the house that are too warm are known to produce nausea too.

If the nausea continues to occur during or after the 13th week, you must pay a visit to your doctor as soon as possible. However, in most cases this condition disappears and pregnancy continues normally. Check out Pregnancy Without Pounds for more tips on how to deal with other pregnancy discomforts.

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