Morning Sickness Remedies

I‘ve been thinking about morning sickness lately since La Jolla Mom is hosting giveaway for Morning Chicness Bags (see photo, they are super cute). In my case, it wasn’t morning sickness, but rather all day sickness. I didn’t vomit constantly, but I felt cripplingly nauseous.  I do remember one time right after a flight home from Singapore, I vomited so intensely (remember thinking that major organs were coming upward) that I burst blood vessels in and below my eyes.   That was almost exactly 3 years ago today because my husband joked that I wouldn’t need a Halloween costume because I already looked so freaky.  Sadly, that made me laugh at the time.  I was about 4 months pregnant.  Anyway, here’s some of the things that worked and didn’t work for me:

Ginger:  In Hong Kong, we lived above a gourmet grocery store called City Super.  At one point they carried a fresh ginger juice drink.  It was the best thing ever for morning sickness and I saw a ton of pregnant women buying it.  They couldn’t keep it in stock.  I can say that was the only thing that ever made me feel better 100% of the time.  Ginger tea worked ok, but nothing like this juice.  I wasn’t able to replicate it at home.

Motion Sickness Wrist Bands:  I tried the wrist bands for motion sickness with zero luck.  They are cotton stretchy wrist bands that have a plastic button that presses on an acupressure point under your wrist.

Vitamin B6: I took this religiously.  I am not sure if it helped or not but I was too afraid to test what would happen if I stopped taking it.  You can buy it at the drugstore, but ask your Dr. for the correct dosage.  It’s unsafe to take an excessive amount.

Essential Oils: I didn’t know enough at the time to seek out someone with essential oils training.  A friend of mine, Abby (@SanctuaryMSG), is an essential oils expert.  I asked her if she had some suggestions for morning sickness.  I often see her helping people over Twitter with various ailments so do follow her and ask for advice.  She also can be reached at sanctuarymassagesd@gmail.com.  For morning sickness, Abby suggests peppermint.  That makes sense to me as I drink peppermint tea if my stomach is feeling unsettled.  I wish I would have known this!  Here are her morning sickness remedies:

1. Try up to 1-4 drops of peppermint  in 1oz of water and drink it.  You can add sugar to it if you like to make it more palatable.  You can do this as often as you like.  You can’t OD on peppermint.  You can also put up to 2 drops of oil into a tablespoon of honey and take it that way.
2. Try putting peppermint oil (neat) on any/all of these places: your temples, inside wrists, along your jawline, behind your ears and the pulse points on your neck.  You can do one location, you can do all locations – totally up to you.  Behind ears and jawline tend to be most successful with expecting moms.  You can also add lavender. Again you can do this as much as you like as frequently as you like.
3. Get a hand towel and wet it.  Apply 2-4 drops of peppermint.  From here you can use it 2 ways – put it in the freezer and use it as a cold compress OR wet the towel with hot water and apply as a warm compress immediately. Compress should be applied to the area around your left breast – by your actual stomach (not your abdomen).  Most of my clients use the cold since vomiting is often preceded by a perceived temperature spike and sweating.
4. Put 4-6 drops of spearmint in a bowl of boiled water and set it next to your bed at night.  It can help keep your tummy settled through the night… you can also add lavender to this if you like.  Lavender is awesome for promoting reduction of anxiety and better sleep.  Give this remedy at least 5 nights for full effectiveness.

Acupuncture:  I was very, very lucky that good acupuncture is so inexpensive in Hong Kong.  I don’t have any hard data but I’m positive this helped me.  I would always feel more balanced after a session and certainly less swollen.  I can’t articulate what they did exactly because my Chinese Dr. did not speak English.

Foot Reflexology:  Same as above, however, on a side note I am totally convinced that this saved my feet from permanently swelling a shoe size or more.  My feet were always swollen.  When I would sense my shoes getting too tight, I’d go get foot reflexology.  I’d plop down in the chair and zone out for 90 minutes, sometimes completely falling asleep.  I’m not sure what foot reflexology in the US is like but in China, it’s not always relaxing especially if your muscles are tense.  Maybe it just helped me relax, but whatever, I’d walk in feeling ill and leave feeling like I could stand up straight and go to the gym.  If you happen to be in Little Italy, San Diego, Numero Water Boutique has foot reflexology.

Eating:  Tons and tons of very small meals/snacks, all day long and sometimes at night.  If I didn’t do that, I was sure to vomit.  Fatty foods are harder to digest and should be avoided.  However, I do remember inhaling a ton of cheese….ooops.

Prenatal vitamins:  It did help me to take the prenatal vitamins at night before bedtime.  My Dr. recommended this because the extra iron can be difficult to digest.

Morning Chicness Bags:  If you are sick to the point of vomiting, keep a few of these in your purse.  They are cute, leak proof and biodegradeable.  It’s the worst feeling in the world to feel sick and unprepared.

If you had morning sickness, what helped you?

(October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you know of products, services or articles that support the cause click here to submit the link, shop and view the current list.)

Tagged as: Health, Morning Sickness, Pregnancy