Morning sickness is the nauseated feeling you get during pregnancy. Morning sickness, which can actually occur at any time of the day, can really dampen your excitement about being pregnant. Morning sickness, also called nausea, vomiting of pregnancy or pregnancy sickness, affects between 50 and 95 percent of all pregnant women as well as some women who use hormonal contraception or hormone replacement therapy. Morning sickness can occur at any time of the day, though it occurs most often upon waking, because blood sugar levels are typically the lowest after a night without food. Morning sickness usually starts in the first month of the pregnancy, peaking in the fifth to seventh weeks, and continuing until the 14th to 16th week. For half of the sufferers, it ends by the 16th week of pregnancy. Some women suffer intermittent episodes throughout their pregnancy. NVP usually develops between the 4th and 6th week of pregnancy. In half of the cases it ends by the 14th to 16th week of pregnancy. Unfortunately, some women have NVP throughout their entire pregnancy.

The most severe form of NVP is called hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). HG is considered a rare complication of pregnancy. The percentage of pregnant women afflicted ranges from 0.3% to 2%. Women afflicted by morning sickness typically avoid "bitter, pungent, highly-flavored, and novel foods," foods which are likely to contain toxins. Foraging people are at an unusually high risk of ingesting plant toxins, due to wild plants being a substantially larger part of their diet than agricultural or industrial people's. About 50% of all pregnant women will experience some form of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Trying to eat a healthy diet can become very difficult when you've also got to deal with problems like food aversions, a sensitive sniffer, and a growling, churning stomach. Morning sickness can only become a problem for your baby if you can't keep any foods or fluids down and begin to lose a lot of weight.Eat small, frequent meals and snacks throughout the day so that your stomach is never empty.

Some women find that carbohydrates are most appealing when they feel nauseated, but one small study found that high-protein foods were more likely to ease symptoms. Wearing "acupressure" wrist bands, which are sometimes used by passengers on boats to prevent sea sickness, may help some women who have morning sickness. Taking powdered ginger root in capsules provided some relief, but be sure to talk to your provider before taking ginger supplements. Try taking your prenatal vitamins with food or just before bed. Flat Sprite? is supposedly great at keeping the stomach from churning. Avoid foods and smells that seem to trigger nausea. Sometimes this will be nearly every food or every smell. Ginger, teas, cookies, even the spice can be helpful in preventing nausea. Try to avoid fatty foods, which take longer to digest, particularly during pregnancy, when your stomach takes longer to empty. Try taking your prenatal vitamins later in the day or discuss possible alternatives, such as children's chewables.

Morning Sickness Treatment and Prevention Tips

1. Eat frequent small meals, every 2 or 3 hours, rather than 3 large meals daily.

2. Get up slowly and do not lie down immediately after eating.

3. Eat dry crackers 15 minutes before getting up in the morning.

4. Eat more fruits and complex carbohydrates such as potatoes, crackers and pasta. Sensitive stomachs find those foods easier to tolerate.

5. Eat high protein foods as they help fight nausea.

6. Do not skip meals, allowing your stomach to become "empty".

7. Drink fluids ? hour before a meal or ? hour after a meal. Do not drink during your meal.

8. Try eating cold food instead of hot (cold food does not smell as much).

9. Try bland foods, as opposed to spicy foods.

10. Try to avoid fatty foods, which take longer to digest, particularly during pregnancy, when your stomach takes longer to empty.

11. Try taking your prenatal vitamins later in the day or discuss possible alternatives, such as children's chewables.

12. Try not to get overheated as it seems to agitate morning sickness.