What some women find helpful for morning sickness
Excessive vomiting ('Hyperemesis Gravidarum')
Morning sickness (or really 'all day and all night sickness'), is one of the most common physical signs of early pregnancy. However, not all women will experience morning sickness and it is not an 'essential' physical sign you have to experience to be pregnant. Typically, morning sickness starts around 6 weeks of the pregnancy (or about 2 weeks after the period was due) and continues until about 12 to 14 weeks of the pregnancy. However, morning sickness may start later than 6 weeks and may continue until 16 to 20 weeks of the pregnancy (and occasionally beyond).
Morning sickness may make you feel constantly nauseous, or bring on 'waves' of nausea at different times of the day. Some women will occasionally (or regularly) vomit and a few will vomit excessively to the point of becoming dehydrated or produce more saliva, known as 'ptyalism' (pronounced 'tie-al-ism'). The nausea can change your eating habits for a while and some women will not gain weight initially (or even lose weight for a few weeks) because of their morning sickness. This is normal and your baby will rely on your body's fat stores to grow. Usually when the nausea and/or vomiting settles, your appetite returns and you experience a 'growth spurt' as your body 'catches up'. You can read more in weight gain during pregnancy.
Did you know?
We don't really know exactly why 'morning sickness' occurs or why some women suffer from it more than others. The most common reason given is the hormonal changes of early pregnancy and a woman's individual response to this. However, it is not unusual for morning sickness to worsen during times of emotional stress (particularly in the later months of pregnancy) and many pregnant women will vomit 'out of the blue' without warning, either as a reaction to a certain smell or something like accidentally pushing the toothbrush too far down the back of their throat!