Natural Ways to Help You Prevent and Reduce Morning Sickness

Morning sickness is perhaps the most prominent health concern in early pregnancy, especially because you have to be so careful not to use any treatments that might harm the baby. This makes at-home, natural remedies the best course of action for managing your morning sickness and gaining significant relief from nausea and vomiting. Here are the best guidelines for guarding your wellness against nausea and vomiting during pregnancy:

 

1. Gauge the right food level: It’s important to have food in your stomach, but getting the right balance is key. Too much food and you’ll throw it all up, while trying to go through daily life on an empty stomach can make nausea worse. Eating several small meals every day instead of three large meals can help you guard your wellbeing against vomiting and nausea, and keep those stomach food levels right.

 

2. Have breakfast in bed: Whether you keep a small snack ready on your bedside table, or you send your partner downstairs to grab it – after all, you’re doing the tough job here – eating something small before you get out of bed can help to reduce and prevent morning nausea. Take a few minutes to let the snack (such as crackers) digest, and then get out of bed slowly.

 

3. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate: As well as being beneficial to your health and the baby’s, staying hydrated can help beat that first trimester nausea. Water should be your go-to beverage, but you can also try broths, juices and sports hydration drinks to mix things up a little.

 

4. Eat well: Loading up on protein and reducing your intake of fatty foods can work wonders in reducing your first trimester sickness. You might not need me to tell you that you should avoid smells and foods that make you feel nauseated, but in case you don’t want to have to trial and error each one, citrus juice, milk, coffee, and caffeinated tea commonly make nausea worse.

 

5. Get lots of rest: Stress and fatigue can make your morning sickness worse, and they’re doing you or your baby no favours either.

 

6. Give ginger a go: Whether you take ginger as a powder in a capsule, grated fresh into hot water for a tea, or in syrup or crystallized form, regular consumption may help to relieve your morning sickness, although it may take a few days to notice a difference.

 

7. Try acupressure: In acupressure, there are a series of points on your body. The P6 point is located on the inner side of your forearm, one one-sixth of the way between your wrist and elbow and in line with your middle finger. Some women find that acupressure firmly placed on the P6 point relieves their nausea, so speak to a practitioner if you think that’s something that might work for you.

 

8. Talk to your doctor: Many pregnant women take iron supplements to prevent anaemia, but this might not be necessary if you’re getting sufficient iron from other sources, like your diet. Iron can make nausea worse, so ask your doctor if it is necessary for you to take iron supplements. Vitamin B6 and B12, on the other hand, can reduce nausea and vomiting if taken regularly as your doctor advises. Also, certain antihistamines like doxylamine or dimenhydrinate may relieve morning sickness, so you may want to talk to your doctor about those. If you find you are vomiting more than three times a day, are unable to take fluids, and/or have pain, fever or both, you should contact your doctor immediately.

Categories: First Trimester, hydrate hydrate, Iron supplements, Morning, morning sickness, natural remedies, Nausea, nausea worse, nbsp, p6 point, sickness

Could Iron Supplements Prevent Behavioural Problems in Kids?

If you’re baby is born underweight, giving him or her iron supplements may reduce the risk of behavioural problems later in life. This is according to a new Swedish study, published in the journal Paediatrics, which has found that low-birth-weight babies who did not receive iron supplements were 4.5 times more likely to show signs of behavioural problems at the age of three compared with low-birth-weight babies who did receive iron supplements during early infancy.

 

When babies have a low birth weight – meaning that they weigh less than 5.5 pounds or 2,500 grams – they are at a higher risk of developing behavioural problems as well as iron deficiency, albeit this condition has itself been linked to behavioural problems. Therefore, the results of the study suggest that you may be able to partially prevent your child’s risk of behavioural problems by giving them iron supplements, in a kind of two-birds-one-stone situation. Dr. David Mendez, a neonatologist at Miami Children’s Hospital, who was not involved in the study, explains that the findings support the current recommendation that you should provide iron supplements to low-birth-weight babies starting at one month of age.

 

The American Academy of Paediatrics states that healthy babies should receive iron supplements starting at four months of age if they are breastfed, although babies who are exclusively formula fed will receive enough iron this way. However, because babies who are born with a low birth weight grow quite rapidly, and may not have received enough iron from mothers during pregnancy to last them the duration of their first few months of life, they may need to start having supplements at an earlier age. However, as most of the babies in the study were breastfed, Mendez comments that the study needs to be replicated in different populations to confirm the effect seen on behaviour problems.

 

Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioural paediatrics at Steven & Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Centre of New York, notes, ‘In some ways [the findings are] not surprising because we know iron is an important micronutrient in the diet of very young children.’ Animal studies, for example, have shown that iron is an essential nutrient in the development of the brain. Still, Adesman asserts that the behaviour assessment used in the study could not diagnose behavioural problems by itself, so additional evaluations are needed. He adds that the results would also have been stronger if teacher assessments had been included.

 

The researchers themselves caution that the study was too small to rule out the possibility that iron provided by exclusive formula feeding could have affected their results. Nonetheless, many of the babies were at least partially breastfed for up to six months. However, Mendez points out another reason the study needs to be replicated; iron has a bad taste. It’s often hard to get babies to take iron supplements every day, and this is reflected in the study results. 23% of children in the study had poor compliance, meaning that less than 70% of the supplement doses were given.

 

However, while it is recommended to give iron supplements to low-birth-weight infants, the long-term impact this has on their wellness has not been rigorously studied. More over, studies suggest that too much iron may linked to health risks, such as impaired cognitive development. Plus, researchers have barely even touched upon the specific risks and benefits of iron supplements for babies who are marginally low birth weight (between 4.4 to 5.5 pounds) so it’s important to tread with caution. As your baby’s wellbeing could be at risk from too much iron, it’s important to speak to your child’s doctor about iron supplementation before you proceed.

Categories: babies, behavioural problems, birth weight, iron, Iron supplements, receive iron, Research, study, Supplements, weight babies