A pregnant woman.photo/hubstatic.comWhy do some women get it and others don’t? Contrary to its name, morning sickness is not reserved for the hours between midnight and noon. That’s right when you’re pregnant, you might be nauseated in the evening or multiple times throughout the day.
According to research, more than 50 percent of women are affected by morning sickness. But while many women battle vomiting or feeling like they might during pregnancy, others don’t experience the impulse to have at all.
Why the discrepancy? Experts still aren’t totally sure of the exact cause of morning sickness. That said, there are some factors that might contribute to the likeliness of nausea. Women who have had morning sickness in prior pregnancy, multiple gestation pregnancies, or an abnormal pregnancy called a molar pregnancy when a fertilized egg develops into a growth instead of an embryo, are all more likely to have morning sickness.
There are rapid rises of hormones: estrogen, progestins, and particularly the ‘pregnancy hormone’, human chorionic gonadotropin. For women who do experience sickness, it tends to begin around the fifth or sixth weeks of pregnancy, peaks during the ninth week, and then eases up from here.
While there are no tactics to fully prevent morning sickness, the best way to avoid nausea during pregnancy is to eat frequently and often. Don’t wait to feel hungry to eat, and drink cold, clear and carbonated beverages in small amounts, as often as possible.
Although throwing up for days isn’t physically the best experience, it may be a positive indicator of the unborn child’s good health in the long run. What is interesting is women with mild nausea and vomiting during pregnancy experience fewer miscarriages and stillbirths than women without these symptoms.