Natural Remedies for Morning Sickness
5 Natural Remedies for Morning Sickness
1. Magnesium
My Story
I sort of stumbled upon the mineral magnesium for morning sickness. I was 6 weeks pregnant with my first baby. I had no idea what morning sickness felt like until one day I was at a job and felt it coming on, nausea, fatigue…that wanting to escape to my bed feeling. I felt awful, but at this point, no one knew I was pregnant yet. I had to act normal. I remember grabbing some chicken noodle soup for lunch to try to soothe my stomach and stress. It kind of helped.
Ironically, a few days later, I heard of the many health benefits of adding raw cacao to your smoothies. Being a chocolate lover, I wanted to try this superfood! I whipped up this protein, chocolate shake for breakfast and was surprised that I felt much better the rest of the day. The next morning, I made the smoothie again. No morning sickness. I continued this for a couple of weeks because I loved the way I was feeling, normal and not pregnant!
I decided to look more into my theory of this cacao shake taking away my nausea. I looked up the specific ingredients in cacao, and noticed it was rich in magnesium. “Could magnesium be the answer to my morning sickness?” I questioned. As an experiment, I decided to not take the shake for a few days. Sure enough, my morning sickness slowly began creeping back. I was shocked!
Why magnesium?
Today, I am 31 weeks pregnant with my 2nd baby and because of further research and discussions with my midwives, I now know that low levels of magnesium, is a major contributor to morning sickness. As Americans, more than half of the population is estimated to have low levels of this essential mineral. This is partly because of our processed diet but also because our soils are depleted of this once abundant mineral in foods. I eat a healthy, balanced diet and I have discovered for myself that I need to supplement for optimal health.
Studies show that raising magnesium levels significantly reduce morning sickness. As a pregnant woman, you can take up to 1000mg of magnesium, daily. Magnesium not only helps with morning sickness, but also restless legs (pregnant or not) muscle cramps, anxiety, fatigue, high blood pressure, insomnia, asthma, and an irregular heartbeat. I often recommend supplementation to my clients that are experiencing restless legs, cramps, insomnia, and digestive disorders and most of the time we notice a large improvement.
What do I take?
Trace Mineral Water Drops (we all add mineral drops to our daily water, Asher included 🙂 )
2. Check Your Prenatal Vitamins
I have heard from so many other women that their prenatal vitamin caused their morning sickness. This never happened with me, so I wanted to look more into this theory. It’s true, certain prenatals can cause nausea or aggravate morning sickness. This is the last thing we want to do when pregnant! Unfortunately, there are many supplements on the market that are not the best. Quality matters. When looking for a vitamin, I always look for a whole food based option, often look for chelated minerals for better absorption, and if it is fermented, even better! Many prenatals use synthetic vitamins which can contribute to some of these problems. For example, folic acid is the synthetic version of the food based nutrient, folate. Make sure your supplement is using the “real” version.
My recommended prenatal brands
What else do I supplement with while pregnant?
Good quality fish oil for baby’s brain development and I also eat fermented veggies or drink kombucha almost daily. If you don’t prefer the taste of these foods, here is a great probiotic supplement.
3. Acupressure Wrist Bands
Acupressure sea bands are a great way to help relieve morning sickness because they use points on the body, similar to acupuncture, that relieve pain and discomfort. Clinical trials reveal that they provide relief for morning sickness and are safe and natural for both mama and baby. When I heard about these bands I was pretty excited and found them to be very effective for me! I love these.
4. Ginger Tea
Ginger is a powerful root that is shown in studies to ease an upset stomach and nausea. Ginger works by aiding in digestion and lowering inflammation, blood sugar and blood pressure. I like to cut off a small knob of ginger and add it to my morning smoothie or by boiling some water with ginger for a cup of hot tea.
5. Check your stress levels
High stress and fatigue levels can only aggravate morning sickness. The growing baby takes a lot of nutrients from our bodies, especially at the beginning of a pregnancy. Stress and fatigue take even more from our bodies. That’s why it’s important to not only be mindful of our food choices, but also our mindset. Stress doesn’t always show itself at 2pm, hunched over an office desk with a large cup of coffee. Stress can also be your mindset. Do you struggle with a lot of negative thoughts and emotions or maybe you’re struggling to forgive someone in your life. These negative thoughts add up and cause chronic stress in our bodies.
For myself, I struggled with chronic stress for years and had no idea. I thought this was just who I was and my uptight, anxious nerves were just part of my personality. When I began showing health problems because of it, that’s when I finally had to pay closer attention to my mindset, my negative thoughts, my environment, and letting some things go in my life. I was shocked to see how much I began to relax and develop a more positive outlook on life. Some other great stress relieving tools are yoga, fitness, spending time in nature, prayer and meditation.
| These feelings will come and go |
I know when you’re in the midst of morning sickness it feels like it will never end! It is the worst feeling. I remember feeling so guilty the days I laid on the couch as my toddler sat with me watching cartoons. It was such a struggle to get up and play with him. I took comfort in reminding myself that this is a season of life and that these feeling will come and go. We are growing little humans and it is miraculous what our bodies can do!
[…] surprised, excited and nervous. “Yay, a sweet, little baby!” And then, “Oh no, morning sickness, all the bad food cravings, sleepless […]