Natural Morning Sickness Remedies

Honestly, I never found anything that worked very well to ease my morning sickness. Since I suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum during my five pregnancies, believe me, I was desperate and willing to try just about anything! I’ve spent over two years of my life (around 25 months) with morning sickness (with my five pregnancies combined).  Here are the natural morning sickness remedies I tried.

Natural Morning Sickness Remedies

Some of these “remedies” are more natural than others. Some were somewhat comforting to me, but others didn’t really help much at all. But they may work for you if your morning sickness is less severe.

Try The Power of Distraction: Watch a Video

I found that watching a DVD or video while I attempted to eat was a great help. Somehow it helped to distract my mind from the terrible nausea. This was probably the most helpful thing for me.

Reading was out of the question most of the time. I just couldn’t read while I was this sick.

Choose your videos carefully. Make sure they’re not about food! My favorite thing to watch was Pride and Prejudice (I prefer this version). It was happy and not stressful, and it took a long time to get through the whole thing. Perfect for morning sickness. 🙂 I think I’ve watched it over 5 times.

Chew Mint Gum

During my second pregnancy, I found that when I would feel my worst (like, “I’m just about to vomit!”), if I ran into the bathroom, turned off the light, and chewed a piece of mint gum in the dark, I could sometimes keep the food in my stomach just a little longer. It also made my mouth feel fresh and that was comforting, too.

Hard Candy

After eating food, hard candy would sometimes help me keep it down for awhile. I chose the more natural kind you can find at the health food store. I liked strawberry, but mint is also awesome.

Popsicles

Sometimes all I could keep down were popsicles. I consumed tons of them. The kind I really liked were the ones with pieces of strawberries in them.

We also tried making and freezing fruit juice popsicles, but this was too much work for my already-overloaded husband who was working a full-time job and cooking and cleaning and taking care of our other children at the same time. In our desperate state, it was just easier to buy them.

Aromatherapy

It’s definitely true that a morning sickness sufferer has a more sensitive nose. When I would smell food cooking, that would often cause me to get very sick.

I used an essential oil diffuser with lavender, peppermint, orange, or lemon essential oil in it.

The scent of the oils permeating my bedroom was a comfort sometimes. I also tried to keep the window open even during cold weather. Somehow the scent of fresh air brought some relief.

My candlelight essential oil diffuser…I found it at a thrift store!

Children’s Chewable Vitamins

I couldn’t take any prenatal vitamins because I couldn’t swallow them. In later pregnancies I discovered that I could eat children’s chewable vitamins and it was better than no vitamins at all.

Eat Very Slowly

I found that eating very slowly while taking very tiny bites helped me somewhat. It took me forever to eat anything, but I found this was a key to getting some of it down.

Other Things I Tried

These things didn’t work for me, but if you’re struggling with “normal” morning sickness, and not Hyperemesis Gravidarum, they might be worth trying. They’ve helped lots of other women!

• Sea Bands
• Relief Bands (this is like a TENS unit that is worn on the inside of the wrist and electrically stimulates the median nerve). Some people have found relief with this device, but it only added more misery to my already miserable condition!
• Lemon juice
• Milk Thistle
• Ginger (in any form: even ginger candy or gum had no noticeable effect. I also tried pills, but it didn’t help at all)
• B6
• Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey, and Lemon (made me vomit)
• Pregnancy Tea (even frozen I couldn’t stomach this, but it has worked for others)

Things I Would Try Today

If I found out I was pregnant today, there are some new things that I would consider trying that I didn’t know about during my last pregnancies.

• Magnesium: I’ve heard this might be helpful for those with morning sickness. It’s definitely worth looking into if you’re suffering.
• Bentonite Clay: This is another thing that’s supposed to help.
• Vitamin K
• Vitamin C