During pregnancy, you’re bound to experience an unpleasant symptoms or two. I’ve compiled what’s helped me get through some common pregnancy symptoms in my first trimester, such as nausea and constipation. Please always inform your trusted medical professional about symptoms you experience and have them approve the methods below before trying.
Nausea
Most likely we’ve all heard about morning sickness, especially during the first trimester. But really, this should be labeled as all-day sickness. There were some days I would feel nauseous from after breakfast until going to bed. On other days, the nausea struck in the evenings. No matter the time of day, I could find at least some relief with the strategies below.
Eat Balanced Meals Early and Often
While I never had to snack on crackers before getting out of bed like some women, I always tried to eat breakfast within the first hour of waking up. I noticed if I went too long without eating (no matter the time of day), I could go from feeling fine to almost puking in a matter of minutes. My midwife recommended eating at least every 3 hours. So, I kept an eye on the clock and would eat every 2.5-3 hours. I’m sure doing this saved me from a lot of nausea in my first trimester.
Also, I always felt best throughout the day if my first meal had more protein (I tried for 25-30 grams). You’ll probably hear your healthcare provider recommend eating protein with every meal and snack if you can. This can be hard though! Especially with food aversions. It’s common to crave more easy-to-digest carbs in the first trimester. A trick around this is to eat carbs first followed by some protein or fat, even if it’s just a few bites. This will help balance your blood sugar and keep it from spiking and crashing from a carb-only meal. For some, avoiding high and low blood sugar can help prevent nausea.
Ginger, Peppermint, and Acupressure
But what do you do if you’re already nauseous? The following methods worked for me. First, let’s talk about ginger. Ginger is famously known for its anti-nausea properties and settling stomachs in many cultures. Though we don’t incorporate much ginger into Western dishes, it’s a common ingredient in Eastern cuisine. Like how it’s served with sushi to cleanse your palette and settle your stomach after eating raw fish. Or its prevalence in different curries from around the world. Thankfully, there are various ways to enjoy ginger. My favorite when feeling nauseous was sucking on these lemon ginger lozenges. You can also drink ginger tea if that sounds more appealing.
Another method that helped me quickly ease nausea was smelling peppermint oil. I bought this peppermint essential oil roller and would smell it whenever nausea started (I wouldn’t roll it on me). I’m not sure what it is about peppermint that helps with nausea, but smelling it worked wonders! If we didn’t own cats, I would have diffused it throughout our home, too.
Finally, my acupuncturist taught me an acupressure point on the inside of the forearm that can help alleviate nausea. See this website for a visual of where it’s located below the inside of your wrist. If you’d like a more hands-off approach, there are acupressure anti-nausea bracelets you can wear throughout the day, like this one. There are no adverse side effects in pressing this acupressure point, so why not try? If it doesn’t work for you, no harm no foul.
Constipation
Next on the list of common pregnancy symptoms is constipation. With hormones surging, especially progesterone, your digestion will likely slow down. This helps your body absorb as many nutrients as possible from food to help your baby grow. Unfortunately, this can lead to constipation, which is never fun. Here’s what helped me combat constipation.
Drink More Fluids
A simple (but maybe not so easy) method is drinking more fluids. Your large intestine draws fluids from your stool when you’re dehydrated making it harder to pass, so staying hydrated can combat this. During my first trimester, I had a lot of aversions, including things I would normally drink like tea. What I did find appealing was anything cold. I added a couple of ice cubes to every glass of water and sometimes a bit of lemon or lime juice tasted pleasant.
Get Moving
Movement can help alleviate constipation too. It can stimulate intestinal contractions to help move things along. Even light movement such as a gentle walk and stretching can help. I found movement would also help me with gassiness (another unwelcome symptom from a slowed-down digestive tract). My first trimester has been during some of the hottest months of the year, so walking outside during the day was a no-go. I would instead walk around my house, or even walk up and down my stairs a few times (assuming I had the energy too). Stretching was also a go-to of mine, especially when the fatigue was at its highest.
Prunes & Pears
When my constipation became pretty consistent, I started incorporating foods known to help get things going. My favorite is prunes! I like them so much that I even ate prunes before getting pregnant; they taste like nature’s candy. I would snack on a couple after my lunch and/or dinner and it helped keep things moving. If you can’t stand prunes, pears are also known to help with constipation due to having high fiber, pectin, and sorbitol.
Acupuncture
Last but not least, acupuncture helped me combat constipation as well. Certain acupuncture points can help keep the digestive tract moving. If you have the means, I highly suggest going to acupuncture regularly throughout your pregnancy. It’s helped me with a host of common pregnancy symptoms, like nausea, headaches, fluid retention, and feeling overall less anxious.
Fatigue
The last pregnancy symptom I’ll cover in this post is fatigue. First-trimester fatigue can hit you fast and hard. It may seem like no matter how much you’re resting and sleeping, you just can’t shake the tiredness. The best solution for this? Rest and sleep some more! Your body is going through so many changes, especially in the first trimester with your hormones changing and surging like never before (unless this isn’t your first time being pregnant). Give yourself the grace to slow down and sleep more. Sleep more at night, take quick power naps in your car during lunch breaks, and sleep the weekends away if you can.
If you’re not able to sleep more (maybe you already have littles to take care of or you don’t have much downtime throughout the day), try not to rely on caffeine to push through. The standard recommendation for pregnant women is to not consume more than 200mg of caffeine in one day. That’s equivalent to one strong cup of coffee. Instead, try to take a quick walk or eat an energizing snack to wake yourself up.
Conclusion
That’s it for this post on ways to help common pregnancy symptoms. Know that this is not a comprehensive list of symptoms you may be experiencing in your first trimester. And if you aren’t experiencing any of the above symptoms, don’t panic. In fact, feel lucky! Some women don’t experience the above symptoms and go on to have healthy and happy babies (and I’m sure a more blissful pregnancy!). If you are experiencing any of the above, hang in there. For most, the second trimester welcomes less nausea and more energy.
Reminder: please keep your trusted healthcare provider informed about all your symptoms and ask their opinion on symptom management. We’re all unique and so are our pregnancy journeys. You got this mama!