Why Do I Get Morning Sickness?

Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful yet mind-boggling things that a woman can experience in her life. As she awaits the arrival of her baby, she will thrive on feeling it grow and move inside her as her due date inches closer. However, there is one aspect of pregnancy that no expectant mother enjoys – morning sickness.

As many women may find, morning sickness is not so aptly named as the feeling of nausea can last all day although the symptoms are often worst in the morning in most cases. The sickness feeling can strike at almost anytime and unfortunately for some women, this feeling may last all day. However, each case of morning sickness will vary from woman to woman, similar to the other symptoms of pregnancy.

Research shows that nausea usually starts around the 6th week of pregnancy but in some women, it can start as early as the first month following conception. Around half of the women who experience morning sickness will find that this eases around the 14 week mark, but in others, it can take up to 18 weeks for nausea to complete ease off. However, some unfortunate expectant mothers may experience on/off nausea throughout their whole pregnancy. Although morning sickness is a common and expected symptom of pregnancy, it can be a miserable time for the mother as it aids in causing exhaustion and in some, very mild depression.

There is no known cause for why morning sickness occurs in pregnancy, but there are a number of possible causes and theories:

• The presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). This hormone increases tremendously in the body during pregnancy although there is no concrete reason as to why this contributes to nausea. However, as the increase in the hormone occurs around the same time as pregnancy nausea presents, there is the likelihood that it is connected in some way. Furthermore, studies show that expectant mothers who have an accelerated level of HCG in the body will extreme higher rate of nausea and vomiting.
• Estrogen: This hormone is found within the mother’s body naturally, but during pregnancy, the levels of this hormone will also increase. It is believed that estrogen, HCG and a number of other hormones combined help in causing nausea.
• During their pregnancy, expectant mothers will experience an enhanced sense of smell. It is not uncommon for some women to be able to smell things that are far away and become repulsed or gag due to smells of food they previously enjoyed.
• Stomach Troubles: During pregnancy, some women’s gastrointestinal tracts will be more sensitive which can make them prone to irritation, leading to vomiting.
• Stress is also believed to be a cause for nausea and vomiting in some mothers although there is not yet any concrete evidence to back this up.

Of course, as each pregnancy is different, the causes for morning sickness in each expectant mother will differ and in some cases, they may not experience any morning sickness whatsoever. The most important thing to do is keep an eye on how frequent you are vomiting and should you struggle to keep any form of food down, always contact your midwife or practitioner.

For more information on dealing with morning sickness, visit Babies Base