When Will This Ever End? How Long Morning Sickness Lasts
You’re cruising right along through your early pregnancy, still riding high from two pink lines and maybe even an ultrasound with a strong heartbeat.
Then it hits you like a ton of bricks — morning sickness. You feel like you’re on a swaying boat while you drive to work, sit through meetings, carry your other kids to bed. Will it ever end?
The good news: It will most likely end — and relatively soon. Here’s what to expect.
Morning sickness lasts from weeks 6 through 12 and the most intense peak is between 8 and 10 weeks.
According to a frequently cited 2000 study, half of all women still experience some nausea at week 14, or right around the time they enter the second trimester. This same study found that 90 percent of women have resolved morning sickness by 22 weeks.
It can be strange to be comfortable in the fact that hormones are working and the baby is doing well.
In fact, a
However, it should be noted this was a correlational study and therefore can’t suggest a cause and effect. What that means is that the converse hasn’t been proven true: A lack of symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean a higher chance of miscarriage.
The study showed that 80% of the women experienced nausea and vomiting during the first trimester. You are not alone, to put it mildly.
“If you are in the middle of this, you can attest to the fact that morning sickness doesn’t just happen in the morning. Some people are sick all day, while others are not.”
The term morning sickness comes from the fact that you might wake up queasier than usual after going the whole night without eating. But just 1.8 percent of pregnant women have sickness only in the morning, according to this study from 2000.
Some medical professionals are starting to refer to the group of symptoms as nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.
If you have found yourself in a group of people who have nausea all day, you are not alone, and the symptoms should stop as the first trimester ends.
If you have morning sickness further into your pregnancy than usual, you should contact your doctor.
A condition called hyperemesis gravidarum occurs in .5 to 2 percent of pregnancies. It involves severe and persistent vomiting that can lead to hospitalization for dehydration.
The second most common reason for hospital stays for pregnant women is due to this condition.
Most of these rare cases resolve before the 20-week mark, but 22 percent of them persist until the end of the pregnancy.
If you have had it before, you are more likely to have it in the future. Other risk factors include:
- A family history of the condition.
- Being younger.
- Being pregnant for the first time.
- Carrying multiples or twins.
- Having a higher body weight.
While the cause isn’t completely clear, medical professionals believe morning sickness is a side effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), commonly referred to as the “pregnancy hormone.”
The rising of the hormone is thought to cause nausea and vomiting.
The theory supports the idea that people who are having twins or higher-order multiples are more likely to experience morning sickness.
It’s also possible that morning sickness (and food aversions) is our body’s way of protecting baby from potentially harmful bacteria in foods.
The peak of the levels of the fertility drug is at the end of the first trimester. This is another piece of evidence that the hCG theory may be responsible for those food aversions.
Some women will experience little to no morning sickness, while others are at an increased risk of a more severe experience.
If you are pregnant with twins or multiple babies, your hormones are higher than if you are pregnant with a single baby.
It is helpful to ask your mother or sister about their nausea and vomiting experiences, as it can happen in the family as well. Other risk factors include:
- A history of motion sickness or migraines.
- A previous pregnancy with severe morning sickness.
- Being pregnant with a girl but not using the severity of your morning sickness to determine the sex of your baby!
“Eating is one of the best ways to help with morning sickness, even if you don’t experience it at the same time every day. Small meals and snacks can help you with nausea if you don’t feel like eating.”
“Some people like to eat bland foods. You can keep hydrated by drinking tea, juice, and fluids. Don’t eat before you sleep, and keep a small snack by your bedside to eat as soon as you wake up.”
Even if it means finding something small to eat hourly, the main goal is to prevent that empty stomach.
“We think you have good intuition about when something isn’t right with your health or pregnancy. If you feel unwell, contact your doctor. If you vomit a lot, talk to your doctor about remedies.”
But take immediate action if you have additional flu-like symptoms, or if you’re experiencing signs of dehydration, which may require an emergency room visit. Call your doctor right away if you:
- Lose more than 2 pounds.
- Sickness will last into the fourth month of the pregnancy.
- It is possible to experience vomiting that is brown or bloody.
- “They aren’t producing urine.”
Most of the time, morning sickness gets better. Bring on the second trimester.
