No one can prepare you for how tired and nauseous you're going to feel during early pregnancy. Take heart in the fact that feeling this way is completely normal. And considered a sign of a strong pregnancy.

Morning sickness is experienced by 90 per cent of women during pregnancy and may be unavoidable due to the massive hormonal changes taking place. 

In approximately 60 per cent of women, morning sickness will resolve by the end of the first trimester (peaking at weeks 9-10 and subsiding at around 12-14 weeks); and if it doesn’t, only 9 per cent of women experience it past 20 weeks.

To figure out the best way to manage your morning sickness, the first step is to observe what triggers it:

• Is it strong odours? 

• Time of day? 

• Getting out of bed too quickly? 

• Specific foods? 

• Movement? 

• Allowing yourself to get too hungry? 

• Overeating? 

• Undereating? 

• Imbalanced meals? 

• Eating too fast? 

• Drinking too much fluid at mealtimes?

Eating can help. 

Small frequent meals, or simply a succession of nutritious snacks, will help keep your blood sugar levels stable and thereby relieve the feelings of morning sickness. 

In fact, a drop in blood sugar can exacerbate symptoms. Avoid reaching for refined or sugary snacks and instead reach for complex carbohydrates — cooked sweet potato, brown rice, whole fruit, a smoothie, almonds. 

If you can keep these down, try following it with a small portion of protein or fat-containing foods to stabilise your blood sugar, such as nuts, cheese, avocado, fish, Greek yoghurt, scrambled eggs or bone broth. 

Eat protein last thing at night as protein-rich foods take longer to digest and keep blood sugar levels stable until morning.

To help combat pregnancy nausea, here are our top 5 tips:

1. Avoid spicy, fatty or greasy foods as these are harder to digest and can trigger nausea. 

2. Drink 2-4 litres of water throughout the day, including herbal tea and warm lemon water. If you can’t tolerate much liquid, try sucking on homemade fruit lollies or popsicles. Some women find sucking on a lemon helpful.

3. Increase your intake of ‘activated’ vitamin B6: take 10-30mg every 8 hours (it’s safe to take up to 250mg of vitamin B6 daily in the first trimester). Munch on foods high in vitamin B6 such as avocados, bananas, pistachios and sunflower seeds.

4. Zinc deficiency is associated with morning sickness. Either increase the amount you’re supplementing (20-60mg per day is considered safe) or eat zinc-rich foods like ginger*, chickpeas, lentils, seeds, nuts and organic eggs.

5. Get fresh air regularly throughout the day.

*Ginger has been used for centuries to ease nausea. Use it in cooking, drink ginger tea or add fresh ginger to warm lemon water, chew on crystallised ginger, or take ginger capsules (it’s considered safe to take up to 250mg of ginger every 6 hours). 

To access an additional 27 tips to relieve morning sickness, join The 40 Weeks Program.

Our signature online program delivers weekly support, up-to-date prenatal nutrition advice, as well as holistic guidance that goes beyond what you get told at the doctor’s office.

It delivers pregnancy-safe, nutrient-dense recipes to your inbox every week alongside traditional knowledge, natural remedies and practical how-to’s. The 40 Weeks Program supports you to experience the pregnancy of your dreams.

Click here to learn more about The 40 Weeks Program and how to get started on your healthy pregnancy journey.

*It’s never too early or too late to focus on your and your baby’s health.