Morning Sickness in Pregnancy

For many women, morning sickness and pregnancy go hand-in-hand. In fact, morning sickness is one of the first signs of pregnancy. For some women, morning sickness may be the only pregnancy symptoms they experience in the beginning. How likely are you to be affected by morning sickness? Well, the chances are pretty good: between 50 and 80% of all pregnant women will experience some level of morning sickness during their pregnancy.

When Does Morning Sickness Begin?

So, just how long does morning sickness last? The peak morning sickness weeks are during your first trimester. Usually, morning sickness will start between the fourth and sixth week of pregnancy and, unfortunately, will continue for most of your first trimester. While some women are lucky enough to have their morning sickness subside as early as the 12th week, generally, morning sickness stops between the 14th and 16th week of pregnancy.

For a few women, though, their morning sickness peak will not occur around the beginning of the second trimester. Severe morning sickness, officially known as Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), is rare but does happen. If you have extreme morning sickness, you may need to be hospitalized. HG can lead to dehydration, weight loss and vitamin deficiency. However, research has not found severe morning sickness to cause any harm to a baby. Regardless, if you are vomiting frequently and/or you notice you are losing weight, speak with your health care provider about what you should do. You may also want to try Morning Well CD's which have been shown to be very effective in helping combat the symptoms of morning sickness.

Not Just Early Morning Sickness

The name “morning sickness” is somewhat deceptive. The actual definition of morning sickness refers to the nausea and vomiting many pregnant women experience in the first trimester. However, very few women experience this pregnancy symptom exclusively in the morning. Much to their chagrin, most pregnant women have to deal with morning sickness all day long.

At the other end of the scale, there are some women who never have to deal with the discomfort that nausea and vomiting bring with them. Between 10 and 20% of women have a pregnancy and no morning sickness at all. Although some may worry that there is something wrong with their pregnancy without it, a lack of morning sickness is not always a bad thing. So, if you are one of these women, be happy you don’t have to deal with the queasiness that plagues so many women during pregnancy.

Morning sickness can also vary from pregnancy to pregnancy. Having no morning sickness in one pregnancy does not guarantee that you won’t have any signs of morning sickness in future pregnancies and vice versa. Every pregnancy is an adventure, so sit back and enjoy the ride!