When does Morning Sickness Begin?
Morning Sickness is not usually the first sign of pregnancy. The first give-away is a missed period but even before that, many women feel tired and unenergetic, their breasts become tender and they suffer from stomach cramps. Some women have all of these symptoms while others have none – not even the missed period.
The thing about pregnancy is that everyone’s is different – different symptoms, no symptoms, morning sickness, no morning sickness, weight gain, minimal weight gain. We have all heard the stories of women whose first clue they were pregnant was when they actually gave birth! But, most of us figure out we are pregnant before then, thank goodness. And, for many, one of the first things we think is ‘So when does the morning sickness begin?’ Or it could be ‘So that’s why I’ve been throwing up!’
Here again, there are differences, but if you are going to suffer from morning sickness, then it usually begins around the end of week four. Some women can experience it earlier as in the second week and for others the onset can be as late as eight weeks. The forty weeks of pregnancy are calculated from the first day of your last period, so by the time you have missed your first period, you could already be considered four weeks pregnant. This means that by the time you realize you are pregnant, you could already be experiencing nausea and vomiting.
It is important to know that the earlier you start to ease your symptoms, the more successful you will be. Don’t just put up with it until it’s really bad. The principal rule is the emptier your stomach, the worse the nausea so eat light and often and drink lots of water – even more than the recommended 8 glasses a day. Try and go for about 10 or 12 especially if you are throwing up as dehydration is a very real danger.
Look at the article on Remedies in these pages for some ideas that will help.
