British Pregnancy Advisory Service

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Struggling to eat during early pregnancy?

Hiya everyone,

I'm around 5-6 weeks pregnant and for the past couple of weeks have been really struggling with morning sicknesses making me feel super nauseous pretty much all the time. Over the past couple of days it's started to really affect my appetite so today for instabce I've not even managed to finish a small bowl of soup and to be honest it's got me super worried. Everything I've read goes on about how important eating is but I physically can't and I'm throwing up pretty much everything that I do manage.

I'd really appreciate some suggestions on what to do because I really want to keep as healthy as possible but it's a struggle...

4 Replies

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I took morning sickness as a good sign it means your hormones are strong every time I looked it up it kept saying morning sickness is a good sign which made me more positive. With morning sickness it really is hard to stay healthy I was off my appetite too. I found it was worse as soon as I got out of bed so I made an effort to have some water and plain biscuits or ginger biscuits before I got out of bed that helped. I also found eating brown bread toast or and bread based foods for breakfast and lunch helped crackers and cheese and also I wanted salt and vinegar crisps and it helped my sickness basically anything dry. Only eat the foods you think you can stomach or it will make it worse. I also took pregnancy vitamins so at least I was getting all the nutrients I needed. My sickness eased at 16 weeks xx

Also try anti sickness bands I lived in mine 24/7 and found it was worse when I didn’t wear them xx

I was exactly the same for around 6 weeks all I ate was ready salted crisps and beige bland food, I normally love fruit and veg but even the thought of it made me want to vom. I’m 17 weeks now and am back to eating fruit and veg as normal, I think the majority of people feel like this at the start of pregnancy (all of my friends with healthy children have told me they suffered with the same symptoms). Inform your midwife but tbh when I told my midwife she kind of shrugged it off, they will be able to tell from your urine and blood tests if your dehydrated or have a deficiency, but I wouldn’t worry too much about your food choices, just eat what you can manage xx

I had the exact same thing. I’m now 9 weeks and weeks 5-6 for me we’re the worst. The smell of everything was making me so nauseous. Even thing I love like White Company fragrances and coffee. I was constantly wanting to run to the loo to be sick. I also went from eating 2 large meals to 6 small snacks. I also feel I had the appetite of a 10 year old. Just wanting fruit pastels, basic plain food, things like Mac and cheese, pasta with tomato sauce, and spaghetti hoops.

I’m so glad the nausea eases off by week 9 when the hormones peak. I’m still eating small portions and get full quickly, but I think it should get back to normal by second trimester.

Until then just try to eat plain food in very small portions. It does sound very normal though and I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Keep hydrated and eat juicy fruit like grapes and apples. Xx