All About: Morning Sickness

With more than 80% of pregnant women experiencing some form of nausea or vomiting, it’s safe to say that “Morning Sickness” is an extremely common symptom of pregnancy.

- Jane Mason

For anyone who’s experienced morning sickness, you will know only too well that actually nausea and/or vomiting doesn’t just happen first thing in the morning, it can come at any time of the day or night. It’s really important to say that this condition can affect absolutely anyone and it’s not connected to anything you are doing or have done in the past. So if you have it; it’s not your fault, there’s nothing you did to cause it and nothing that can be done to prevent it. It is not really known why different women experience morning sickness to different degrees and why some women don’t have any symptoms at all.

There’s still a lot of debate around what causes morning sickness. Some research shows that the symptoms are associated with the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) which is secreted by the placenta. This is the hormone picked up by a pregnancy test. However, there are at least another 11 hormones and 1 enzyme that are also produced by the placenta and it is thought these may also have a part to play.

But the good news is that morning sickness is seen as a good thing and a normal part of pregnancy (although I’m sure you’ll disagree!) and shouldn’t affect your general health or your baby in any way. Despite old wive’s tales, there is no strong evidence to suggest you are more likely to get morning sickness with either a girl or boy baby, although it is accepted that it can be worse if pregnant with twins.