Читать книгу You: Having a Baby: The Owner’s Manual to a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy - Michael Roizen F. - Страница 55

If you’re unable to keep down liquids for more than twenty-four hours, it may be a sign that you suffer from a condition called hyperemesis (meaning that you vomit a lot). It’s fairly rare (happens in about 1 percent to 3 percent of pregnancies), and some sufferers have to be admitted to the hospital to be rehydrated. Nobody knows the cause, but risk factors include multiple pregnancies, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and a history of motion sickness. The point: Not all sickness is a “ride it out” kind of problem, and if you sense that your nausea seems unusually severe, it’s worth checking out.

experience during pregnancy create a swirling GI storm that makes many expectant mothers quite literally sickened by the mere mention of food. (By the way, it used to be believed that morning sickness was psychological, which is untrue, except perhaps in a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of women.)

Factoid: New research shows that maternal nutrition is important not just for the immediate health of a fetus but also for his long-term health. Just recently, in fact, prenatal nutritional deficiency was linked to developing schizophrenia in adults. It may seem like an odd association, but not when you consider how fundamental in utero nutrition is to brain development.

Some scientists argue that morning sickness and aversions to certain foods are indeed protective. Aversions to meat or raw vegetables, for instance, can be the body’s way of protecting against bacteria. Others say that there’s less morning sickness in societies that don’t consume meat or caffeine. Unfortunately, none of these explanations will make you feel much better as you cope with trying to feed your baby when you don’t even want to feed yourself. And another big issue besides making sure that nutrients get to the baby is the risk that you’ll become dehydrated; about 1 to 3 percent of pregnant women actually end up in the hospital needing intravenous fluids to correct dehydration. Fact is, you may not be able to eliminate morning sickness; your real goal should be to learn how to manage it. Even though many women have terrible memories of being nauseous during pregnancy, almost all find a way to cope. Your challenge is to find the subtle tricks that work for you. With that in mind, we’re going to share a bunch of popular and safe tips with you at the end of this chapter.