In my first trimester of pregnancy, I had really bad morning sickness. I wanted to share a few tips for first-time pregnant moms that are looking for ways to alleviate the queasiness and vomiting.

1. Avoid acidic foods or drinks like tomato sauce, citrus fruits, or coffee.

Avoiding foods like marinara pasta, pizza, oranges, and coffee was the number one thing that helped me a lot. I found that these foods always triggered an unpleasant episode of morning sickness a few minutes to an hour later.

2. Swap out your toiletries for plain, non-scented varieties.

I felt nauseous any time I shampooed my hair. I couldn’t stand the mint flavor of toothpaste and switched to kids bubble gum flavor. Many of the smells in the soaps and lotions I used before pregnancy made me gag, so I either stopped using them or switched to a non-scented brand.

After searching for specific brands that wouldn’t trigger a reaction, I found these products:

• Suave Professionals Almond and Shea Butter Shampoo
• Ivory Original Bar Soap
• Dove Beauty Bar Sensitive Skin
• Kids’ Aquafresh Bubble Mint Pump Toothpaste
• LUSH Lip Balm – Lip Service Flavor
• Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion

3. Drink sparkling water.

At one point, I was getting pretty dehydrated because I couldn’t handle drinking regular tap water or water that was room temperature. I found I could tolerate sparkling water pretty well and it helped me to keep hydrated. Some people add a little bit of lemon or ice to water to make it drinkable, but I found that the lemon didn’t help much and in some cases made me more queasy. Also, I didn’t have ice at work to make water drinkable.

4. Breathe in and sip pregnancy tea.

My husband found this Pink Stork Morning Sickness Relief Pregnancy Tea on Amazon and it really did help. The ginger taste is more subtle and it has a little bit of peach in it. Also, the tea is caffeine-free.

5. Ginger ale! Ginger candies.

It’s already pretty well known that ginger ale helps with morning sickness. Chimes Ginger Chews really helped me when I would get motion sickness in a car or subway.

6. Avoid traveling in cars or subway trains for a long period of time.

Avoid traveling in cars or subway trains for a long period of time. The fast motion from traveling can trigger an episode of morning sickness.

First, if you must travel, make sure you eat something like banana or crackers before getting in the car or subway because an empty stomach makes it worse.

If you have an alternative, slower mode of travel, try taking that. I used to take the subway to work an hour each way every day but the jerky stops and fast motions were so bad that I switched to a slower commuter train.

Bring some ginger ale or ginger chews with you in case you need it. Also useful to bring a gallon Ziploc bag to use for emergencies when motion sickness strikes.

7. Eat whatever food you feel works for you that doesn’t cause a reaction

Starches like potato or bread are good. For me, it was rice and dried seaweed that was safest. My doctor recommended plain foods like banana, rice, and apple sauce.

Hope this helps!