Pregnancy and HIV disease

Issues that positive women may face when they're pregnant

August 2005     View PDF     En español

Managing morning sickness

Nausea or morning sickness during pregnancy is normal and usually poses a problem only during the first trimester. If these conditions persist into the second trimester (weeks 13–26), or if you cannot hold food down at all or lose weight, talk with your doctor at once. This could be a sign of a more significant problem. A few tips on morning sickness:

• Eat small, frequent meals every two or three hours, even through the night.
• Keep dry crackers beside your bed and eat a couple before getting up in the morning. It also sometimes helps to eat crackers about an hour before your first drug dose of the day.
• Eat lots of carbohydrates, like dry toast, bananas, baked potatoes, rice and whole grain breakfast cereals.
• Flat soda and sweet juices in the morning can help nausea.
• Ginger tea with honey and candied ginger may help.