Can morning sickness go away at 8 weeks

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, often known as morning sickness, is very common in early pregnancy.

It can affect you at any time of the day or night or you may feel sick all day long.

Morning sickness is unpleasant, and can significantly affect your day-to-day life. But it usually clears up by weeks 16 to 20 of your pregnancy and does not put your baby at any increased risk.

There is a chance of developing a severe form of pregnancy sickness called hyperemesis gravidarum. This can be serious, and there's a chance you may not get enough fluids in your body (dehydration) or not get enough nutrients from your diet (malnourishment). You may need specialist treatment, sometimes in hospital.

Sometimes urinary tract infections (UTIs) can also cause nausea and vomiting. A UTI usually affects the bladder, but can spread to the kidneys.

Treatments for morning sickness

Unfortunately, there's no hard and fast treatment that will work for everyone’s morning sickness. Every pregnancy will be different.

But there are some changes you can make to your diet and daily life to try to ease the symptoms.

If these do not work for you or you're having more severe symptoms, your doctor or midwife might recommend medicine.

Things you can try yourself

If your morning sickness is not too bad, your GP or midwife will initially recommend you try some lifestyle changes:

• get plenty of rest (tiredness can make nausea worse)
• avoid foods or smells that make you feel sick
• eat something like dry toast or a plain biscuit before you get out of bed
• eat small, frequent meals of plain foods that are high in carbohydrate and low in fat (such as bread, rice, crackers and pasta)
• eat cold foods rather than hot ones if the smell of hot meals makes you feel sick
• drink plenty of fluids, such as water (sipping them little and often may help prevent vomiting)
• eat foods or drinks containing ginger – there's some evidence ginger may help reduce nausea and vomiting (check with your pharmacist before taking ginger supplements during pregnancy)
• try acupressure – there's some evidence that putting pressure on your wrist, using a special band or bracelet on your forearm, may help relieve the symptoms

Find out more about vitamins and supplements in pregnancy

Anti-sickness medicine

If your nausea and vomiting is severe and does not improve after trying the above lifestyle changes, your GP may recommend a short-term course of an anti-sickness medicine, called an antiemetic, that's safe to use in pregnancy.

Often this will be a type of antihistamine, which are usually used to treat allergies but also work as medicines to stop sickness (antiemetic).

Antiemetics will usually be given as tablets for you to swallow.

But if you cannot keep these down, your doctor may suggest an injection or a type of medicine that's inserted into your bottom (suppository).

See your GP if you'd like to talk about getting anti-sickness medication.

Risk factors for morning sickness

It's thought hormonal changes in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy are probably one of the causes of morning sickness.

But you may be more at risk of it if:

• you're having twins or more
• you had severe sickness and vomiting in a previous pregnancy
• you tend to get motion sickness (for example, car sick)
• you have a history of migraine headaches
• morning sickness runs in the family
• you used to feel sick when taking contraceptives containing oestrogen
• it's your first pregnancy
• you're obese (your BMI is 30 or more)
• you're experiencing stress

Visit the pregnancy sickness support site for tips for you and your partner on dealing with morning sickness.

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Sickness in pregnancy (sometimes called morning sickness) is common. Around 8 out of every 10 pregnant women feel sick (nausea), are sick (vomiting) or both during pregnancy. This does not just happen in the morning.

For most women, this improves or stops completely by around weeks 16 to 20, although for some women it can last longer.

Some pregnant women experience very bad nausea and vomiting. They might be sick many times a day and be unable to keep food or drink down, which can impact on their daily life.

This excessive nausea and vomiting is known as hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), and often needs hospital treatment.

Exactly how many pregnant women get HG is not known as some cases may go unreported, but it's thought to be around 1 to 3 in every 100.

If you are being sick frequently and cannot keep food down, tell your midwife or doctor, or contact the hospital as soon as possible. There is a risk you may become dehydrated, and your midwife or doctor can make sure you get the right treatment.

Symptoms of hyperemesis gravidarum

HG is much worse than the normal nausea and vomiting of pregnancy.

Signs and symptoms of HG include:

• prolonged and severe nausea and vomiting
• being dehydrated. Symptoms of dehydration include, feeling thirsty, tired, dizzy or lightheaded, not peeing very much, and having dark yellow and strong-smelling pee
• weight loss
• low blood pressure (hypotension) when standing

Unlike regular pregnancy sickness, HG may not get better by 16 to 20 weeks. It may not clear up completely until the baby is born, although some symptoms may improve at around 20 weeks.

See your GP or midwife if you have severe nausea and vomiting. Getting help early can help you avoid dehydration and weight loss.

There are other conditions that can cause nausea and vomiting, and your doctor will need to rule these out first.

See the healthtalk.org website for videos and written interviews of women talking about their experiences of hyperemesis gravidarum and how they coped.

What causes hyperemesis gravidarum?

It's not known what causes HG, or why some women get it and others do not. Some experts believe it is linked to the changing hormones in your body that occur during pregnancy.

There is some evidence that it runs in families, so if you have a mother or sister who has had HG in a pregnancy, you may be more likely to get it yourself.

If you have had HG in a previous pregnancy, you are more likely to get it in your next pregnancy than women who have never had it before, so it's worth planning in advance.

Treating hyperemesis gravidarum

There are medicines that can be used in pregnancy, including the first 12 weeks, to help improve the symptoms of HG. These include anti-sickness (anti-emetic) drugs, vitamins (B6 and B12) and steroids, or combinations of these.

You may need to try different types of medicine until you find what works best for you.

You can visit the Bumps website to find out which medicines are safe to use in pregnancy.

If your nausea and vomiting cannot be controlled, you may need to be admitted to hospital. This is so doctors can assess your condition and give you the right treatment to protect the health of you and your baby.

Treatment can include intravenous fluids, which are given directly into a vein through a drip. If you have severe vomiting, the anti-sickness drugs may also need to be given via a vein or a muscle.

The charity Pregnancy Sickness Support has information and tips on coping with nausea and vomiting, including HG.

Will hyperemesis gravidarum harm my baby?

HG can make you feel very unwell, but it's unlikely to harm your baby if treated effectively.

However, if it causes you to lose weight during pregnancy, there is an increased risk that your baby may be born smaller than expected (have a low birthweight).

Other symptoms you may experience

Pregnancy Sickness Support is in touch with many women who have had HG, and who report having some or all of the following symptoms in addition to the main symptoms listed above: 

• extremely heightened sense of smell
• excessive saliva production
• headaches and constipation from dehydration

If you experience these symptoms, you are not alone. Many women have them and they will go away when the HG stops or the baby is born.

How you might feel

The nausea and vomiting of HG can impact your life at a time when you were expecting to be enjoying pregnancy and looking forward to the birth of your baby.

It can affect you both emotionally and physically. The symptoms can be hard to cope with. Without treatment HG may also lead to further health complications, such as depression or tears in your oesophagus.

Severe sickness can be exhausting and stop you doing everyday tasks, such as going to work or even getting out of bed.

In addition to feeling very unwell and tired, you might also feel:

• anxious about going out or being too far from home in case you need to vomit
• isolated because you do not know anyone who understands what it's like to have HG
• confused as to why this is happening to you
• unsure about how to cope with the rest of the pregnancy if you continue to feel very ill

If you feel any of these, do not keep it to yourself. Talk to your midwife or doctor, and explain the impact HG is having on your life and how it is making you feel. You could also talk to your partner, family and friends if you want to.

If you want to talk to someone who has been through HG, you can contact Pregnancy Sickness Support's help section. They have a support network across the UK and can put you in touch with someone who has had HG.

Bear in mind that HG is much worse than regular pregnancy sickness. It is not the result of anything you have or have not done, and you do need treatment and support.

Another pregnancy

If you have had HG before, it's likely you will get it again in another pregnancy.

If you decide on another pregnancy, it can help to plan ahead, such as arranging child care so you can get plenty of rest.

You could try doing things that helped last time.

Talk to your doctor about starting medicine early.

Blood clots and hyperemesis gravidarum

Because HG can cause dehydration, there's also an increased risk of having a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis), although this is rare. 

If you are dehydrated and immobile, there is treatment that you can be given to prevent blood clots.

Read more about how to prevent deep vein thrombosis.