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NUTRITION NEWS
The above title is a common question that many health care providers are asked by their clients who have morning sickness. Nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) is a term that is slowly replacing "morning sickness." It accounts for a variety of symptoms regardless of the time of day that nausea affects a pregnant woman. Only about 20% of those who experience NVP say it occurs only in the morning (Erick 1993). Most women experience some form of nausea and/or vomiting during their pregnancy, but up until recently, there has been little attention paid to NVP in pregnancy books beyond advising women to eat crackers in the morning before getting out of bed.
The term "morning sickness" came about because women often initially experienced their nausea upon awakening in the morning. Today it is thought that the motion of getting out of bed quickly makes some women more susceptible to experiencing NVP when they first wake up. Having crackers by the bedside has worked for some women because they are forced to get out of bed more slowly, by first eating and then getting up.
NVP can be a combination of some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, aversion to odors, bright lights, loud noises, snug-fitting clothing, or sensitivity to invasion of personal space (Erick 1993).
Approximately 50 to 80% of pregnant women experience nausea or vomiting in their pregnancy (Klebanoff, et al. 1985) and approximately 20% will experience nausea or vomiting beyond twenty weeks of gestation (Tierson, Olsen, and Hook 1986). Anyone who has experienced NVP through some or all of their pregnancy will attest to...