How to support someone struggling with morning sickness during pregnancy

If you have a loved one who is currently pregnant and dealing with morning sickness, this post is for you! Find tips on how to support women in the first few weeks of pregnancy and help them get through the first trimester (and beyond).

Having someone you care for battle morning sickness can be very rough and leave you feeling helpless. Unfortunately, you can’t take the nausea and all those first trimester pregnancy symptoms away from your loved one, but there are a few ways to support them and get through this rough time.

What is morning sickness and how long does it last?

Morning sickness is a term to describe the nausea and vomiting that happens to many women during the first few months of pregnancy.

While it is called ‘morning’ sickness, it can often last alllllll day long! For some women it is worst in the mornings, others struggle more in the evenings and some women deal with it 24/7.

Morning sickness can be more or less sever. While some mostly battle nausea and the occasional throw up, some women will have multiple vomiting episodes throughout the day.

While many women start to feel better after the first trimester (13 weeks), some will battle morning sickness until way later in pregnancy. There really is no general rule, it varies from woman to woman and can be different in every pregnancy.

Feeling so crappy and sick all the time can make pregnant people feel incredibly exhausted to a point where they feel sad and depressed, because it seems like it won’t ever end. Especially, if it’s their second pregnancy and they are battling nausea while caring for another child, it can really take a toll on your mental health.

So let’s take a look at what you can do to support someone battling morning sickness.

Supporting women battling morning sickness

1. Be there for them

This is pretty self-explanatory. When you are in the worst phase of morning sickness it can feel pretty lonely. Many women chose to stay home and not go to any social gatherings, because they are just not feeling good or are afraid to get stomach sick when out and about.

So let your loved one know that you are there, thinking about them. Send frequent text messages or give them a call and check in with them.

2. Listen and acknowledge their feelings

When checking in with your friend or family member listen to them. Some days they may just need to tell you how miserable they are feeling and that everything sucks. Most likely they don’t want any tips, all they need is someone that listens and acknowledges how miserable they are.

Let them know that whatever they are feeling is valid and okay! After all they are growing a human inside their bodies. That is the hardest job ever!

3. Offer to take some responsibilities off their plate

Trying to support someone that already has kids? Offer to take care of their kids for a few hours. Maybe go grocery shopping for them, do a return, run some errands, pick their kids up from school, take them to their activities or drop off some dinner.

These small gestures can make a huge difference in someones day when they are feeling nauseous and crappy.

If you are the spouse of a pregnant woman take over most household duties and re-assure your partner that it is okay for you to do more while they are feeling sick. After all this is both your baby and you are in this together! Feeling your support can make a huge difference.

Instead of asking your loved one how you can help, it may sometimes be better to straight up offer support, e.g. text them ‘hey, running to the grocery store, send me your grocery list and I will drop it off at…’. I find it easier to accept offers like that than asking for help. Of course this varies from person to person.

4. Encourage them to stay positive

When you are dealing with bad morning sickness and it has been weeks since you have felt somewhat well and ‘normal’, it can leave you feeling depressed. After weeks of feeling sick it just feels like it will never end and it will eventually take a toll on your mental health.

To help your friend or family member feel better mentally try and encourage them to stay positive. Just telling a pregnant woman ‘it will be over soon’ is usually not a very smart idea and not helpful. So what can you do?

Engage in conversation about baby and focus on the positive sides of having a child. Maybe talk about names, brainstorm nursery ideas and decor, make a baby registry together and just focus on the things you know your pregnant friend or family member is excited about.

If you are working on a baby registry together I recommend you check out my post about pumping and breastfeeding essentials. It contains tips, tricks and product recommendations about everything you need to feed baby and make your nursing journey a success.

If you are trying to support someone who is usually active and social, maybe get them out for a walk together, invite them to a movie at home, have a low-key boardgame night. Do something where they feel safe and can easily leave if they are starting to feel worse.

I loved going over to a close friends house in my Pjs to watch movies together. It helped me so much to get out of the house! And having 0 pressure to dress up or stay for a certain amount of time was all I needed.

5. Prepare foods and drinks you know your pregnant friend can stomach

Especially if you are living with someone that is currently pregnant and struggling with nausea, they may appreciate if you focus on preparing foods and snacks they can stomach. If that means you will be eating the same thing for a week straight, so be it. It is a small sacrifice on your part and will help your partner feel a lot better.

Make sure your partners water bottle is always filled and encourage them to drink plenty of fluids (but don’t overdo it and be annoying). Make some grocery store runs and always have snacks in the house that you know help your pregnant partner feel better.

It is also a sweet gesture to always have some snacks and drinks prepared for your pregnant loved one. If they are working, prepare a small snack bag for lunch to make sure they don’t get too hungry which will make their nausea worse.

Find more morning sickness friendly snack and drink ideas as well as natural morning sickness remedies in my recent blogpost and learn tips and tricks that may provide your pregnant loved one some nausea relief.

6. Bring over a morning sickness care package

When I was struggling with morning sickness there were days where I really did not want to see anyone. Just letting someone into my house that looked a hot mess seemed too much to handle while battling the constant nausea. And I am sure I am not the only one who feels like that during pregnancy.

A great way to support someone who is not up for visitors is by dropping off a morning sickness care package or gift basket. Just put together a small basket and drop it off at your friends door step.

If you’re an expectant father and living with your spouse you could still do this. I am sure your partner will appreciate the thoughtfulness of a gift basket.

Some things you could put in a morning sickness gift basket are:

• snacks, such as bland cracker and pretzels;

• nausea remedies, for example some preggo drops, or lemon ginger tea;

• magazines or a books;

• a kind note;

You can really select whatever you think would help your friend or family member get through morning sickness and put a smile on their face.

I hope you found some ideas on how to support someone struggling with morning sickness during pregnancy. Whether it is your wife, friend or family member, your thoughtfulness and care will surely mean a lot to them.

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