Pregnancy Eating Woes

I know what you are going through, I had the same problem with my last pregnancy. I had to eat little meals all day long and it took me 5 months before I started gaining weight. I was really sick. I remember wanting just one thing that sounded good and I would eat it all the time.

what I finally found that worked for me was starting my day, before I ate anything else, with a glass of milk. Then I could try something else.

Eat what sounds good to you. At least you are eating something. The baby will get what he/she needs, regardless.

I hope this helps

During my first pregnancy I was so sick! It was terrible! For a while I found nourishment in Ensure (or the generic equivalent), and even drank 2-3 a day. I too found certain things that tasted better than others. I could eat and craved Einstein bagels, for example. But really, I never felt better and never was able to eat like normal until after my daughter was born. It was then that I downed the hospital food as though it were food from a 5 star restaurant.
I did learn certain tricks during my second pregnancy that kept me from feeling too sick and especially from vomiting. I suggest looking on line to find pointers that help curb nausea and especially that keep you from vomiting. There are things you can do and eat to help. To name a few from memory: when the nausea starts in even slightly, eat some carbs (even if it is cereal!), and maybe drink sprite (I don't drink soda, but did a little while pregnant for "survival"). If you are already to the nauseous point of throwing up, eat a piece of candy or something really sweet to calm the nausea down until you are able to eat a little bit of carbs. Otherwise, eat a lot of lean protein and drink water (even in sips)throughout the day, which both are said to help and seemed to have helped me. If you can't drink plain water because you feel too sick, add lemon, lime or something that makes it more drinkable.
Also, during my 2nd pregancy I felt like the prenatal vitamins were making me sick, so I stopped taking them and then told my doctor. He said, "take 2 flintstone children's vitamins and a folic acid", which is essentially what I did. Good luck. Remember, one day this will be a memory and you will be sharing your advice with others!

try replicating the lean cusine recipes. you know whats in there that you like so buy it fresh and cook it yourself. also you may try eggnog if you can stand it. i have a hard time keeping my wieght up since i have a kidney disease. i cant eat much protein so protein shakes are out of the question. i used to be really heavy and then lost 78 lbs in a year. i have to keep at least up to 100 lbs and some days i lose it in my sleep. thats ok bbecause my sister finds it all the time lol. i have been drinking eggnog 3 times a day i know they only sell it during the holidays but my dairy manager in grocery is going to try and get it for me as long as possible. today i am at 103 lbs which is good. i have been at 102 or 103 for the last month. and yes, i eat al day long even when im not hungry just to not have to hear " why are you so skinny" that bothers me as much as when they used to say i was fat.

Congratulations!
With mt second I had lots of nausea issues as well. What helped me was to start taking my pre-natal vitamins in the evening after dinner. I also added a Vitamin B complex vitamin, but I am really not sure if that helped.
I know moving the prenatals fom morning to evening did for sure!

Best wishes!!!
D.

Hi N., I can totally relate. All of my (3) pregnancies were like that to some degree. For me, it got better around week 20, so maybe there is hope that even though you are past the first trimester, that it will still stop sometime soon. I feel your pain, though, it's horrible. I felt so bad that when I had some bleeding and they though I might be having a miscarriage, a tiny part of me was bummed when they said I wasn't. I just felt SO sick and the idea of being done and not having to endure it for who knew how much longer, was appealing.

Eat whatever you can. Don't stress over the quality. I am health conscious and a vegetarian, but when you feel that crappy every day, you have to give yourself some lee-way. My midwives agreed, saying that something was better than nothing and that once you feel better you can go back to your healthy ways. All I could keep down was cereal and bagels with cream cheese and (brace yourself!) Chef Boyardee canned spaghetti. Gross, I know, but I'll tell ya I ate a can of that stuff like every other day for a while there!

Also, don't know how I never learned this til my last preganancy, but I was told that there is a belief that some women are more prone to nausea/ morning sickness because they are naturally deficient in B12. My midwife told me and said that it couldn't hurt to take extra, so I took a tab with my prenatal (I want to say it was 1000miligrams or something like that- check with your OB). I was told this around week 11 and I started taking it. With my other two pregnancies I was sick til week 18 and 20, but with this one it stopped within 4 or 5 of starting on the supplement. Don't know if it stopped because of the supplement or if I was going to get lucky with a shorter sickness period anyway, but it's worth a shot!!

Further, I'm sure you know that they say taking your pill at night can help and that ginger is good to help with nausea. I hate ginger, so that didn't help me, but you can eat dried ginger or drink ginger tea, etc. I also wore Sea Bands (pressure point bracelets) that seemed to help a bit. Good luck!

Hi N.,
Just a suggestion: a dietician told me lemon is an appetite stimulant. Try lemonade, lemon ice, ice pops, whatever. Maybe it will help?

Keep your chin up, girl!
T

With my first pregnancy, I had a terrible time in the first trimester eating anything with much flavor. All I could tolerate to eat for breakfast was an apple and a toasted english muffin with cream cheese. For lunch I found that a chicken salad sandwich from Sprouts deli was nice and bland but still had protein. Dinner was harder because the smell of cooking meat would make me sick. A lot of times I just ate cereal and then I'd have to get up in the middle of the night to eat again. Sometimes egg noodles with a touch of butter and a little salt & pepper was alright and more filling than cereal. When it was feasible, I had Robek's smoothies with protein powder in them for snacks but my OB advised me not to overdo it because they have a lot of sugar. I don't know if you're a tea drinker but Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Tea was something I drank a lot of (hot or iced). It's mostly chamomile but has a touch of spearmint which calms the stomach and it helped me a lot. You might also consider switching prenatal vitamins. I had to switch twice to find one that didn't nauseate me and I also took it before bed so that if it upset my stomach I'd be less apt to notice. Best wishes... hopefully it's just a phase.

When I was so sick with my daughter, I ate eggs. Lots and lots of eggs. They have good protein and it was one of the only things I could stand. For a while I could also drink smoothies. So, I bought the big bag of frozen fruit at Costco and make smoothies with milk or yogurt.

I'm sorry to say that I would stay away from the Lean Cuisines. Before I got pregnant, I was eating Nutrisystem and my OBGYN said that there isn't enough fresh nutrients in those types of meals aside from the fact that they're so low calorie.

All in all, don't stress yourself too much over it. I use to cry and cry because I hardly ate anything and was absolutely paranoid that my daughter wasn't getting enough nutrients. She turned out just fine and I hardly ate for the first trimester and a half!

Wow do I understand! The first trimester I ate mostly "cup o noodles." How's that for digusting? I couldn't even tolerate water! I found that I could hold down Slim Fast's protein shakes because I swear it tastes like Nestle Quik. So I would have that in the middle of the day when I was the most hungry.

I also took a multivitamin (dr's recommendation) instead of the prenatals because they would make things worse. I threw up everything! (I am 6 months on Saturday and have only been able to start eating normally in the last 2 or 3 weeks)

Be patient and really just eat whatever seems tolerable. I also would try small amounts of nuts or fruit, and usually ate with a pack of tums nearby. I found I could tolerate frozen veggies. If it got really bad I would drink a little caffiene free diet coke with a tums. I had all sorts of eating habits I would normally never consider but you have to be able to keep something/anything down. (My son has no idea what mcdonalds is either)

Goodluck. It will pass (even though it feels like it never will). Keep talking to your doctor so they can reassure you that you are doing fine. :)

Check out the frozen food section at Whole Foods. They have lots of tasty meals that are organic, like Amy's, that have fewer unpronouncable ingredients.
My first trimester was all about mac n cheese, ramen noodles, and watermelon. Those were the only three things I could consistently keep down. I feel your pain, and hope you feel better soon!!! Honestly, the morning sickness is the thing that makes me hesitant to get preggo again. I'd rather do labor twice than puke for four months again :)

Hi N.-
If your OB-gyn says all is well with your food choices, stick with it- you may change, anyway. I had a classic dill pickle-and -ice-cream episode; later, I spent a week eating German chocolate cake, and got yelled at by my OB, "DON'T do it again!" after 5 pounds that week. Have a beautiful baby; make sure that you're seeing the Dr. regularly. S.

Have you tried Boost? Try the one with protein added. What about cheeses and nuts that are high in protein? Or maybe fruit smoothies with whey protein added in. I love the ones from Robeks (, they seem healthier too me. Also, have you talked to your doctor about this? Remember, this too shall pass.

I feel your pain - I was the same way when I was pregnant with my son. It got to the point where we didn't cook in the house because the smells just made me unbearable to live with. A couple of nausea things that helped sometimes - ginger tea (get fresh ginger and boil it in water to make tea) and things with ginger in it (ginger altoids saved me from getting sick at work a few times) and believe it or not Coca Cola relieved my nausea. I drank a lot of caffeine free coke at home and if you are out of the house you can get caffeine free coke at Sonic.

As far as things to eat - I could not handle meat either. Eggs were OK for a brief period and then became a big NO WAY, I did OK with pinto beans most of the time, I got to a point where I could do yogurt consistently mid-pregnancy, blueberry muffins were OK for breakfast. I hope reading any of those foods did not make you sick. Sometimes that would happen to me too - just the suggestions of certain foods would set me off. It was not fun. I say if the lean cuisines stay down and you are getting some calories and nutrition - go with it. The only meat like thing I could eat while pregnant was McDonald's chicken nuggets. It was a very strange experience.

I hope this passes quickly so you can enjoy this pregnancy.

During my pregnancy I had an exacerbated gal bladder. It gave me sharp pains in my side. My doctor said that I would have to eat mild foods, nothing spicy or with lots of flavor. I ate turkey sandwiches a lot. Nothing fancy, just a turkey sandwich from home or your favorite sandwich shop. Also, most restaurants sell some sort of a turkey sandwich so I was still able to go out to eat. I know it isn't very exciting, but it is a good balanced meal with the turkey, bread, veggies and cheese. And this time of year turkey is everywhere.