So I had some MAJOR food aversions the first trimester (see the first-trimester recap here). I didn’t crave things; I just found that things that were sour, citrusy, vinegary, salty, and bland were best. I did some research on this and found that our bodies are reacting on some deep evolutionary level.
Food aversions protect the baby from potentially harmful food, which in my case was everything except saltine crackers and pickles. Carb intake helps ensure adequate energy for growing a brand new life and preparing reserves for breastfeeding. While I was grateful not to puke very often, mostly dry heaving when it did happen, I was even more thankful of blog posts like these that at least gave me ideas and pointed me in the right direction. It was a weird feeling to all of a sudden feel lost in the kitchen, which is typically my favorite place to be!
Preggie Pops
I keep these (even now) in my purse and all my bags! The sour candy helps!
Preggie Pops Plus
These preggie pops have added B6, which helped me with nausea. The only problem is trying not to get them mixed up in my bag with the ones that didn’t have B6. You should also check with your doctor before taking any additional supplements like this one. I kept it under 2-3 drops per day, and did the rest of them!
Gingermints
Of all the ginger products I tried, these ginger mints from Trader Joe’s were my favorite.
Jamba Juice Greens N’ Ginger Smoothie
This Greens N’ Ginger smoothie from Jamba Juice makes it easy to pack in the nutrients when you don’t feel like eating anything, plus the ginger helps settle your stomach! Beware though, I got half ginger, and it was still really really gingery! I got this 2 or 3 times on awful days, and at least I felt good about eating healthy, even if I didn’t feel that good!
Popsicles
Popsicles always seem to settle my tummy. I would eat them after a workout when I got overheated or didn’t feel right and was sick of eating crackers. The sourer the popsicle, the better!
Bland Carbs of Various Types
At the end of 6 weeks, I broke down and hit the store for all the carbs. We don’t eat a ton of crackers/chips in this house, so we had NOTHING. I bought a ton of options, and I’m glad I did, I LIVED off of them! My advice is to buy many types of carbs so you don’t get burnt out on crackers and hate the only thing you can stomach!
Orgain Protein Shakes
I lived on these orgain protein shakes for the first few weeks. I had a student ask about the safety of these taken with your prenatal vitamin. You need to refer to your doctor on that one for your particular case. That being said, for myself I figured since I was eating so little I wasn’t worried about the extra vitamins and minerals in the protein shake. Plus, in that one, they were way less than 100% for daily value. However, I recommend you check with your doctor because too many supplemental vitamins can be a bad thing for babe (as can be too much protein on their developing kidneys).
Eventually, this did stop working, the mix of liquid and solid in my stomach was a no go. But, it did get me through the first few weeks.
La Croix
I had a terrible time drinking water the first few months. So fizzy water was my savior. Although, I don’t think it’s excellent for fizzy water to be your only form of water, on the other hand at least its hydration. I bought three giant packs at Costco, and that lasted me weeks 6-15.
My OB’s office also told me to focus on watery foods like cucumbers, grapes, watermelon, etc… to prevent dehydration!
Other Foods
A few other things I found that worked for me:
- string cheese
- key lime greek yogurt (this flavor only)
- salt and vinegar anything
- jarred whole dill pickles from Trader Joe’s
- jarred olives – the giant green ones with pimento from Trader Joe’s
- toast
- sour candy (like preggo pops but also skittles)
- balsamic vinegar dressing made it possible to eat salads on the occasion
- smoothies (like this one in particular with added veggies)
- hot dogs (heated to 165F and yes my OCD self-measured with a thermometer to prevent listeria)
- for some reason, I could not only stomach, but I could inhale chipotle – probably because of their limey chips!
Bellyband
I had mixed feelings about the belly band. I wore it sometimes; it was good to have. However, most of the time I preferred to wear my ultralong tank tops, but I was often nervous they would ride up and exposed my hair tied rigged pants.
I hope this list helps you survive the first trimester. I’m now 15.5 weeks, and I am finally feeling better, but at times, I did think it would NEVER end. Then I would feel bad for not feeling as bad as other pregnant mamas I knew and still complaining. At the end (of the first trimester) I realized every pregnancy and every woman is different. Whether I’m sicker or less sick than someone else is irrelevant, I still had to get through whatever it was I needed to get through (unbelievable fatigue and constant morning sickness.) Mom life is never super easy right? We all have our challenges, it’s best to lift each other up as much as possible! So I hope this helps lift you up!
So fun reading about other’s experiences with pregnancy! My little one is almost 4 months, so first trimester is still fresh in my mind. Interesting, my cravings/aversions were so similar. Pretty much lived on toast, dry cereal, sour fruit, pretzels, sour candy, and salt and vinegar chips. Thankfully I could stomach veggies again once 2nd trimester hit. Soooo thankful I started liking coffee again after she was born.
Oh yes, you definitely need that coffee for a newborn! Thanks for sharing your experience, so fun to hear what happens to others!
I couldn’t do lacroix when I was pregnant. Or diet ginger ale, which I had been mainlining up to that point. And then there was the thing I had with veggies with thick skins… it I too became even more of a carb monster (which is really saying something!) And went off of ice cream!
Ugh that sucks! I needed those fizzy things!