Last updated on January 16th, 2024 at 11:40 pm
Morning sickness is one of the common pregnancy symptom. The common symptoms in any condition or diseases does not compulsory mean that symptom must occur. In some cases, it could be absent. The symptom in any disease depends on many factors which manifest that symptom.
But why Is it normal to have morning sickness some days and not others?
Before diving into main topic lets understand some basics of it so that it will be easy for you to comprehend the understanding of topic.
What is morning sickness ?
Morning sickness is type of symptom pregnant female experience in their first trimester (not necessary) in which she experiences nausea and vomiting. It is also termed as Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP).
How does morning sickness feel?
Symptoms of morning sickness include the motion sickness or car sickness, nausea and vomiting, aversion to some kind of foods and smells. Some females may experience bloating of stomach and fatigue.
Is it normal to have morning sickness?
It is absolutely normal to have morning sickness. In facts it denotes the perfect healthy pregnancy. According to studies, pregnant female who experience morning sickness during their pregnancy, tend to have less chance of miscarriages.
In this blog, I am going to discuss one of aspect about this morning sickness symptom. Many of you might be concerning that is it normal to have morning sickness some days and not others. Well, the answer to this question is definitely, yes. It is normal that morning sickness could be inconsistent, sometimes absent, sometimes this symptom could occur frequent like every day.
So, stay with me. It will need elaborative answer as this normal status could land up in abnormal. Because there are situations where you would face extreme of this symptom and need to be concern.
I will explore some facts regarding this concern and some reasons for why it is normal to feel morning sickness some days and not others.
Uncertainty about morning sickness
As the name suggest, it is not necessary that morning sickness should be experienced in morning only. The morning sickness term is so misnomer that only 2% of pregnant female experience it in morning hours. So, the timing is uncertain factor about morning sickness.
There are also other uncertainties about this symptom.
- Not all pregnant women experience morning sickness. According to research 70 to 80% female experience morning sickness in their pregnancy.
- It is believed that morning sickness occur in first trimester period of pregnancy. But in some cases that could be wrong. Some women can have morning sickness after first trimester. There is also chance of experiencing morning sickness throughout pregnancy till nine months.
- If you have empty stomach, you are more prone to have morning sickness and that too worse. This means eating some food alleviate the nausea and vomiting.
- Morning sickness is triggered at any time of the day. As I have mentioned that only 2% female tend to have nausea and vomiting in morning hours. Rest of the women experience it in any hours of the day.
What I want to say through above points is that the morning sickness has so uncertainty in itself that it is normal to have it some days and not others.
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Why is it normal to have morning sickness some days and not others ?
As morning sickness could not be consistence, there are days when you will not experience it. It is normal. Now what makes it normal.
Why it is normal for morning sickness to come and go during pregnancy. What makes is so dynamic.
Let’s understand this through some points.
- It is not clear why morning sickness occur during pregnancy.
- Some research suggest that it could be due to increase in HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) hormone in early days of pregnancy. But the role of this hormone for causing nausea and vomiting in pregnancy is not established.
- As this symptom is mainly caused due to fluctuations of some other hormone also, it could vary in its intensity and frequency of occurrence.
- These hormones are highly fluctuated due to many conditions. This eventually affects the morning sickness.
- There are also other conditions which could affect the frequency and intensity of occurrence of morning sickness.
Keeping above points in mind lets know why its normal to consider morning sickness to occur some days and not the other days.
1. Hormonal changes
As I have told that hormone causes morning sickness, this is highly dependent on release of hormone. Since hormone fluctuates throughout the day and between the days, morning sickness also someday could come and go.
Plus, the release of hormone also affected by some other factors like stress, exhaustion, exercise.
2. Empty stomach
Empty stomach causes more frequent nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. The lack of sugar in your blood triggers nausea and vomiting response. In this condition there will increase chance of nausea and vomiting.
When you have small meals in divided doses, it will cause less frequent episodes of morning sickness. So, the morning sickness will also depend on your meals and state of digestive system.
3. Hydration status
Your hydration state of body can also affect your episodes, frequency and intensity of morning sickness. In dehydration state the symptom of morning sickness tend to occur more frequent and worse.
In days when you are properly hydrated, symptom of morning sickness occurs in mild form or sometime cannot be seen.
4. Triggers
There will be days when you will encounter with some triggers. In those days there will be intense form of nausea and vomiting or it could repeat within a day or between days.
Certain triggers like strong smell of scent, food, hot or cold weather could exacerbate the symptom of morning sickness.
5. Stress
Stress factor also proves to be impactful when we talk about the pregnancy symptoms. As morning sickness triggered by some hormones, this hormone level could fluctuate due to stress.
Fluctuating hormone level will exacerbate or reduce the symptom of morning sickness.
The days when you are exhausted or stressed morning sickness tend to occur frequently within day or between days. So this will for surely impact the intensity and frequency of nausea and vomiting.
6. Twins or triplets
According to research in multiple pregnancy cases like twins and triplet, your symptom could take worse form. These two conditions could make increase your nausea and vomiting intensity.
When does morning sickness kick in?
Morning sickness in pregnancy does start from first trimester (first three months during pregnancy) of pregnancy. You could start to experience morning sickness from 6 to 8 week onwards. This could be average. There could be some variations in duration, point of starting and point of finishing.
Like in some cases morning symptom could last up to nine months, that means throughout pregnancy.
When does morning sickness stop?
Morning sickness starts to stop gradually at the beginning of second trimester.
When is morning sickness the worst?
It is normal to have morning sickness some days in pregnancy and some days not. But you have to be careful when the frequency of this symptoms increases. It may be the consistency or severity of symptom; in both cases you should be worried.
Final Words
After all being a fluctuating factor, morning sickness is a symptom that could occur or not at all. Somedays it can experinced and some other days not. This picture will easily depict the decisive factors for morning sickness to occur.
Morning sickness is worst when it causes dehydration situation. Consistence and worse morning sickness called as Hyperemesis gravidarum. This condition could lead to weigh loss, hypovolemia and ketonuria.
Morning sickness, or nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP), is a common and normal symptom. This could vary person to person and according to many factors which I have elaborated. It’s also important to note that intensity and frequency of morning sickness can vary even from day to day.
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FAQ’s
Is it normal to have morning sickness all day?
It could be normal to have morning sickness all day. But in this case, you have to check yourself if having any other related symptoms like dehydration, lethargy.
Is it normal to have morning sickness at night?
It is normal to have morning sickness at any time, even at night. Despite its name, morning sickness can occur at any hour.
Why does morning sickness stop at 12 weeks?
Morning sickness usually start to stop in early of second trimester. This could be due to decline in estrogen and HCG hormone.
Is it normal to have morning sickness 4 weeks?
It is normal to have morning sickness at 4 weeks. Generally morning sickness starts at first trimester (first three months of pregnancy)
Is it normal to have morning sickness in the second trimester?
Yes, it is absolutely normal to have morning sickness in the second trimester. Morning sickness do start in first trimester only and can last up to end of second trimester.
Article reviewed by- Dr. Sachin Ghogare
Owner of healthbuss.
Health expert, professional, consultant and medical practitioner.
Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS).
Working as Community Health Officer.
Maharashtra Council of Indian Medicine Registration number I-92368-A.
Central healthcare professional registry ID 83-2348-4448-2747