What to eat if nauseous during pregnancy

Ways to manage morning sickness.

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy can happen for many reasons. About 65 per cent of pregnant people have nausea and vomiting while pregnant. It often starts at about 4 to 8 weeks of pregnancy and continues to 12 to 16 weeks or more for some.

Although it’s often called “morning sickness”, nausea and vomiting can happen any time of the day or night.

Tips to manage nausea and vomiting

Get as much rest as you can; being tired can make nausea worse.
Rinsing your mouth with water or mouthwash can help control unpleasant mouth taste that can make nausea worse.
Ice chips and popsicles can help reduce the metallic taste in your mouth.
Grated fresh ginger, ginger syrup or crystallized ginger added into hot water may help reduce your nausea.
Talk to your doctor about taking just folic acid instead of your prenatal vitamin while you are feeling nauseated. Once you are feeling better, you can go back to taking your prenatal multivitamin.

Foods that may make your nausea worse

Very sweet foods
Spicy foods
Fatty or fried foods
Hot foods

Avoid strong smelling foods that bother you

Try eating outside in the fresh air if possible.
Ask someone else to cook, especially “trigger” foods, hot foods and high smell foods.
If you have to prepare meals for yourself or others – make food you are able to eat and try to make cold foods that are easy to make.
A breathable mask can be helpful when you have to be in a place where smells are too strong for you. These masks help to block some of the food smell.
Smelling lemons or lemon essential oils might help settle the stomach.

Meals and snacks

Try not to drink fluids with your food. The fluid plus foods adds too much to your stomach and can cause you to vomit.
Eat when you feel hungry and eat foods that are appealing to you.
Eat every 2-3 hours (small meal or snack) to keep food in your stomach. An empty stomach can make your nausea worse.
Eat slowly. Eating too quickly can cause you to eat more than your stomach can handle, which can cause you to vomit.
After eating, avoid lying down. Keep your body at least semi-upright (greater than 45 degrees) for at least 30 minutes after a meal. This helps the food stay down.

Keep hydrated

Try to get about 8 cups or 2 litres of fluid per day. Sip small amounts of fluid throughout the day. If plain water does not sit well in your stomach try some of these other suggestions:

Water (add sugar and salt)
Diluted juice
Gelatin (Jell-OTM)
Clear soda (no fizz)
Popsicles
Weak tea
Oral rehydration solutions
Ice chips
Broth

Signs you may not be drinking enough fluid

More thirsty than usual
Darker urine than usual
Passing little or no urine in 8 hours
Dizziness when standing or sitting
Dry eyes and dry mouth

Foods to eat

Once you have stopped vomiting, eat small amounts of plain, cold or room temperature foods with very little smell, for example:

Toasted white bread
Mashed potatoes
Crackers
Fruit
Graham crackers
White rice
Plain hot cereal
Plain white pasta
Pretzels

Speak to your health care provider

If you experience vomiting 2-3 times per day.
If you are vomiting and have a fever.
If you have pain, bloating or a swollen stomach, and don’t feel better after vomiting.
If these tips do not relieve any symptoms.
If you are considering medications to manage your nausea and vomiting.

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy clinics

We offer clinics that provide care, counselling and education for those experiencing severe nausea and vomiting during their pregnancy.

Speak to your doctor or call the clinic directly to see if these services may be appropriate for you.

Brierley Horton, RD, Cooking Light's food and nutrition director, corrals advice from fellow dietitians to help mothers-to-be avoid succumbing to the adverse effects of morning sickness.

Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.

You’re pregnant—hooray! Then, for some, morning sickness sets in. Whether it’s true morning sickness, lasts all day, or hits you like a freight train in the evening, it is absolutely no fun.

Perhaps foods you once loved, you now abhor; or the smell of your significant other’s favorite meal has you running to the porcelain throne. Whatever sets you off, you should know which foods might be appealing and how to quell that nausea.

Struggling to cook healthy? We'll help you prep.

“Eat anything that is appealing to you and not dangerous to baby, such as alcohol, raw animal foods, or cheese made from unpasteurized milk,” says Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD, author of Expect the Best: Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, and After Pregnancy. “Also, don’t get dehydrated or let yourself get too hungry as this can make ‘morning sickness,’ which can actually last all day, worse.”

So what might be likeable? Here, 15 dietitians weigh in with their tried-and-true foods for combating nausea and food aversions during pregnancy:

1) Ginger Ale

Credit: Credit: Sally Williams Photography/Getty

"Keep small, bland snacks by your bedside to eat first thing. Also, although not a food, taking your prenatal vitamin with food or in the evening can help." —Brittany Poulson, MDA, RDN, CD, CDE.

2) Gingersnaps, ginger chews

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"As well as potato chips, saltines, lemonade." —Michelle Dudash, RDN.

3) Sour Candies

"Such as sour patch kids or sour cherry blasters. Also bland, dry cereal, like Special K or cheerios." ‪—Abbey Sharp, RD.

4) French Fries and Coke

5) Saltines

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"Saltines were like manna from heaven with my first child, and for my second all I wanted was matzo ball soup or ramen noodle soup." —Elana Natker, MS, RD.

6) Whole Grain Bread

"Heavily-buttered whole grain bread, toasted and sprinkled with sea salt." —Sidney Fry, MS, RD, @wholefry on Instagram.

7) Daily Eggs

"Pregnancy is when I became an 'egg a day' person. It settled my stomach and helped me feel full—and fortunately it's also choline rich which is super important for pregnancy." —Jenna Braddock, RDN.

8) Hard Candies

9) Bagels, Followed By Lifesavers

Credit: Photo: Caitlin Bensel

"Peppermint lifesavers were truly a lifesaver. Bland, starchy foods, like plain baked potatoes and plain bagels, were also easy to eat with a bunch of food aversions and nausea." —Lindsey Janeiro, RDN, LDN, CLC.

10) Homemade Ginger Tea

Credit: Photo: Rachel Johnson

"Peel and cut up a 1-inch cube of fresh ginger and steep it in hot water for about 5-10 minutes. Drink it with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a drizzle of honey." —Michelle Loy, MPH, MS, RDN.

11) Carb-Loaded Snacks

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12) Gooseberries

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"Sun-dried Amalaki or Indian Gooseberries are time-tested remedies in Ayurveda and holistic medicine from India for pregnancy-induced morning sickness." —Sapna Punjabi-Gupta, RD and Ayurvedic Practitioner

13) Cereals

"The more cartoon characters on the box, the better! While sugary cereals are not always a great source of nutrition, fortified cereals can supply some extra nutrition — particularly when nausea or food aversion prevented me from eating my fruits and veggies." —Bethany Frazier, MS, RD, LD

14) Nothing

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"Nothing worked for me. All of these are great suggestions, but by week 36 I still had not found anything to alleviate the sickness. For some, the only thing that helps morning sickness is delivery." —Shelley A. Rael, MS, RDN