You’ve just managed to eat half a sandwich and keep it down. Then you brush your teeth, pop your vitamin, and everything comes back up. All those vitamins and minerals packed into a huge pill, which often has an off-putting smell, can simply be too much for your pregnant tummy to handle. But it’s important to keep getting the nutrients you need, so you must ease the nauseated reaction and still get your daily dose.
Step 1
Change brands. A particular brand may have a smell or aftertaste that simply sits wrong with you. Some types of prenatal vitamins have a much stronger odor than others. You’ll want to discuss this with your obstetrician before you switch, but it’s definitely worth talking about. A simple change can make a huge difference.
Step 2
Change the time you take it. Morning tends to be high on the queasiness level for most new mamas, so drop your pill-taking routine then and switch to after lunch or before bed. Before bed often works well. You can even keep your vitamins and a bottle of water on your bedside table to take and then drift off to sleep. Sometimes the lack of movement keeps the pill from inducing more nausea.
Step 3
Take it on a full stomach. Many women discover that nausea is eased by eating frequently, and that an empty stomach simply increases the queasiness. The same may hold true when taking your prenatal pill. Wait until after a snack or a full meal. Let the food settle for a few minutes and then try taking your pill with lots of water. As the author of What to Expect When You’re Expecting notes, “…all pills are easier to stomach when accompanied by food.”
Step 4
Sip on peppermint tea. Make a big pitcher of iced peppermint tea, which can help relieve the frequent nausea of pregnancy. Wash your prenatal vitamin down with some iced tea rather than water. The peppermint flavor may cover the odor and flavor of the pill better than plain water, and the peppermint will help soothe your tummy if you do become queasy. The American Pregnancy Association recommends peppermint tea to ease nausea, as well as any food or drink product containing ginger: ginger tea, ginger ale, or ginger cookies. Sucking on a piece of hard ginger candy or crystallized ginger may also help.
