Good news for expectant moms who are suffering from morning sickness. Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children’s (SickKids) Motherisk Program have found that morning sickness, which impacts up to 80 per cent of pregnancies, enhances children’s long-term neurodevelopment. The study will appear in the April 23 advance online edition of The Journal of Pediatrics.

This is the first study to assess the direct impact of morning sickness on children’s neurodevelopment. While previous studies suggested an early protective benefit of morning sickness, the long-term effects, including intelligence and specific cognitive skills, had not been directly investigated.

“Our findings suggest an association between NVP and improved neurodevelopment in the offspring,” says Dr. Irena Nulman, lead author of the study. “NVP is a widespread and puzzling physiological phenomenon that has yet to be sufficiently studied,” adds Nulman

Morning sickness may result from an altered secretion of hormones (HCG and thyroxine) during pregnancy. The change in hormone levels happens to ensure adequate placental growth.

For this study, participants were recruited through Motherisk’s NVP hotline database. The research included 121 women who called the hotline from 1998 to 2003. Participants were split into three groups of mother-child pairs: mothers who experienced morning sickness and were treated with diclectin (a drug used to treat nausea and vomiting during pregnancy); those who experienced morning sickness and did not take diclectin; and those who did not experience morning sickness.

Children aged three to seven years were assessed with standardized age-appropriate psychological tests, including measures of intelligence and behaviour. Other factors such as mother’s IQ, number of cigarettes smoked per day, alcohol consumption and socioeconomic status were also taken into account.

The study showed all children across the three groups scored within the normal ranges for neurodevelopmental outcome. It indicated children of women with morning sickness scored higher on performance IQ, verbal fluency, phonological processing and numerical memory. It also suggested diclectin does not appear to adversely affect fetal brain development. Severity of morning sickness was a significant predictor of higher scores, and maternal IQ also played a role in the outcome.

Fiona Shaw wasn’t so lucky. At five weeks pregnant she had morning sickness so bad, she could barely keep half a biscuit down.

By 28 weeks she had plummeted from a size 14, 170lbs to a size six, 128 lbs.

When an ultrasound revealed that the baby was suffering causing her to need an emergency c-section.

Tianna was born more than two months premature weighing just 2lb 5oz.

At one point the mom-to-be was admitted to hospital with dehydration and blurred vision. “I was diagnosed with hyperemesis, or severe morning sickness, and given anti-sickness drugs and had a scan, but they said everything was all right with the baby,” she said.

Unfortunately, the drugs did not work, and by week ten she was back in hospital.

“It got to the point where just the smell of food made me feel sick,” she said.

At 21 weeks Fiona thought she needed another ultrasound because her weight still falling.

The results were fine, but another scan at 28 weeks in August gave alarming news.

Tianna had barely put on any weight and there seemed to be problems with her heart rate.

Within the hour, the baby was delivered.

Tianna weighs 15lb, and her 5ft 6in mother is back to a healthy weight. SOURCE

That answer is yes according to Dr Green, author of: Dr. Robert Greene’s Perfect Hormone Balance for Pregnancy: A Groundbreaking Plan for Having a Healthy Baby and Feeling Great

He says that:

Keeping a lemon handy at all times and sniffing it when you feel nausea coming on can help curb morning sickness. “The part of our brain that is most directly connected with the nausea center is our sense of smell,” he says.

Just as certain smells make you feel sick during pregnancy, Dr. Greene says the strong, cleansing fragrance of a lemon can rapidly help nausea subside. “If you ignore and don’t correct nausea during the first trimester of pregnancy, that increases the risk of preterm labor and blood pressure problems in the third trimester,” he says.

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