So Your Misses Got Hyperemesis (Gravidarum)
Chapter 4: Eating with Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Part 3: How to Eat with Hyperemesis Gravidarum: 4 Important Tips
As you’ll soon see, the list of foods my wife could eat with hyperemesis gravidarum isn’t long. We searched and tried many foods, in order to diversify my wife’s menu and provide her with as many nutrients as possible… but it’s difficult to find foods that a woman with hyperemesis gravidarum can eat and also keep in her stomach. It’s not a simple task at all.
Therefore, in addition to the 3 main principles of “how” to eat with hyperemesis gravidarum, we’ll continue with 4 important eating tips. The following tips relate to issues you are expected to experience during your HG pregnancy. For best results, apply them alongside the 3 main principles of the previous chapter (having some food in the stomach at all times, eating small meals, and listening to the body). If you implement these 3 principles along with the following tips, it will be easier for your wife to eat with hyperemesis gravidarum.
1st Eating with HG Tip: Keep it Dry and Simple
When you are looking for foods that suit your wife, I highly recommend trying very dry, mildly flavored foods.
For my wife and other women with HG we met, such foods were almost the only ones they could eat: dry toast, crackers, dry snacks, well-cooked omelet, etc. The more moist or wet the food was, the harder it was for them to eat it. There is a high chance that this is also the case for your wife.
2nd Eating with HG Tip: Notice How it Leaves the Body
Have you found foods that your wife can eat? Excellent. But that’s only half of the equation. The other half is – how is it leaving her body?
During pregnancy with hyperemesis gravidarum, there are many vomiting episodes. Some are severe and painful, while others are more mild. The foods your wife eats will greatly affect the frequency and intensity of the vomiting, and the reflux that may develop as a result.
The good news is that you have some control over how the food is coming out.
So pay attention to how different foods affect your wife’s vomiting. If shortly after eating your wife suffers from severe and painful vomiting, it could very well be related to what she ate. It’s worth considering avoiding some food that doesn’t come out well, even if it goes inside ok.
Beyond reducing your wife’s suffering, this tip will also help you maintain her throat and her teeth, which many women with hyperemesis hurt due to frequent vomiting and heartburn.
Soon I will tell you about the tracking table I created for you, which will help you understand how things are out and you will be able to use it to track each type of food and its effect on your wife
3rd Eating with HG Tip: Trying New Foods
As you recall, the third principle of eating with hyperemesis is to listen to your wife’s body. You’ll need to apply this principle when looking for new foods that your wife can eat. How do you discover this with minimal suffering and severe vomiting for her?
Here’s a technique from the survival world that we’ve adapted for our journey with hyperemesis:
When your wife is trying a new food, ask her to take a small bite, wait for about 10 minutes, and see how it makes her feel. If she doesn’t vomit, or if the nausea doesn’t worsen, ask her to try a bigger bite (although not too big), wait for 20-30 minutes. If everything is okay, she can continue to eat the entire portion.
Using this method, we succeeded in trying new foods cautiously, preventing intense and painful vomiting. This is how we made the joyful discovery that my wife could eat baked potatoes (until a few days later, when she couldn’t any longer
4th Eating with HG Tip: Consult with Expert... But Make Sure They Are Right For You
Consult with dietitians or other qualified nutrition experts. Some of the foods we tried and worked for us were thanks to the dietitian we consulted with. She also helped us understand which foods are good for pregnant women and infants, which helped us choose foods based on their nutritional value.
Most nutrition experts we met did not understand about pregnancy with hyperemesis gravidarum. Don’t be embarrassed, clarify with the experts you meet whether they are familiar with this complexity. If they are not familiar, share with them what you are going through so they can understand if they can help you. If they can, excellent! The combination of a nutrition expert who understands hyperemesis (or is willing to learn) with the knowledge you have accumulated can lead to important insights. If they don’t understand what you’re going through, or if they tried to but didn’t succeed in understanding better, ask them if they can connect you with someone who does