During pregnancy, you may be concerned about many things and you may take notice of every change that occurs in your body. That could be anything from feeling breast pain to farts to throwing up. And its okay! Nothing to be ashamed of, after all you’re a new mom trying to stay healthy for your baby.
The actual concern rises when you can’t really tell whether the symptoms you are observing are normal or something alarming. Now talking about that, we know that nausea and vomiting is quite normal and actually very common during pregnancy, but the thing is, what if your vomit starts being yellow. How do we know whether throwing up yellow is alarming or just normal. Let’s discuss it in detail in the following content.
Is Throwing Up Yellow During Pregnancy Considered Normal?
Yes! It is definitely normal to throw up yellow during pregnancy. the yellow color of the vomit may be due to many reasons, it could be due to the consumed food, that means if you’ve consumed any food that is yellow or orange in color, you’re more likely to throw up yellow.
Another reason is simply the stomach acid, you can throw up yellow due to the presence of the stomach acids. Yes! The stomach acids can definitely cause you to throw up yellow. If you haven’t eaten anything for a while but still throw up, its probably bile acid. Bile acid is actually produced by the stomach in order to break the food particles into simpler substances for absorption.
If the first thing in the morning, is you throwing up and its yellow even though you haven’t eaten anything, it’s just the bile.
Why Throwing Up Yellow During Pregnancy?
The most likely culprit for your yellow vomit is the same as for the most of the changes in your body, your hormones. The two female sex hormones, progesterone and estrogen surge during the first trimester during pregnancy. Apart from that the pregnancy hormone production also starts, the hCG. hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin hormone) is a hormone produced by the placenta. this hormone is the reason why you’re feeling nauseated and vomiting so much so the presence of yellow color is pretty normal once in a while.
Accompanying Symptoms:
There are variations in how frequently you puke, how much, how vigorously and if you have consumed any liquids recently. Even the appearance of the vomit may vary, it could be thick, liquid, clear, muddy or even foamy and are all considered normal. Additional to the rainbow puke, the other accompanying symptoms of morning sickness are as follows:
- Appetite loss
- Stomach cramps
- Dehydration
- Carsick feeling
- Metallic taste
Hyperemesis Gravidarum:
Hyperemesis gravidarum is a severe form of nausea and vomiting experienced during pregnancy in about 1% of the total population. In this condition one would feel severely nauseated and may not be able to consume foods or liquids properly. The person would immediately throw and may also throw up on an empty stomach, the puked substance on an empty stomach could be bile that is usually in yellow in color.
When Do you Start Throwing Up Yellow During Pregnancy?
Around the 6th or 7th week of pregnancy, you’ll start feeling nauseated and vomit and by the 9th week the frequency would be at its peak. After the first trimester, you would observe that you don’t feel as much nauseated or vomit so if you observe the yellow vomiting, it would probably end along with the morning sickness.
The unfortunate part is that some people may experience morning sickness until the end of their pregnancy. we don’t have a solid reason for that but we do know that every body is different and hence, every body reacts differently to the changes so the yellow vomit may continue throughout pregnancy in some cases.
What to do After Puking?
After you’ve vomited, it may help your stomach settle and you can feel at relief for an hour or two. Having some drinks that would help you with your nausea would be beneficial such as having ginger ale or peppermint tea. You can also have some carbs like bagels, crackers, dry cereal or toast but make it light. Even though you feel nauseated, try not to avoid drinking water as it is essential to keep yourself hydrated or the body would face water retention resulting in swelling.
You can cope with that by having popsicles or ice cubes or have small sips from a straw.
What to Avoid after Throwing Up Yellow?
You may feel the need to brush your teeth right after you vomit, but as mentioned earlier, the reason for your yellow vomit may be the stomach acids. The stomach acids when your throw up, softens the enamel. You may have a bad taste in your mouth and it may even smell bad but it is better to avoid brushing it as the acid has already softened the enamel and the brushing you cause chipping off of the softened enamel.
If you really can’t bear the taste in your mouth and it feels disgusting, we would advice you to rinse your mouth well with some water until everything is cleared and neat. It would not do the entire job but would help a lot.
How can You Prevent from Vomiting Yellow?
Morning sickness can’t really be prevented since it’s the hormones playing the game and you can’t control them. You’ll probably get used to it but there are a few ways that can help you prevent the worst situations and help prevent the yellow sort of vomit. You can try the following methods:
- Before going to bed and right after waking up, try taking a light snack. The morning episodes of vomiting can be prevented if you have something in your stomach, even if doesn’t help with the nausea and vomiting, at least you won’t be puking yellow bile. You can go for dry fruits like almonds or some carbs.
- Don’t have 2-3 heavy meals, instead eat small portions of food with short intervals. Some people complain of feeling even more nauseated if they don’t eat for a few hours. Eating small but frequently can help.
- Excessive spicy foods can be avoided to prevent worsened nausea.
- Take rest, don’t overdo your body by too much physical activity or physical exercises that can trigger nausea.
- You can consult your doctor on how you can control your nausea and vomiting and try not to go for over the counter medications without professional advice. You definitely want the best for your baby and some drugs can be harmful.
How Would you Know if its more than just Regular Morning Sickness?
As mentioned above, hyperemesis gravidarum can be a severe form of nausea and you’re unable to consume anything properly. Although rare but can possibly occur. It can lead to the following:
- Malnutrition
- Dehydration
- Fainting
- Weight loss
- Mental confusion
Symptoms that can show that you may not just be having morning sickness and probably have HG would have these symptoms:
- Not being able to keep your food down
- Dizziness and fainting
- Constant vomiting
- Weight loss would occur for more than 5% of your body
You should call your doctor if you experience any kind of symptoms that are different from the regular morning sickness. These symptoms could be any of the following or can be experienced some of them in combination.
- Fever
- Confusion
- Dizziness
- Dark urine
- Severe headaches
- Body weakness
- Vaginal bleeding
- Blood in vomit
- Shortness of breath
- Cramps or pain in abdomen
- Vision disturbances
- Swelling in the body’s extremities
- Abdominal pain
These symptoms could indicate a possible infection in your body or some serious health conditions. You should immediately consult your doctor in such cases, you should also know that nausea doesn’t occur only in pregnancy but can also occur as a symptom of other medical health conditions such as gall bladder inflammation and appendicitis.
The Bottomline:
Throwing up yellow can seem like an alarming situation but by now you should’ve learned that it is actually pretty normal and usually due to the stomach acids. You can prevent it be having something light before bed which would prevent vomiting in the night, also you won’t have to wake up frequently due to hunger. The good part is that by the end of first trimester, the morning sickness would disappear in most cases and so would the yellow vomit.
If you experience symptoms that are not really normal in morning sickness, immediately call your doctor and book an appointment, it could possibly due to an underlying condition.
