Pregnancy
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Pregnant women are three times more likely to suffer from severe morning sickness if their mothers did, say Norwegian researchers. Around 2% of women suffer excessive nausea and vomiting in pregnancy - known as hyperemesis gravidarum - which can require hospital treatment.
More needs to be done to establish which are safe and effective ways to relieve morning sickness, experts say. There is reluctance to use pharmaceutical products in pregnancy due to Thalidomide, the 1960s anti-nausea drug which led to birth defects. But there is little evidence to suggest that alternative therapies have any real impact, the international group of researchers Cochrane found.
Having an epidural during labour may protect key muscles and therefore cut the risk of incontinence in later life, a study of nearly 400 women suggests. Research in the BJOG, the leading obstetrics journal, found more than one in ten women who had vaginal births suffered damage to the "levator" muscles which hold up internal organs.
A test which could stop women labouring for hours in the hope of a "normal" birth only to end up with a Caesarean section has been developed in Sweden. Researchers have established that when high levels of lactic acid are measured in the amniotic fluid,
Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, also known as “morning sickness,” may occur at any time, day or night. These symptoms can be experienced as early as the first missed period and typically disappears at the end of the first trimester, although for some it may last longer. For some women morning sickness is not an issue, while for others it can be quite debilitating.
