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Why Am I Throwing Up Yellow Stuff While Pregnant?

Pregnancy can be the most amazing time of your life, but at the same time, you will surely have some more questionable moments too at some point in your pregnancy.

For instance, at one point, you might have every odd craving in the book, then the next minute you find yourself throwing up some weird yellow liquid…

Pregnancy is one of those times that is incredibly unique to every woman, but at the same time, many women have already gone through the same thing that you are right now

It’s safe to say that you aren’t alone in what you’re going through. Every pregnant mother can learn from another experienced mother’s journey if they’ve already been through the same thing.

Since throwing up some yellow liquid isn’t the most comfortable topic to discuss in person, I’ve attempted to gather a little research for you. This is so you can get some direction about what you’ve been vomiting into the toilet.

What is the Yellow Stuff that Pregnant Women Throw Up During Pregnancy?

Your stomach contains a formulation of various liquids that ultimately help with digestion, the proper term for it is bile.

Bile contains everything from enzymes to the acids that help break down all of the food you’ve eaten. It’s likely that you’ve been seeing this yellow liquid, bile, in your morning vomit.

The yellow bile you’ve been seeing, which is all of your stomach juices mixed together creating a yellow concoction that you end up throwing up when you feel nauseous.

Below is everything in your stomach that combines to create the yellow liquid that comes out in the form of yellow vomit. It can also

Pepsin is produced in the chief cells of the stomach lining

You can consider pepsin to be the chief of your digestive liquids, it breaks down the proteins you’ve eaten into polypeptides. Pepsin is produced in the stomach lining and assists in breaking down all the digested foods.

Hydrochloric acid solution

Hydrochloric Acid

Hydrochloric acid is named exactly what it is, an acid that helps in the digestive process for humans.

Made up of the gas hydrogen chloride found in water, it is extremely dangerous when it comes into contact with anything. It is used to kill viruses or harmful bacteria introduced to your stomach.

If you have low levels of hydrochloric acid, your body will have a hard time breaking down foods.

Electrolytes

There are three main kinds of electrolytes in your stomach – sodium, potassium, and chloride. These contain special chemicals that are conduits to electricity, which your body needs to maintain optimal health.

Most people know of electrolytes to keep your body hydrated, but they assist in a majority of functions outside of hydration too. Electrolytes help with nerve and muscle functions and even balance your blood pressure.

What Does Stomach Bile Taste Like When You Throw It Up?

Most people describe their stomach fluid taste as very bitter, and how they will leave a horrible taste for a long time in your mouth. The bitter taste is due to the high acidic content in your stomach fluids.

It might help to eat some crackers if you continue throwing up stomach fluids on a regular basis upon first waking up. Try to eat a few crackers before getting up for the day.

You will taste your stomach fluid more if you have been throwing up a lot, therefore, have emptied your stomach contents, or are throwing up right after waking up.

Young woman vomiting into the toilet bowl

Why Do Pregnant Women Throw Up In General?

When you’re pregnant a variety of things can make you throw up, from acid reflux to the all too common morning sickness. Depending on the reason that you’re throwing up, will determine what you need to do to minimize it.

Throwing up is not fun while you’re pregnant, and though it should ease up by the 20th week of pregnancy it can last longer than that for some women.

HCG is a hormone that causes women to vomit in the first trimester of pregnancy

I know this is the last thing you want to hear if you’ve been vomiting but morning sickness is a good sign during pregnancy. It means that a hormone called Human Chorionic Gonadotropin is present – which is necessary for a healthy pregnancy.

So even though no one wants to have morning sickness, it does mean that your pregnancy is moving along quite nicely.

Human chorionic gonadotropin is a hormone produced by the placenta, so once the placenta has fully taken over with caring for your baby you might see an increase in how nauseous you are too, unfortunately.

Hyperemesis, A Form Of Severe Morning Sickness During Pregnancy

It was found that women who had the highest levels of human chorionic gonadotropin had what is medically referred to as hyperemesis gravidarum, or, a severe form of morning sickness.

Additionally, women who were having twins had significantly higher levels of the hormone HCG.

This is because the placenta has to work on overdrive for two babies to grow in the case of identical twins, or two separate placentas developed in the case of fraternal twins causing an overabundance of pregnancy hormones to be in the mom’s bloodstream.

Pregnant woman having morning sickness

It might mean that you’re having multiples if you’re vomiting frequently or have severe morning sickness. But don’t get nervous yet though.

Some women who are having multiples don’t end up being nauseous at all even though their hormone levels are higher than for a singlet.

While on the other hand, some women who are pregnant with just one baby wind up feeling incredibly sick.

Figure Out What Triggers You To Vomit

Morning sickness isn’t the same for everyone, symptoms, and triggers will differ from one person to the next. Such as the frequency of vomiting, and what triggers your vomiting specifically.

If pickles trigger one pregnant mother to throw up, it doesn’t mean that pickles will be what sets off morning sickness for the next mother.

Plus, triggers can change during your pregnancy too, each trimester can come with its own set of foods or drinks that trigger your nausea.

If you really want to get ahead of the game, you should get to know your triggers and stay away from them. You’ll be better off if you understand what brings on nausea so you can avoid it.

Write a list of the foods you’ve vomited or felt nauseous after consuming to see if there is a common theme or a pattern to your nausea.

During my last pregnancy, I would start feeling nauseous anytime the air got too stuffy.

After a few times of throwing up from my room being too stuffy, I learned that keeping the windows open in the morning to let fresh air in could help me avoid vomiting from my morning sickness altogether.

Pregnant woman suffering from morning nausea in bed

This happened to me often because it was summertime, which is also the time of year that a lot of pregnant women will feel nauseous.

The heat of the summer usually causes pregnant women to feel more nauseous especially during the peak heat of the day. If you’re pregnant during the summer be sure to stay hydrated too.

Pay attention to the reason you have been throwing up the most, and try to avoid it in the future if possible. Nausea symptoms during pregnancy can change in the blink of an eye, so it isn’t always easy to recognize a pattern with your nausea.

Some women who test high for HCG don’t end up sick at all

Even though the pregnancy hormone, HCG is usually the highest in pregnant women who have symptoms of morning sickness, it isn’t always the case.

Some mothers have high levels of human chorionic gonadotropin(HCG) and don’t feel sick at all throughout their pregnancy.

Human chorionic gonadotropin levels usually peak at 8-weeks of pregnancy, so it’s likely that you’ll feel the worst of your morning sickness by that time.

Then again, there are many mothers who go through waves of nausea throughout different time periods of their pregnancy.

Some mothers even tend to be sicker toward the end of pregnancy, compared to how sick they were at the beginning of their pregnancy.

There are various factors that contribute to whether you end up with nausea that leads to actual vomiting, such as your activity levels, foods you have eaten, as well as your stress levels.

Your Stress Levels Affect How Nauseous You Feel During Pregnancy

Pregnant woman suffering from morning nausea in bed1

Being nauseous during pregnancy is one of the most commonly discussed symptoms amongst the pregnant community. Having morning sickness makes up roughly 70% of the pregnant population.

Being sick isn’t something that most women steer clear of. In other words, you are fortunate if you don’t experience morning sickness at all.

Stress is a major reason why pregnancy causes people to feel nauseous outside of increased hormones.

There are necessary stressors that come along with pregnancy, like the changes your physical body goes through while becoming accustomed to carrying your baby, and then there are natural life stressors too.

It’s organically stressful for the human body to go through the various changes that come along with pregnancy. Your physical and emotional state all have to shift to keep up with the demands of being pregnant.

Even though pregnancy is an exciting time as well as a stressful time, there is one stress factor that no one can truly escape. There are nerves involved in preparing for labor and delivery.

Pregnancy pushes the physical limits of the body, when it has to make room for a tiny growing human, these are all factors that result in added stress during pregnancy.

Yes, stress is a necessary part of life, and in the circumstance of pregnancy, growing a baby brings healthy stress. Could this type of natural positive stress be one of the major causes of vomiting and nausea during pregnancy? I think so!

How to Cope with Morning Sickness and Vomiting During Pregnancy?

If it’s obvious that the nausea you’ve been experiencing during pregnancy isn’t going away anytime soon, here are a few ways you can at least cope with the seemingly endless vomiting. 

It’s not easy being pregnant, now add some throwing up with some nausea into the mix and you’ve got yourself, one miserable lady, with a baby in her belly.

Pregnant woman with young husband

Luckily, you are not alone and many women before you have been through this… hugs! Below are some of the best way’s to cope with vomiting and morning sickness during pregnancy, and possibly minimize it.

Choose the foods that work for your body right now

Yes, we know you have had your favorite foods for years now – but this is the time for pregnancy to take over! Even if you’ve had your top 5 favorite foods for a long time, they could change in the blink of an eye.

When I got pregnant I was training in the gym a lot, so that meant I ate pea protein.

I loved it, then eventually around 5-months in my pregnancy, I started vomiting every single time I drank it. I couldn’t believe that one of my favorite foods turned sour.

That’s how fast the foods you love can change, so don’t get caught up in having to let your faves go for a bit. They usually slowly but surely return to your dinner plate after you’ve given birth.

Don’t force yourself to eat certain foods just because you think your body needs them either. I promise you will be a lot happier and less sick if you just eat what you’re craving. For some reason, the body knows exactly what it wants to eat.

If you research why cravings happen, you’ll read the science behind how your body needs certain fats, vitamins, and fats…..yes, so sugar is craved for a reason sometimes.

Your baby’s brain needs sugar to grow, if your body needs more of it you might crave it.

That doesn’t mean to go crazy and only eat ice cream all day every day, but it means that your morning sickness probably won’t be so bad if you don’t restrict yourself from certain foods.

Stay hydrated because water is a pregnant mother’s best friend

With all this baby growing you’ve been doing, it’s not surprising that your drinking water like a fish out of water.

Pregnant woman drinking water

You need water to help your fetus grow, your body takes all the water you drink and turns it into the amniotic fluid that surrounds your little one.

You need more water than you did prior to becoming pregnant for a few reasons – to make more blood – to restore amniotic fluid – to carry toxic waste away from your body.

These are the main reasons that you need liquids during pregnancy, keeping up with your new hydration demands is the trick.

When we’re talking about keeping up with your growing blood supply, we’re literally saying you have to make %50 more blood volume during pregnancy. It’s very easy to get dehydrated with all of the work you have to do.

Growing a baby comes naturally, so as long as you keep supplying the water to your body you don’t have to do much else.

Eat probiotics to maintain a healthy gut flora

Another common derailment for pregnant women is diarrhea, if you aren’t constipated right now and you’re pregnant – you might be at some point in your pregnancy later on.

You might end up constipated unless you can discourage it from happening at all.

Probiotics come into play to discourage constipation, morning sickness, and other digestive problems from happening. While probiotics encourage healthy gut flora, and proper digestion to take place.

Morning sickness stems from having an imbalance of certain vitamins, and an imbalance in the digestive tract flora or known as gut flora.

Probiotics can help this situation all together during pregnancy by introducing healthy combative biotics into the gut that way your body can combat unhealthy bacteria in your gut.

Pregnancy women will experience the following upon taking probiotics during pregnancy: better digestion, absorb nutrients better, reduced risk of infant eczema, avoid high blood sugar that turns into gestational diabetes.

woman eating crackers

Eat crackers or plain bread before getting out of bed in the morning

When you’re battling morning sickness, there are plenty of foods that can help soothe a queasy stomach but there aren’t any quite as effective as foods high in starches.

Foods with a high starch content will absorb stomach acid that makes your stomach feel queasy.

Put a sleeve of saltine crackers by your bed to eat each morning before you get out of bed. I always liked to have a drink of water and a cracker, then closing my eyes for another 20 minutes or so, just before actually sitting up.

If you work, and you’re dealing with morning sickness make sure that you give yourself plenty of time each morning to get up slowly.

Rushed mornings can make you have a super queasy day for pregnant mothers who tend to vomit right after waking up.

What Are The Best Foods for Pregnant Women who Tend to Throw Up?

Since it’s clear that your food and your drinks affect how much or little you throw up during pregnancy, it’s best to load yourself up with healthy foods that nourish your body while calming your stomach.

An unsettled stomach can quickly lead to vomiting yellow (your bile).

Saltines, bread, and toast all settled a queasy stomach

Increased gastric acid during pregnancy is one reason why pregnant women tend to throw up more often.

And one way to settle this is by eating more crackers or foods high in starches. It will absorb that stomach acid and help you digest it that way it isn’t just sitting in your stomach.

If you can put a little bit of peanut butter on your piece of toast, for an extra bit of protein.

The nice thing about crackers, bread, and toast is that you can top it with anything you feel in that moment – jelly for your sweet tooth – garlic butter for those savory taste buds.

You can customize your bread sandwich or even eat just a plain piece of bread if you’re feeling off-put by other flavors, sometimes the simple bread can settle your stomach.

Ginger can help fight off sickness while pregnant and settle a queasy stomach

Ginger can be consumed in a variety of ways – tea, capsules, and ginger ale are all great way’s to get it into your diet. Ginger tea is warming up on your stomach and will settle an upset stomach right away.

There were times when I was pregnant that I had a cup of ginger and instantly felt my stomach settle after the first few sips. It’s incredible that ginger has big medicinal properties, while it’s pretty much flavorless.

Talk about the ultimate cure for morning sickness, ginger is heaven sent! If you find it hard to get in a cup of fresh ginger tea, you can buy ginger capsules online and take some right before getting up for the day and before bed.

If you like nuts and seeds, aim to get more in your diet

If you have a protein deficiency, you might feel more nauseous than you would if your body had adequate protein stores. Nuts and seeds are an easy way to get protein in your diet without having to go out of your way.

Most nuts have a good supply of protein in a small serving so it’s easy to get in what you need to even when it’s hard to eat from your nausea.

For women who aren’t allergic to nuts, a handful of nuts can help balance blood sugar from being excessively hungry too. Pregnant mothers who don’t get enough food in general from being nauseous tend to feel better after just a little bit of nuts.

Veggie broth and chicken broth

Drinking the broth instead of the entire version of chicken or veggie soup when you don’t feel good, is a great option because you won’t have heavy fats in your stomach (which hinder rapid digestion).

Drinking chicken or veggie broth offers rich nutrients to your body and something warm to soothe your stomach when it’s unsettled.

Fresh Vegetable Soup-min

If you aren’t up to eating heavy foods, then you can drink a cup of broth which is often much easier to consume than full meals.

Your body needs sodium to function properly during pregnancy. Broths offer a healthy version of sodium. If possible make some extra broth to freeze for later – even though Boullion cubes are easy to prepare.

Broths are also great to consume during pregnancy because the liquids will help keep you hydrated after you’ve thrown up as well.

La Croix, sports drinks, and NUUN tablets

When you’ve been throwing up, you will get dehydrated especially if you’re pregnant. That means along with your healthy foods, you need to keep good drinks on hand too.

NUUN tablets and sports drinks like Gatorade will help restore your electrolytes that get out of balance after you’ve thrown up.

NUUN tablets are a great way to make your own version of a sports drink right at home. Don’t overdo these tablets, but add at least one each day for the best results.

You don’t want to tip to the side of too much sodium if you drink these with all of your water throughout the day.

Many people who are athletes or nonathletes who just want to feel better add electrolyte and potassium-rich tablets into their fluids to promote better health.

Make sure that you’re also getting enough water throughout the day – aim to drink 8-12 glasses of water a day.

Bananas are great for nausea that is brought on from dehydration from throwing up

Okay, so at some point, you might start to question if you’re just in a continuous cycle of nausea from not being able to keep up with your dehydration caused by throwing up.

It happens, and when it does, make sure to eat a few bananas to help end this vicious cycle.

It’s tough to keep up with nausea and hydration when you’re in a cycle of throwing up. Feeling sick from just being sick earlier in the day means that you need some potassium is lost anytime there is a period of diarrhea and vomiting.

Bananas help restore potassium once it’s lost, plus they are usually very easy to get into your diet. They are soft on the stomach during digestion.

Selective focus of pregnant woman holding banana

If you need one last reason to eat more bananas, they scrub plaque off of your teeth! There you go, now you have another reason to have super clean banana teeth.

What are the Risks Associated with Vomiting During Pregnancy?

Throwing up during pregnancy might not be the most fun, but it doesn’t pose any serious risks to frequently throw up during pregnancy.

You don’t have to stress out too much. If you’re pregnant and have been throwing up a lot, even if you’re constantly throwing up that yellow stuff called bile, it’ll pass at some point before or after you have your baby.

Your bile(the yellow stuff) will keep replenishing itself, as long as you are offering your body enough water and fluids to do so. In reality, what you need to keep an eye out for are the first signs of dehydration. Stay on top of staying hydrated.

Being dehydrated and nauseous makes any vomiting you might end up doing even harder on your body. Mentally and emotionally vomiting can be draining, so take it easy if you have a day where you’ve been vomiting more frequently.

Just know that vomiting will pass, and most women feel better by the second trimester of their pregnancy. Be gentle with yourself during this time, set small goals each day during pregnancy so you can get enough rest in hopes to relieve your nausea.

In Conclusion

Be sure you’re taking your prenatal vitamins, drinking enough liquids, and getting fresh air too. It’s a combination of all thing’s good that will help ease nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

Some women will feel relief sooner than others, and some women will not experience nausea at all. Whatever the case is for you, simply take care of yourself the best you possibly can right now.

Don’t get worried that you’re doing something wrong or could be doing things better to alleviate morning sickness. Pregnancy is meant to be a time of joy.

Medical Disclaimer. All content and media on the MomInformed Website is created and published online for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

Sources

Vomiting During Pregnancy

Green Vomit – Healthline

Pregnancy Vomiting Treatment

Anyone Vomiting Yellow Liquid? – Babycenter

Pregnancy Morning Sickness and Hyperemesis