What to Eat With Morning Sickness: Small Meals and Snacks

What foods help morning sickness, what to avoid if smells trigger nausea, bland BRATT options, hydration tips, and when to call your care team.

By Yuriy Stasyuk

While traditionally called ‘morning sickness’, nausea or vomiting can occur at any time during the day.

Zena Kharsa, MD, OB-GYN
Stanford Medicine Children's Health: Pregnancy Tips Read the original source

The short answer: Try small amounts of food you can tolerate, often enough that your stomach is not empty. Dry toast or crackers, rice, pasta, fruit, and simple snacks are reasonable starting points. Sip fluids throughout the day. These ideas come from ACOG's morning-sickness guidance and the NHS pregnancy guidance; no single food works for everyone.

What can I try first?

  • Before getting up: ACOG suggests dry toast or crackers if waking with an empty stomach makes nausea worse.
  • During the day: Try five or six small meals instead of a few large ones. A few bites of crackers, fruit, or nuts between meals may be easier than a full plate.
  • When flavors or smells are difficult: The NHS suggests plain, lower-fat foods such as bread, rice, crackers, and pasta. Cold foods may be easier if cooking smells trigger nausea.
  • When you can add more variety: ACOG suggests including some protein with meals. If they appeal to you, try nuts, nut butter, or pasteurized yogurt alongside a food you already tolerate.

These are options to test, not a required menu. If one food makes you feel worse, choose another. Pregnancy food-safety guidance still applies: use pasteurized dairy and follow safe preparation advice.

What if drinking feels difficult?

Try small, frequent sips of water rather than drinking a large amount at once, as the NHS advises. ACOG recommends drinking throughout the day and notes that dehydration can worsen nausea. Our water-intake guide explains the usual pregnancy drinking-water range, but keeping fluids down matters more than hitting a number when you are vomiting.

Call your pregnancy care team if you cannot keep liquids down, have very little or dark urine, or feel dizzy or faint when standing. ACOG lists these as dehydration warning signs. The NHS also advises getting help for weight loss, abdominal pain, fever, or vomiting blood. You do not need to wait for a food strategy to work before asking for care.

Do banana, ginger, or vitamin B6 treat morning sickness?

Bananas are one bland option (ACOG's BRATT list is bananas, rice, applesauce, toast, and tea; tea counts toward your daily caffeine), but a food's nutrient score does not show that it treats nausea. ACOG discusses vitamin B6 as a treatment, while our B6 food guide explains why a banana's B6 content is a separate nutrition question. Ginger tea and ginger supplements also differ in dose and evidence. Discuss supplements and medicines with your prenatal clinician, especially if symptoms affect your daily life.

PregNut's food lookup compares nutrients per 100 grams. It cannot tell you what your stomach will tolerate or whether vomiting needs treatment. Start with foods and fluids you can manage, then return to broader nutrition planning with your care team as you feel better. If burning after meals is the bigger problem, see our heartburn meal guide.

Common questions

What foods help for morning sickness?

Bland, easy-to-digest foods many people tolerate first. ACOG suggests dry toast or crackers before getting up, five or six mini meals so your stomach is never empty, and the BRATT pattern (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast, and tea) if those appeal to you. If you sweeten that tea with honey, our honey guide explains that CDC's honey warning is about babies under 1 year. Protein with meals can help when you can face it. No single food works for everyone.

What foods make morning sickness worse?

ACOG says foods or odors that never bothered you before may now trigger nausea, and to stay away from them when you can. Use a fan when cooking if smells are the problem. Keeping a personal list of triggers is more useful than a universal “bad foods” list.

What foods should I avoid for morning sickness?

There is no ACOG list of foods that every pregnant person must drop for nausea alone. Separate food-safety rules still apply (pasteurized dairy, fully cooked eggs and meat, washed produce). If a food smell or taste makes you vomit, skip it and try another option you can keep down.

Sources: ACOG morning sickness FAQ, NHS vomiting and morning sickness. This guide is educational and does not replace prenatal care.