Ever wished for an easier pregnancy? One without much stress and the symptoms of pregnancy to deal with? Then you must try these 20 pregnancy life hacks.
Pregnancy is a wonderful journey; it isn’t without some hitches, though. Morning sickness, nausea, swollen feet, cravings, body aches, all these symptoms can make pregnancy challenging.
To manage these symptoms effectively I have outlined some necessary hacks you can try out. Trust me using these hacks will make your pregnancy journey much easier.
If you are a first-time mom, read through these first pregnancy life hacks.
First Pregnancy Life Hacks
Since you are pregnant for the first time and you haven’t had a first-hand experience, you would be totally oblivious of what to expect.
When I was pregnant for the first time, I had a tough first trimester, morning sickness and vomiting, constant weakness, mood swings.
It was the worse time of my pregnancy and I wished I had used half of the hacks I know now.
If this is your first pregnancy, you would need a lot of hacks and tips, and tricks to make pregnancy easier. Below is a list of first pregnancy life hacks you do not want to miss as a first-time mom:
- Stock up on morning sickness foods; crackers, pretzels, potatoes chips, slices of bread, etc. These will help quell nausea.
- Keep a bottle of your favorite essential oil at hand. It would help you manage nausea and queasiness.
- Keep a list; of everything, you would need. Sometimes in pregnancy, you get forgetful.
- Do not shop for only maternity clothes; there are tons of other options you can try out.
- Keep a record of your pregnancy journey. It would help you during other pregnancies.
- Book all your appointments on close days, so you do not miss any one of them.
- If you use a belly band on your bump, you can wear your favorite clothes for some extra weeks.
Below, I have outlined 20 life pregnancy hacks below. Trust me these hacks are lifesavers, super useful for first-time moms and mamas with kids, even soon-to-be moms. Read through to see which one you love best
1. Have An Emergency Bag
Make your life easier during pregnancy, get an emergency bag. Your emergency bag is a go-to bag for anything you’ll be needing as you go throughout the day.
This bag will come in handy during the first trimester, second, and third trimester. In your first trimester, you will likely experience morning sickness a lot. Keep a stash of light snacks like crackers, ginger-flavored sweets, mints, bread, and any other food you seem to tolerate.
Eat any of these at intervals so you do not stay so hungry. Also put scents like citrus, mints, peppermint extract, or oils in your emergency bag and sniff when you feel like vomiting.
During the second and third trimesters, when you crave different foods, get a variety of different snacks and stash them in your bag. You can munch these any time, you feel hungry or have cravings.
Other things to be in your emergency bag are your prenatal vitamins, antacid tablets for indigestion, a bottle of water, a book, and any other thing you will be needing; trust me, this bag will be a lifesaver.
2. Save Some Bucks, Use Bra Extenders
Bra extenders are super helpful. To save some cash use bra extenders. When your bras became too tight because of the increased breast size, please don’t keep them aside and get new ones, instead get a pack or two of bra extenders, attach them to your bras and wear them.
The bra stretches a little more to accommodate the increasing breast size. So, you can save the money of new bras, you avoid spending more and it allows you to use that favorite bra that you do love so much.
A bonus tip, if you have itchy boobs, try this hack, freeze your bra for 10 to 15 minutes, you will get a soothing relief and the itching will stop.
3. Pregnancy Seasick Bands For Morning Sickness
These bands were initially designed for seasickness, but it is now fast becoming super useful as a life pregnancy hack. For those finding it how to deal with morning sickness (check out my post on how to deal with morning sickness) this pregnancy sea sick band is a great aid.
The band is worn on the wrist. The plastic button on the elastic band helps apply pressure on an acupuncture point on the wrist, relieving morning sickness.
The band is getting quite trendy, many pregnant mamas are using it as a remedy to rid of morning sickness. Amazingly women who have morning sickness all day testify that it gives them relief, even without trying other home remedies for morning sickness. It isn’t even expensive, the price range is less than $10.
4. Pill Organizers
Sometimes, the look of the drug container can stimulate nausea or you may forget to take your drugs. Other times or sorting drugs out from different drug bottles can be boring.
All these can prevent you from taking your prenatal vitamins. To avoid that, how about you get someone to help you pack your prenatal vitamins and any other medication in a cute pill organizer. It would make it easier for you to take your vitamins.
The pill organizer comes in different attractive colors and designs and colors, and it is something you would love.
With pill organizers, you can easily remember to take your vitamins and any other drug you have to take, If you slip it inside your emergency bag where you always reach for things.
5. Nipple Covers
Tired of packing and compressing your breast all the time with a bra, but you do not want your large nipples to show through your clothes? Or do you feel itchiness when your nipple rub against surfaces; because they are super sensitive? How about you try some nipple covers then? Nipple covers are super soft concave pads made from silicon materials.
The pads are self-adhesive, can accommodate large boobs for they come in different sizes and some even come with lift options (if you need some push for your boobs).
You can use them on those hot days that you need to go out instead of wearing a bra. It is hypoallergenic silicone, so you do not have to worry about skin reactions. Not every pregnant woman knows this life pregnancy hack, but now you do isn’t that amazing?
6. Overcome Hydration Problems By Trying These Tips
I know how tough it could be to take water especially during morning sickness because you feel like throwing up when anything passes through your throat, but refusing to take water because of this is a problem.
You would be dehydrated, and dehydration isn’t something you should have especially during pregnancy. But you can get overcome this by using this life pregnancy hack; If you find it hard to take water, how about taking fruits containing high water content like watermelon, cucumber, radishes, oranges to help make up for your hydration needs.
You may choose to spice up your water by adding some wedges of lemon in it, so it isn’t so bland. Squeeze some orange extracts or peppermint leaves.
The flavors are calming and can help quell nausea. You can also try some soft drinks. Dilute them with water, so it doesn’t become so bland. For you will tolerate a bottle of slightly sweet slightly water than good old plain water.
7. Keep Thongs In The Shower
By the time your belly gets really big, bending down to pick anything will become a chore especially when picking items up in the bathroom.
It is more difficult because the bathroom is slippery. Putting a pair of kitchen tongs in the toilet would it make it easier, to pick soaps, paste tubs, or sponges if they fall.
8. Pregnancy Popsicles
Finding a life pregnancy hack that can help you combat nausea, try pregnancy popsicles. During pregnancy, morning sickness women seem to tolerate extreme temperatures especially cold stuffs.
Eating pregnancy popsicles will make a big difference in your appetite. It is great for nausea, so you can eat this instead of skipping food. You can make popsicles in different nice flavors. Make sure you try those popsicles flavored with ginger you would love it.
Other flavors you can try out are mango and ginger, a blend of berries, etc. You can make your popsicles with your favorite flavors to tickle your taste buds.
9. Aromatherapy
Sniffing fresh scents can help quell the queasy feeling. During the first trimester when you experience morning sickness, you always feel like throwing up, and sometimes you can’t help it.
To help reduce the queasiness, keep fresh scents, (oils or extract) like Orange and lemon at hand and sniff any time you feel like vomiting. It is very helpful. You can choose to get some citrus-scented air freshener in your home, the fragrance is calming.
Ginger is also good for aromatherapy. Using ginger and ginger-flavored products helps a lot. You can also try out scents in fragrances like lavender oil, peppermint oil, etc. Any of these scents can be used as an aromatherapy to help tolerate as
during pregnancy.
10. Kinesio Tape
Athletes use Kinesio tapes a lot for support and to heal muscles tear. As a life-saving pregnancy hack, you can use Kinesio tape during pregnancy to help support the belly bump, relieving you from the extra weight in pregnancy and reducing body aches.
As your baby grows bigger, the weight puts strain on the pelvis, back, uterus, and other parts of the body. You can get very uncomfortable and if do not do anything about it.
Why not use Kinesio tape to support the body? It will help you putting less strain on the muscles, and giving you the much-needed relief you hope to get.
Kinesio tapes are like large plasters. Just wrap up the back and waist and all the places you feel aches, and you will be free from their pain.
There are different brands out there to try out and techniques of taping to ease the pain. I advise you to consult your doctor or therapist for appropriate methods to follow.
11. A Small Pail At Your Bedside
Morning sickness can strike at night, and while you are standing up to rush to the toilet to vomit, you may mess up yourself.
To avoid this, put a small pail close to your bedside? Keeping a small clean bucket with a cover by your bedside or at the end of your bed can help manage the pressing feeling of vomit, preventing spills and mess on the floor. You can also use this in the third trimester when you feel a constant need to pee.
12. Keep A Bedside Stash
It is one pregnancy life hack you will not want to miss. During the first trimester, nausea can be terrifying, it will be tempting to stay on an empty stomach but this will only make the nausea worse.
But if you can munch bits of food at frequent intervals, it will help a lot to reduce nausea. So, keep a stash of bland snacks and other morning sickness foods. You can put a little basket by your bedside, fill it with crackers, ginger-flavored sweets, bread, nuts, pretzels, a water bottle, etc.
You can nibble on them before bed, and after waking up. You can also keep some of these snacks in your emergency bag for when you go out.
And for those times when you get very hungry, the bed side stash will come in handy. When you wake up in the night or morning and you feel so hungry, you can pick and eat.
13. Cooking Oil For Itching
One thing women battle in pregnancy is stretch marks. And on my post on how to prevent stretch marks in pregnancy, I have outlined some great products, oils, butter, lotions, etc., for stretch marks like earth’s mama belly butter, glow organic, Mustela stretch mark cream.
If you have run out of your favorite stretch mark cream, what you need to do is to try some home remedies before restocking. Coconut oil works wonders for the skin.
You can use that on the belly and feel instant relief. Other oils like olive oil, argan oil, vitamin E oil, and vitamin A oil are great to try out for the itching.
14. Elastic Shoelaces
Elastic shoelaces come in handy when the belly bump is so big, and bending down becomes difficult. You would need your workout shoes for exercising or to wear your favorite pair of sneakers when walking.
How do you tie the lace? You may not always find someone around to help you with it. With an elastic lace for your sneakers, you save yourself the hassles of tying and untying shoelaces.
You only slip your sneakers on when you want to wear them and off when you’re done. There are a variety of colors of shoelaces to pick from, so you do not need not to worry if you think that you would not match the color of your sneakers.
15. You Do Not Have To Go For Only Maternity Clothes During Pregnancy
Trust me, maternity clothes are quite pricey and expensive but there are so many other clothing options you can try out aside from maternity clothes.
Like shift dresses, they are free at the midsection, which is perfect for your baby bump, and you can wear them in preggy days and after. You can also pair Large tops with your favorite jeans.
Even if your trousers are unbuttoned, your large top will cover it. Why I like pairing large tops and trousers is that I can rub my belly any time. Another thing you can wear instead of the regular maternity dresses are Maxi dresses.
Maxi dresses were something I wore a lot during my pregnancy. Go for maxi dresses that are stretchy so you can wear them as your bump keeps expanding.
Other clothes you could try are Large baggy shorts and trousers, stretchy spandex leggings, stretchy tops, Knit tops that keep you warm and gives you the much-needed comfort. You can choose to buy these instead of only on maternity clothes. It is advantageous because you can wear all these after pregnancy.
16. Use Pregnancy Pillows To Make Sleeping Easier
If you find sleeping quite difficult because of body aches and discomfort get a pregnancy pillow and you will start sleeping better. Pregnancy pillows have been designed to make sleeping during pregnancy more comfortable.
It works great not only in pregnancy; you can use it for postpartum when the episiotomy site is healing and sitting down difficult. It can also be used for breastfeeding.
17. Use Elastic Hair Ties For Your Jeans Trousers
As your pregnancy girth is increasing, do you fear that you won’t be using your trousers anymore because they are no longer size? Not to worry, instead of ditching your favorite denim pants, get elastic hair ties. Black is always a color that would go with anything so use black.
Pass the hair tie through the loop of the buttonhole in your jeans trousers. Re-loop, this time, looping through the head tie and tighten.
This life pregnancy life hack can help you save some cash (do not have to buy new pair of jeans) and you can rock your favorite jeans anytime anyway.
If your belly bump is really big, you can use a belly band to cover the bump. Using a belly band and a hair tie is the best hack ever.
The buttonhole on your trousers will be completely hidden. Complete this dressing with a knit sweater or large top, and you are good to go.
18. Sleep On Silk
Finding it difficult to get out of bed every morning? I understand how difficult it is could be. Here is a life pregnancy hack that could help you change the game.
Get silk pillowcases and bedsheets to make your bed and see how easier it will be to slide off the bed when you have to rush to pee. Silk beddings are cool to the skin, coupled with a warm blanket, you will have the best sleep ever.
19. For Swollen Feet, Try These Hacks
For instant relief for swollen feet, soak your feet in Epsom or sea salts. It helps a great deal. You get a bucket of warm water and put some scoops of Epsom salt or sea salt and soak up the feet for 10 to 15 minutes you would feel so much relief.
You can also add in some oils to the water to make it scented water. Try also using a Kinesio band to wrap the feet all night and get the relief you want. You can also try compression socks for those super swollen legs and, of course, keeping your feet elevated.
20. List Everything
I know you use this trick in your every time, but during pregnancy, it will come in handy because you’ll be doing a lot whether in your first, second or, third pregnancy, so it is important to create a diary or notepad to write out those things to do, buy and every other plan you have during your pregnancy.
You may want to check my post on things to do during the third trimester before you give birth. Include important stuff in your notepad; the plan for baby and mama shopping, preparing the home, preparing the hospital bag (check out my post on the hospital bag checklist I have written here), a haircut before birth, planning a trip, discussing with your partner, etc. As the plans pop up in your mind, write them down. The notepad should be part of your emergency bag.
These 20 must-know pregnancy life hacks would make the challenging tough, difficult times in pregnancy, easier. They are lifesavers, do not hesitate to use them in your 9 months journey.
Save this for later mama!
