The dreaded 'morning sickness', extreme nausea and vomiting, will affect around 90% of pregnant women. Just why women have to go through this is not known, but there are some things you can do to minimise this unpleasant part of pregnancy.

1. Ask your medical advisor whether you can take vitamin B6. A dose of approximately 100 mg per day has been shown to reduce the feeling of nausea.

2. Eat foods rich in the B vitamins: examples are nuts, chicken, fish, liver and advocados.

3. Take frequent sips of liquids such as water, soup, tea, and lemonade. This can help in two ways: when you vomit you loose a lot of fluids and it is important to keep your body hyderated at all times; and it also makes vomiting less unpleasant if you have something to bring up. Vomiting when the stomach is empty is even more unpleasant than when you have something to bring up.

4. Avoid foods with strong smells such as spicy or fried foods as such dishes can make you feel queasy and induce vomiting.

5. Snack little and often. When you go to bed place biscuits or muffins at your bedside and nibble these if you wake in the night.

6. Foods high in carbohydrates are more likely to stay down and will ward off hunger. Recommended foods are breads, rice and pasta.

7. If you don't feel like eating, don't. If eating will make you feel queasy and cause you to vomit, there is no point. You will not benefit nutritionly if the food comes straight back up.

Morning sickness is the least enjoyable part of being pregnant. How long it lasts varies from women to women. Just keep reminding yourself that it will end.

Tony Luck runs a web site with advice about having babies. The site also includes the famous Chinese Pregnancy chart which predicts whether the baby you are expecting will be a girl or a boy.