First Trimester Pregnancy Favorites: Hacks Every Mom Needs

Pregnancy can be a hard time for so many women. There is always one stage that is harder for everyone or sometimes even the whole pregnancy sucks. These are first trimester pregnancy favorites that every mom needs to have.

The things we do for our kids right!?

I hope that these pregnancy essentials will help you throughout your pregnancy. Some of them I have tried and some of them I have had other moms swear by!

first trimester pregnancy favorites

First Trimester Pregnancy Favorites

Sea Bands

We all know that crappy thing called nausea and vomiting and we are very aware of it while we are pregnant. I luckily didn’t have any puking throughout my pregnancy, but I had a lot of nausea and light-headedness. So I feel your pain there.

I have had so many moms swear by sea bands and when I looked them up, the benefits totally made sense.

These bands have a plastic knob that goes on the inside of your wrist. The knob applies pressure and stimulates the P6 acupressure point. This pressure point is proven to relieve nausea and vomiting.

They usually start working within a few minutes and you can wear them all day.

Just a warning some women have noticed bruising on the inside of their wrists when they first start wearing them. As you keep wearing them you should stop getting bruises.

They are fairly inexpensive, like under $10 a pair and they last for 10-12 years as long as you’re good at not losing things!

It is also a great alternative to taking medication prescribed by your doctor. So why not try something that could help with your nausea and vomiting!

I know I was willing to try anything to get rid of my nausea.

Make a Beside Nausea Kit

This has been a lifesaver! I get super dehydrated in the middle of the night. My legs will start to cramp because my muscles aren’t hydrated enough. I will also get super lightheaded, so my bedside nausea kit has been amazing!

For your kit have things that you usually eat throughout the day to help fight your nausea. Crackers, pretzels, and bread usually work for me. Also have a water bottle next to your bed.

This kit is really helpful for all of those nighttime peeing trips that you will take.

When you have to pee slowly sit up, eat a couple things, and drink some water. This helps with the nausea, but also helps when you get lightheaded.

Once you have your baby then it will just switch over to being a bedside breastfeeding kit!

Popsicles

These were a life-saver through most of my pregnancy! I would always have my husband bring me a real-fruit popsicle for me to suck on while I was sitting on the couch. It helped fight the nausea for me.

Popsicles will keep you hydrated and give you a little bit of extra nutrition, especially if you get the real-fruit popsicles.

Popsicles

Popsicles produce less odor which helps with not triggering nausea. The sense of smell is tied with your sense of taste. So eating things with less odor help combat nausea.

If you also get yogurt based popsicles the yogurt in them will help neutralize the acids in your stomach.

Use Ginger and Citrus Scents

I’m a sucker for pretty smelling things, aren’t we all!?

Ginger and citrus have nausea fighting properties.

With your sense of smell and taste connected getting a candle, scent beads, or an oil diffuser that smells like citrus or ginger makes sense.

While you are at the store go to the home section and look for the scented candles, oil, or beads. I would suggest smelling them at the store and if you don’t feel nauseous snag that sucker up right away!

If you easily get nauseous you may have to go back on separate trips to not upset your tummy too much.

Hair-tie Trick

I hardly ever wore jeans during my pregnancy because thankfully at my job I get to wear sweatpants!

When I did wear jeans though they were hard to fit into with the waist. I heard this trick before I was pregnant and I thought it was genius! Heck I even used it during the holidays when I wasn’t even pregnant!

hair tie trick

When you use the hair tie you can put a belly band on over to hold your pants in place a little better and to cover the hair tie.

Make sure you wear a long enough top to cover the zipper area if you don’t plan on using a belly band.

I didn’t buy belly bands because I just made mine out of spandex tank tops that I had.

Extend the Life of your Bra

Bra extenders help mainly at the end of your pregnancy when your breasts are getting bigger prepping for the baby.

You can also go up a size when you are buying bras. I just bought nursing bras that were kind of like sports bras so they would stretch as I grew bigger. They even came with bra extenders for each bra!

They have been magnificent and you can even use them after your baby comes if you plan on nursing!

You don’t want bras with under wire because they can get quite uncomfortable.

Also get bras that have a wide band so they will last longer and it helps to cover that pesky back fat.

Kinesio Tape or Belly Band

Kinesio tape is used to support and allow your muscles and joints to heal. A lot of athletes will use this tape when they need extra support instead of using braces.

The tape is beneficial to hold up your tummy and based on how you tape it. You can have other benefits such as back and leg pain relief as well.

Kinesio tape

As your baby and tummy grow it is putting strain on your lower back and ab muscles. With the growth of your baby it could cause Diastasis Recti (the separation of your ab muscles).

With moving around on your daily life you are putting tension on your abdominal and back muscles. That’s why it is essential to support these muscles.

I haven’t used kinesio tape, but I do use my belly band to help with my lower back pain.

It has helped so much because I got to the point where my back would spasm and I couldn’t move.

I would have to wait till it stopped hurting and then have my husband help me up. Man I felt let an old crippled lady always asking for help to get up! The support helped me a lot to lessen my back pain though.

If you want to know more about kinesio tape Sia from diary of a fit mommy has a great post on it!

Compression Socks

Towards the end of your pregnancy you will swell, it’s a very common pregnancy symptom. I didn’t swell hardly at all so I didn’t use these, but I know plenty of women who have used these and wear them every day.

You probably have seen your grandparents use these. Or people who just got done with foot surgery to help with the swelling.

Usually they have the ugly beige ones, but they do make black ones. People won’t even be able to tell that you have them on!

Epsom Soak

When you aren’t wearing your compression socks you can soak your feet in Epsom salt. This will reduce the swelling in your feet, heck bathe in it if you want to feel extra relaxed.

I always soak in Epsom salt to relax my body. You will get multiple benefits of a soak if you take the time to relax and recover.

No Tie Shoe Laces

I know towards the end of my pregnancy it felt like I just ran ten laps when I would put my shoes on. It was so difficult because my big tummy was in the way and it made it difficult to breathe when I would bend over.

There are no tie shoe laces that turn your shoes into a slip on shoe that way you don’t feel winded after you put them on. I didn’t even hear about these till a friend told me.

I just loosened my tennis shoes so I could slip them on, but if you don’t like loose shoes definitely invest in these laces.

Maternity Clothes

Maternity clothes only last you for a short little while. I made sure to buy clothes that I could wear even after my pregnancy.

Shift dresses, loose spandex shirts, and leggings are all great buys!

I usually wear loose clothing and spandex anything so my closet was practically full of clothes I could wear during pregnancy.

I just don’t like to spend money on things that won’t last. More than likely the next time you get pregnant you won’t even like the maternity clothes that you bought.

So you might as well get clothes that you can wear during and after pregnancy.

Pregnancy Pillow

After 20 weeks you need to be sleeping on your side and having something to support your growing and heavy tummy is helpful. It’s also great at helping with hip pain.

My hips are always falling asleep and in pain if I don’t have my pillow in between my legs.

Pregnancy pillow

I did not get a pregnancy pillow, but rather a long pillow that I could use to support my tummy and put in between my legs. Money was tight during my first pregnancy so I decided to not invest in one.

One of my friends though loved her pregnancy pillow and swore that it helped her sleep so much better.

The nice thing is you can use you pillow even after pregnancy of you want something just to lay back on.

Your kiddos could also curl up in it and read a book, if you can get them to read!

Squatty Potty

Constipation is a very common pregnancy symptom. The benefits of the Squatty Potty is it gets your body in the most natural position to go number 2.

I didn’t need one during my pregnancy because I was rarely constipated, but most of my friends who had that problem loved their Squatty Potty.

If you have any other first trimester pregnancy favorites you wish other moms knew comment then below!