Relationship Between Morning Sickness DuringPregnancy and Infant Gender amongPostnatal Mothers

Volume 7 Issue 2 May - July 2017

Research Paper

Relationship Between Morning Sickness DuringPregnancy and Infant Gender amongPostnatal Mothers

Sabitha Nayak*, Sunanda B**

* Professor and Vice-Principal, OBG Nursing, Nitte Usha Institute of Nursing Sciences, Nitte University, Karnataka, India.

** Lecturer, Department of OBG Nursing, Nitte Usha Institute of Nursing Sciences, Nitte University, Karnataka, India.

Nayak, S., and Sunanda, B. (2017). Relationship Between Morning Sickness During Pregnancy and Infant Gender Among Postnatal Mothers. i-manager’s Journal on Nursing, 7(2), 21-26. https://doi.org/10.26634/jnur.7.2.13692

Abstract

Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is commonly known as “morning sickness”. It affects approximately 80% of women. It is much more common during the first trimester of the pregnancy. Symptoms may be present early in the morning and reduces as the day progresses. In more severe cases vomiting may cause dehydration, weight loss, high blood PH, and a low level of potassium in the blood. This condition is known as hyperemesis gravidarum and occurs in about 1% of all pregnancies. The investigator wanted to explore the relationship between morning sickness during pregnancy and infant gender among postnatal mothers as some studies have been found that pregnant women with diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum have given birth to a higher proportion of female newborn. A co-relational research design was adopted and the data was collected among 100 postnatal mothers and the results indicated that majority of the samples were in the age group of 26 to 30 years (46%). 58% were primigravid mothers and in relation to sex of the baby, 65% of mothers delivered female babies. The study revealed that there is significant relationship between morning sickness and infant gender.