What the science actually says — and what genuinely helps
Morning sickness is one of the most universally talked about and least usefully addressed parts of pregnancy. Around 70–80% of pregnant women experience nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP), usually beginning around week six and easing by weeks twelve to fourteen — though for many it lingers far longer, and despite the name, it rarely keeps to mornings.
The internet is full of advice, most of it well-meaning and half-evidenced. This is a closer look at what actually has science behind it — and where scent, used well, fits into the picture.
The honest answer is that no one is entirely sure, but the leading theory points to a hormone called GDF15 (Growth Differentiation Factor 15). A 2023 study published in Nature by Fejzo and colleagues found that women with the most severe pregnancy sickness produced higher levels of GDF15 — and were more sensitive to it. The hormone interacts with the part of the brainstem that controls vomiting.
Older theories blame rising hCG and oestrogen, and they probably play a part too. What's clear is that morning sickness is biological, not psychological — it's not something you can think your way out of, and it's not a sign of a "weak" pregnancy. If anything, mild to moderate NVP is associated with slightly better pregnancy outcomes.
These are the remedies that have stood up to clinical scrutiny — ranked roughly by the weight of evidence behind them.
Ginger is the most well-studied natural remedy for pregnancy nausea. A 2014 meta-analysis by Viljoen and colleagues, published in Nutrition Journal, pooled data from twelve randomised controlled trials and concluded that ginger significantly reduced nausea compared with placebo, with no increased risk to pregnancy outcomes. A more recent 2018 systematic review in Integrative Medicine Insights reached the same conclusion.
The typical effective dose in studies is around 1–1.5g of ginger per day, taken in capsules, tea, or food. But ginger also works through scent: its warm, slightly spicy aroma is grounding rather than sharp, which makes it easier to tolerate on the days when even "nice" smells feel like too much.
Try: ginger tea, crystallised ginger, ginger capsules — or our ginger balm at the wrist when even drinking water feels like a step too far.
Vitamin B6 has decades of evidence behind it. A landmark 1991 randomised controlled trial by Sahakian and colleagues, published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, showed that 25mg of B6 taken three times daily significantly reduced nausea severity compared to placebo. It's now recommended as a first-line treatment by both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and NICE in the UK.
B6 is often combined with the antihistamine doxylamine (sold as Diclectin in Canada, Xonvea in the UK, Diclegis in the US) — a combination shown in multiple trials to be safe and effective in pregnancy. Speak to your GP or midwife before starting either.
A 2014 randomised controlled trial by Yavari Kia and colleagues, published in the Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal, gave 100 pregnant women either lemon essential oil or a placebo to inhale at the onset of nausea. The lemon group reported a significant reduction in nausea and vomiting scores compared with placebo, with effects appearing within the first two days of use.
Lemon is the gentlest, most widely tolerated of the anti-nausea scents — uplifting without being overpowering, "clean" rather than perfumed. It's particularly useful for masking trigger smells in public — supermarkets, public transport, lifts, kitchens.
Peppermint's active compound, menthol, has a direct cooling and anti-nausea effect on the gut. A 2012 study by Pasha and colleagues, published in Nursing and Midwifery Studies, found that peppermint aromatherapy significantly reduced nausea and vomiting in pregnancy compared to placebo. Peppermint has also been shown in non-pregnancy studies (notably in post-operative and chemotherapy nausea) to ease symptoms quickly.
Mint is the heavy hitter — bold, bright, and able to cut through almost anything when you're ambushed by a kitchen smell or a stranger's perfume. Some women find peppermint too strong in the first trimester, so trust your nose. If it feels like too much, it probably is.
Pressure applied to the P6 (Neiguan) point on the inner wrist has been shown in several trials to reduce nausea, including in pregnancy. A 2015 Cochrane review of interventions for NVP found "limited but consistent" evidence in favour of acupressure wristbands. They're cheap, drug-free, and worth trying — especially in combination with scent.
Less glamorous, more important. An empty stomach is one of the biggest nausea triggers in early pregnancy. Eating little and often — bland carbohydrates like toast, crackers, or rice — keeps blood sugar stable and stops the stomach getting empty enough to spiral. Cold drinks tend to be tolerated better than hot ones, and sipping rather than gulping reduces the load on a queasy stomach.
Lemon water with a slice of fresh ginger. Plain crackers by the bed for before you sit up. A cold green apple. Salt-and-vinegar crisps (a surprisingly common one, and probably down to the salt replacing what's lost from sickness). None of these will fix things on their own, but the cumulative effect of the small things matters.
Smell is one of the biggest triggers of pregnancy nausea — a phenomenon now formally recognised as hyperosmia, or pregnancy nose. It stands to reason that if your nose can make you feel worse, it can also help you feel better.
The olfactory system has a direct line to the limbic brain — the parts that handle memory, emotion, and the autonomic nervous system (the bit that controls heart rate, digestion, and that queasy, swimmy feeling in your stomach). That's why a single whiff of the wrong thing can ruin your morning, and a single whiff of the right thing can settle you in seconds.
Beyond the three "clinical" scents (ginger, lemon, mint), two others come up again and again in conversation with pregnant women — and we built balms around them for a reason.
Petrichor doesn't appear in the trial literature, but it appears in nearly every conversation we've had with sick pregnant women about scents that calm them down. The smell of rain on dry earth is neutral enough not to trigger a sensitive nose, and familiar enough to feel like a reset button. For women whose nausea is tied up with anxiety and sensory overload (and for many of us, it is), it takes the edge off in a way sharper scents can't.
Pine, fir, and other "green" conifer scents are deeply grounding and easy on a sensitive nose. They smell of fresh air and being outside — which, not coincidentally, is what most pregnant women instinctively crave when they feel sick. Especially useful for indoor nausea: stuffy rooms, cars, workplaces, hospital waiting rooms. They bring the outdoors in.
Around 1–3% of pregnancies involve hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) — severe, persistent vomiting that prevents you keeping food or fluid down, causes weight loss, and often requires hospital treatment. HG is a medical condition, not a worse version of normal NVP, and it needs proper care.
Signs to take seriously and speak to your GP or midwife about:
Effective medications exist, including the doxylamine/B6 combination, ondansetron, and others. Suffering through it isn't necessary or noble — please ask for help.
There are plenty of essential oils on the market, and we love a lot of them. But oils are fiddly. They spill, they stain, they need a carrier, and they're far too easy to over-apply when you're already feeling rough.
Bump & Breathe balms were designed for exactly the moments scent matters most: on the bus, in the kitchen, halfway through a meeting, on a walk that's gone on too long. Four ingredients, one tin, one scent you chose. Open it, breathe it in, or dab it onto your wrist. That's it.
Every balm in our range was built around the scents that actually work when pregnancy sickness hits — ginger, mint, lemon, petrichor, and fir needle. The first three because the science says so. The last two because the women we made this for asked for them.
No single remedy fixes morning sickness. The honest reality is that it usually takes its own sweet time to pass — most women feel a marked improvement somewhere between weeks twelve and sixteen, and for the rest of you, it sometimes takes longer.
What helps is having the right combination of small things to hand: a snack before you sit up, a B6 tablet if your midwife suggests it, a wristband if it works for you, and a scent in your pocket for the moments nothing else will reach.
Sometimes that's the difference between coping and not coping.