Is Sex the Cure for Morning Sickness? (Probably Not, But It May Be Worth a Shot)
Photo: Getty Images / The BumpIn news that’s sure to excite your partner, a psychologist is theorizing that the cause of — and cure for — morning sickness is none other than your baby’s father. More specifically, his semen.
According to Slate, Gordon Gallup of SUNY-Albany Gallup argues that since half of a baby’s genetic makeup belongs to its father, it’s possible that a woman’s body treats that DNA as a foreign substance. So the mother experiences an immune reaction that involves vomiting and nausea, the same way it would if you caught a virus. Luckily, Gallup feels that the cause and the cure are both one and the same: (you guessed it) semen.
Although the theory has yet to be tested (read: nowhere near proven), Gallup speculates that to prevent symptoms of nausea during the first trimester, a woman should frequently expose herself to her partner’s semen in order to develop a higher tolerance to his genetic makeup. In other words, the more often a woman is inseminated leading up to and during pregnancy (he’s talking regular sex and oral), the less sick she’ll feel.
We had a good laugh about this theory — and are wondering if Gallup has a wife who’s now in the early stages of pregnancy — but there are plans to actually study it. Plus, there are more interesting tidbits:
Gallup says that a woman’s reaction to her mate’s DNA is a maternal adaptation that favors the best potential suitor. So we should interpret hugging the toilet bowl as a sign that we chose the wrong husband?
He also says that women with little to no sexual contact or those who use condoms are more susceptible to feeling queasy. And also predicts that women with two or more children should experience lessened symptoms of morning sickness with each consecutive pregnancy.
Of course, we’ve got to wonder, if you’re feeling really sick, how you’re going to get into the mood. But if you’re desperate to feel better, a roll in the hay might be worth a shot. Of course, we’ll remain skeptical until we see the results of Gallup’s study.
How was your experience with morning sickness? What do you think of this theory?
Plus, more from The Bump:
Foods That Ease Morning Sickness
The Knot Blog
The Nest Blog
I actually felt MORE sick the mornings after we had sex. We actually joked about how sex made me puke….and I don’t think I choose the wrong husband (though I guess most people don’t) – But I actually posted something about this on my OCT2012 mom’s board and a few ladies agreed with me! … So I call b.s. on this article!
Sorry!
i believe that. i didnt have morning sickness at all not once during my pregnancy with my baby (he’s a boy). my husband and i did it literally like every day up until the last week of my pregnancy, i was just so big and we had so much to do still to get ready we only managed to get it on 2 or 3 times before baby arrived that week. i was nauseous every afternoon that week. hmmm…..i wonder?
You can tell a man did all of this theorizing. I had nearly no morning sickness with my first child, with my second it was worse and with my third I couldnt hold anything down for 5 months. And sex always made it worse. Sorry to put all of your hard work to shame but it’s not true, at least not in my case.
And I always thought that you got morningsickness due to some extra high level of some hormone…. that’s odd…..
This is a crazy theory. I have had three children and only had morning sickness with the third one. He happens to have a different father than my first two children. And let me tell you the father of the first two was no prize so the best mate theory is out the window. And I certainly don’t think that it has anything to do with the amount of sex you have with your partner because the frequency was more with the third pregnancy than the first two.