Travelling While Pregnant
Pregnant women need to plan their holidays and air travel with some extra care. Whilst the second trimester is generally considered the best time to travel, it is important to check with your doctor that there are no medical reasons not to fly before booking your tickets. An example of particular medical conditions could be additional swelling especially of the ankles plus raised blood pressure or bleeding and in these circumstances a pregnant woman may well be advised against any type of air travel.
Whilst it is almost universally accepted that it is safe for expectant mothers to fly up until the thirty sixth week of pregnancy, it is best to check this detail with the airline involved. Carrying a medical certificate if the pregnancy is more than 24 weeks pregnant is recommended.
Pregnant women should check in early, as they can request a bulkhead seat, which may have more leg room, depending on the airline, or ask for an aisle seat so that it is easier to get in and out. If the destination is in Africa or Asia then a vaccination against hepatitis A and B would normally be recommended but pregnant women are warned against typhoid inoculations even though there isn’t any medical evidence that it can harm the unborn child so the best advice is for the woman to speak with the doctor first.
Pregnant women are also advised against traveling to any country where malaria is prevalent. In Australia, typhoid and hepatitis A vaccinations aren’t advised for children under six but it is recommended that children are up-to-date with their other immunizations.
To be on the safe side it is advisable to check with a medical professional before any travel is arranged when a woman is pregnant. If in a country with hepatitis A or typhoid then the use of bottled water for drinking or even brushing teeth is an absolute necessity and ice should only be used from water that has been purified.
It is also inadvisable to eat fruit and raw vegetables and before eating wash your hands with an antibacterial hand wash. Nowadays it is easy to carry travel size bottles of gel hand wash that can sterilize without the need for special facilities as it dries in the air almost immediately.
Air travel also increases the risk of deep vein thrombosis which is statistically more likely in pregnant women so to guard against this it is recommended that expectant women wear the special flight socks or tight that are now available. To keep maintain a good circulation, it is advisable that walking about or other exercises be carried out whilst in flight whenever possible.
Travel insurance policies will cover costs relating t the pregnancy up to twenty six weeks but even policies that cover travel related claims after that period will not include those for the pregnancy itself.
To read more about pregnancy and baby, visit pregnancy101.org and while you are it, you can learn more about very early symptoms of pregnancy.
Tags: travel while pregnant
This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 12:29 am and is filed under loose pregnancy weight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.