Hot Baths/showers During Pregnancy...

Hi, L.:

Getting over-heated may cause you to faint.

What would happen to you and the baby if you fainted?

One idea.
D.

I know! Another cruel "You cant have" when pregnant even though its wonderful instance!

It raises your body temperature, but the baby cant cool down after like you can. It can cause brain damage or a miscarriage.

My friend (who exercised, ate the right foods, did nothing risky at all while pregnant) recently had a stillborn baby. This is NOT related to taking a hot bath, but definitely makes me take the doctors advice more seriously now.

Skip the hot bath and put it in the category of other great things you cant do while pregnant.

Raises your body temp too much.

I missed my hot baths like crazy. Do warm. You will get used to it.

I was also going to say it raises your body temperature too much for the baby to be comfortable. A very warm bath will help with circulation and joint pain tho... hot - mmm not that good. It would also dehydrate you and your skin.

A hot bath or spa - because unlike you- the baby has no way to cool off - you are basically boiling your baby....

Sorry L.!! Wasn't trying to be mean - just how my OB explained it to me - I missed my hot baths....

You are not supposed to raise your body temperature significantly during pregnancy- not good for the baby or your blood pressure (I think). It's up to you, but for what it's worth a HOT shower every day is not good for your own skin, so cool it off a bit!

http://www.babycenter.com/406_is-it-safe-to-take-hot-bath...

Id maybe just cool it a little while youre pregnant.

Children's bodies are more sensitive to extreme temperatures than adults, and therefore have a different reaction when exposed to high temperatures. Small children should not be in a hot tub to begin with, but if they are for some reason, they are at risk of damaging their brain and other parts of their body. When a child's head is immersed underwater, the heat that is absorbed can greatly damage the brain. Because children are already susceptible to risk in a hot tub, it will not take long for injury to occur. A good rule of thumb is to keep small children out of a hot tub altogether. Older children can use a hot tub but only for short periods of time -10 minutes maximum - and should never completely immerse their head underwater.

The other exception is related to pregnant women. During pregnancy, women are advised to stay out of hot tubs because of the effects of hot water on the fetus. If a pregnant woman immerses herself in water as hot as what is usually found in a hot tub, she puts her baby at risk of severe brain damage. The hot water will cause the woman's body temperature to rise and the stomach (since it's underwater) will literally become like an oven to the baby. When it comes to pregnancy, it's best to avoid hot tubs and spas at all costs.

I think they dont want your body temp rising when your pregnant. I took pretty hot baths when I was pregnant. I didnt fill the tub up enough to go over my belly, just enough to cover my sore back. I would get out before I got overheated. But, yeah, I took hot baths and my kids are perfect.

I was so hot when I was pregnant, a hot bath was the last thing on my mind.
We use to joke about having a bun in the oven but I never realized how hot being the oven would be.
I remember taking cold showers/bath just to cool off a bit.
It's too easy for your body to overheat and that's bad for the baby.
You should be fine with 4 inches of warm/hot water - not enough of your body is immersed to raise your overall temperature.

There is a possibility of becoming overwhelmed with the heat with your hormones and carrying two body temps. But mainly for the baby's sake. Would you put a newborn baby inside a steaming hot bath tub? Imagine a premature baby who is already having high temps inside your body. You can sweat and get signals when you are too hot. A premature baby in your womb has no way of telling you, "I'm too hot!" and the fear of long periods in extreme heat can cause brain damage or other problems in extreme cases. There's no need to raise the baby's body temperature unnecessarily for your pleasure. The baby cannot speak for itself to tell you its needs. You may not have had problems with your first baby. You can tell your first child to go ahead and play in the street and may not get hit by a car for a long time, but sooner or later he may. Why take the risk? These are precautions. Use them as such.

With my second child I went ahead and took a nice hot shower. Suddenly I felt faint from all the heat and was starting to pass out. Thankfully my husband was there and I yelled out for him to help me. He had to carry me out of the bathroom and cool me down immediately. You just never know. I never did that again with any of my pregnancies. Thinking about how it effected me made me understand how it could effect a small baby inside of me all bundled up in my body heat.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

I'm with everyone else... that's a big no. Especially the first trimester, when it can cause neural tube and other birth defects, but in general this is a totally avoidable thing that can keep you and your baby healthy. Keep the water under 100 degrees and limit the baths to 10 minutes, and you should be fine.

My no frills doctor told me not to listen to that. He said a bath would have to be pretty darn hot and long to bake your insides. He also said it was fine to drink one or two glasses of wine every day(I didn't though), drink all the coffee I want (I kept it at one cup) and to go to loud rock concerts (my husband had some shows while I was pregnant), take pain relievers and sleeping aids (I didn't though). I think if your pregnancy is high risk, or you're frail, you could take every precaution, but I wouldn't worry about the baths personally.