Air Travel: Safe During Pregnancy
If pregnant women do not have obstetric or medical complications, they are allowed to follow the exact same precautions as regular people when it comes to air travel and still fly safely.
Since the year 2001, which is when ACOG initially issued committee opinions on air travel and pregnancy, an amount of observational research has been published, stating how air travel would generally be safe during uncomplicated pregnancies. Such brand new research has made previous recommendations more detailed and much stronger. The most recent researches have not shown any increase within adverse outcomes of pregnancy among occasional travelers by air.
The more updated committee opinions have also addressed concerns regarding cosmic radiation exposure during any kind of air travel. Even long intercontinental flights could expose passengers to a maximum of 15% of the overall recommended cosmic radiation limit of exposure that was set by the radiation protection council of the nation and the internal radiological protection commission. But it would be possible for frequent flyers or flight crews to go past this recommended limit of exposure. The federal administration of aviation offers a website tool to aid in estimating the cosmic radiation exposure from certain flights. Inquiries from patients regarding air travel at pregnancy are several of the highly common ones at obstetric visits. Whenever patients with uncomplicated pregnancies ask about occasionally flying, it is easy to say that they will be safe.
Every airline passenger, even a pregnant woman, can aid in reducing the overall risk of blood clots, most of all on longer flights, by putting on support stockings, regularly moving their legs, staying away from tight clothing, leaving their seats to walk for several minutes, and making sure that they stay hydrated. Pregnant women have to constantly make use of their seatbelts while seated in order to prevent possible risks of trauma to their bodies when there is sudden and severe turbulence in the air. ACOG also states that pregnant women might want to stay away from gas-producing drinks or foods like carbonated soda before flying since stomach-trapped gas expands when the altitude rises, which could cause severe discomfort. The pregnant women that experience nausea that is pregnancy-related might wish to take preventative anti-nausea medications prior to boarding the aircraft.
The ACOG states that pregnant women that do have obstetric or medical conditions, which could get worse through air travel or may require some sort of emergency care must never fly during any time of their pregnancy. These women need to check with personal airlines for certain requirements when it comes to taking pregnant women on-board. The majority of commercial airlines let pregnant women fly until they reach 36 weeks of their gestation; however, there might be limitations and these limitations could vary with every airline carrier. But, in general, if pregnant women do not have obstetric or medical complications, they should usually be allowed to follow the exact same precautions as regular people when it comes to air travel and still fly safely.
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