There are a lot of myths and rumors out there when it comes to pregnancy. There are old wives’ tales that will tell you how to predict your baby’s gender, and there are legends about the horrible consequences of certain activities while you’re pregnant. One of the areas that tends to get a lot of undue attention is the area of bathing during pregnancy.
The good news here is that there is no danger In bathing during pregnancy. Regardless of what your grandmother might tell you, bathing during pregnancy is safe, provided that two conditions are met:
- Keep the water warm, rather than hot, when bathing during pregnancy. Your bath water should be just about body temperature, so 98 degrees is pretty much perfect. It should also be a nice soothing temperature, as well.
- Your water has not yet broken. Bathing during pregnancy is a no-no if your water has broken. At that point, you run the risk of infection, which is especially high during a bath. This doesn’t mean that a water birth isn’t an option, for example, but a typical afternoon bath isn’t usually a good idea if your water has already broken.
You can measure the water temperature in a number of ways. There are tub thermometers meant for a baby’s bath, and those will work just fine. You can also save it for use while bathing your baby later on. You can even use a simple pool thermometer, as well.
You should avoid taking too hot a bath during pregnancy because when the water is hotter than your body temperature it can cause a number of problems for your baby.
Given those two factors, you can take baths during pregnancy as often as you would like. Some women enjoy a soothing bath because it can grant relief from some of the symptoms of pregnancy. Many women, for example, experience relief from backache by taking a bath during pregnancy.
