Cold water swimming

[Duvetlover]

Hello- I swim in open water swimming (sea) in skins normally (togs) usually swim year round too. This time of year as the water dips to 11 and below and will stay that way till April/May.
I am wondering if any mums out there have continued open water swimming in the sea during their pregnancy and in colder water?
My doctor says it is safe provided I don’t get cold (I usually do but not to the point of hypothermia, just that cold glow!)
Any advice would be appreciated. Only 9 weeks and not public with pregnancy so can’t ask my OW community here!
Would really appreciate hearing from some UK swimmers- posted on another board and the mamas came back asking why I would want to swim in cold water....

[ArkadyRose]

Your doctor is right - the baby is well protected deep inside you, so unless you become hypothermic there's no danger.

[Duvetlover]

Thank you @ArkadyRose it makes sense I know from what I know about core temp and afterdrop- do you swim OW? I’m at that horrid stage where I’m unsure about a lot of things and can ask because I’m not at the sharing stage!

[ArkadyRose]

I used to; haven't since I developed fibromyalgia though, as now I get chilled far too easily (thermal regulation goes haywire in fibro, annoyingly). I still have a lot of friends who swim though, one of whom swam right the way through her last pregnancy and probably would have given birth in the sea if it wouldn't be detrimental to the baby! (I swear she's secretly a mermaid, that woman....) With DD3, I swam in the sea (usually off the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales) right up until about 8 months; would have carried on longer but I kept getting really bad Braxton Hicks around that time, and my labours go so fast I didn't want to risk giving birth on a Welsh beach!

[Duvetlover]

Wow thank you. Sorry to hear about the FM- my friend also has it and has problems with overheating- cold water seems to help her!
I would really like to keep swimming as i adore he headspace I get from in, the tingle of the sea salt and cold plus the social aspect and tones of cake!
I think I may need to wetsuit up for a few months but hope that by the time baby comes in early June I’ll have been back in skins for over a month.
Our water temp will be similar to yours, gas to hear you swam. Thanks x

[ArkadyRose]

No problem.

[Foggymist]

Yes it's fine, I personally would get a wetsuit but I'd have that for winter swimming even outside of pregnancy, it's just so cold! But so lovely. Unfortunately I live too far from sea/lakes to swim outdoors regularly but would always try to fit in a swim when I get home to the beaches.

[JoJoSM2]

Extreme hot water, ie hot baths aren’t allowed in pregnancy but extreme cold water is ok? Or did the people who swam in cold water have hot baths too?

[Foggymist]

I have what a lot of people would class as extremely hot showers (don't like baths), unless you're staying in long enough to change your core temperature it's fine, and with hot water you'd feel sick before that actually happened and want out. It's not like it's icy cold water, in the UK it'd be quite temperate all year round, average cold in winter rather than instant hypothermia kind of cold.

[FacelikeaBagofHammers]

Extreme hot water, ie hot baths aren’t allowed in pregnancy but extreme cold water is ok? Or did the people who swam in cold water have hot baths too?

No. That is because hot baths will result in your blood pressure dropping which is not safe when pregnant. Nothing to do with the heat itself, directly.

[TerrifyingFeistyCupcake]

Extreme hot water, ie hot baths aren’t allowed in pregnancy

Yes they are. If you feel fine to sit in hot water, you're fine. As a PP says, the water would have to be so hot and you'd have to sit in it so long that you'd have felt sick and got out anyway. You're more vulnerable to overheating in pregnancy which is why you probably shouldn't spend lots of time in a sauna, but it doesn't happen without you noticing. I sometimes wonder how people think, e.g. pregnant women in India cope when it's 40C outside.

If OP feels fine swimming in cold water, she IS fine.

[AccrualIntentions]

I swam in my early pregnancy (April and May) but stopped after that, mainly due to tiredness and feeling uncomfortable in my wetsuit (I'm a wimp and don't go skins unless it's really sunny).

I asked the doctor at the time though and she advised if I took the usual precautions to keep myself safe - e.g. getting warm and having a hot drink quickly afterwards, listening to your body and not staying out too long - then that should also keep the baby safe. Even the cold water temperatures we get in the UK are not that cold, relatively speaking.

[JoJoSM2]

Interesting how the advice varies. I was told no baths at all, no swimming in the 1st trimester (in the pool) and presume would have been told not to go anywhere near open water.

[eurochick]

That’s pretty extreme advice! I had a high risk ivf pregnancy and was never given that advice.

[TerrifyingFeistyCupcake]

There's no scientific justification for that advice - that's ridiculously constricting. I can't even conceive of why swimming would be out in the first trimester (but not the others).

[ArkadyRose]

I can't fathom why any GP or midwife would be that constrictive!

[EgremontRusset]

I found it made my already-stretched obliques all twitchy and uncomfortable, but that was when I already had a bump

[Duvetlover]

Thanks a mill ladies- I feel a bit more comfortable now! It’s nice to have heard from you all. Realistically speaking I prob will don a wetsuit for Jan, feb and early March as these are the coldest (7/8 degrees) and it’s unlikely I would be swimming for longer than 20 mins once it goes below 9 anyway.
Thanks again, you’ve been great x