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Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Pregnancy

Worried about accidentally sleeping on an electric blanket...can any sciencey boffins reassure me? Don't want to fuel paranoia by googling.

22 replies

SobranieCocktail · 08/02/2009 09:19

I accidentally slept on my tummy on an electric blanket for about an hour. I was about 8 weeks pg at the time, and I'm stressing that I'll have damaged the fetus with electro-magnetic fields emitted from the blanket.

Just wondered if anyone had access to any conclusive research re: EMFs and pregnancy.

OP posts:

Report

brettgirl2 · 08/02/2009 09:27

I don't have access to any conclusive evidence but think sensibly - if I had posted this what would you say?

It was only an hour
There are electromagnetic fields everywhere surely?

I'm sure it will be absolutely fine. How far on are you now?

SobranieCocktail · 08/02/2009 09:29

Thanks brettgirl I'm 9 weeks pg now. Are there electro-magnetic fields everywhere? I wasn't sure about that.

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theyoungvisiter · 08/02/2009 09:41

I think the reason electric blankets are contraindicated in pregnancy is because of the risk of over heating - nothing to do with electro-magnetic fields which, as Brettgirl says, are everywhere.

There are electricity cables running through your walls, under your floor, etc etc. If they were a risk to foetuses we'd all have to sleep in yurts in the Sahara desert to avoid them!

SobranieCocktail · 08/02/2009 09:42

Good to see you YoungVisiter...have you been away?

OP posts:

theyoungvisiter · 08/02/2009 09:45

no - just coping with a newborn and a toddler and not getting on the computer as much as I used to when I was working!

Good luck with your pg

SobranieCocktail · 08/02/2009 09:48

Ah yes. I've been there myself.

Thanks!

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Ewe · 08/02/2009 09:50

I was told it was so you don't break your waters on the electric blanket!

Either way, don't worry about it now it is done, just take your electric blanket off of your bed.

brettgirl2 · 08/02/2009 09:53

I thought you were meant to switch them off anyway before getting into bed whether you're pg or not - can't you get burnt by them? (Well, that's what my mum always told me lol)

SobranieCocktail · 08/02/2009 09:57

Yes brettgirl you are. DH thought he was being helpful by switching it on full blast mere seconds before I hopped in. And then he forgot to tell me what he'd done until I'd been slowly roasted for an hour.

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scienceteacher · 08/02/2009 10:11

There is no such thing as an electro-magnetic field.

There are magnetic fields, which surround magnets, including the Earth itself (which is a giant magnet with a north and south pole).

When an electric current passes through a wire, a weak magnetic field surrounds the wire. In most things, this field is so weak that it would not be detected using an ordinary magnet.

Electro-magnets use this property, but they need to be strengthened to have any practical use. This won't be how an electric blanket is designed.

If anything uses electricity to make it move (eg motors, loudspeakers/microphones, electric bells), they will be using an electromagnetic.

I don't think magnetic fields are harmful to people - they only really affect magnetic materials (iron, cobalt and nickel). Earth's magnetic field is one of the things that enables us to live on this planet.

SobranieCocktail · 08/02/2009 10:13

THANK YOU scienceteacher

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Bicnod · 08/02/2009 13:33

I didn't know there was any problem with sleeping on an electric blanket when pregnant... I slept on an electric blanket in November for 3 nights (it was REALLY cold - I was in a farm in France with no heating and holes in the walls!) when I was about 4 months pregnant and baby seems fine... kicking me as I type in fact

themoon66 · 08/02/2009 13:38

I've always slept on electric blankets becuase I feel the cold so badly.

I did take it off in the last 6 weeks of pregnancy as I was worried about my waters breaking in the night.

SobranieCocktail · 08/02/2009 16:25

OK...have downgraded panic status to "amber". That's as good as it gets these days

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OST2013 · 20/02/2014 09:02

Hi Hi SobranieCocktail and Bicnod, Hope you 2 doing fine. i have the same prob like your.. i was using electric blanket when I was at 19w prg for 2 hour and really scared. Please help to share and let me know what could happen to my baby.. Tks so so much..

MummytoMog · 20/02/2014 11:38

Snort. I've been sleeping on one every night for the last nine weeks. I'm quite sure the baby is fine. It's not like you shoved your bump in the microwave.

OST2013 · 22/02/2014 03:34

Thanks MummytoMog for your information,
Since I read many article and confusion from internet reg the relationship between using electric blanket and birth defect to baby like brain tumour, autism...I could not stop worrrying.. Your information help me relaxed and less stressed myself.. Tks friend

Limakilobravo · 22/02/2014 03:39

Thread is 5 years old...

HeavenK76 · 22/02/2014 04:49

I've been using my electric blanket since before I fell pregnant and still use it every night as it really helps with my restless legs. Plus I'm always extremely cold.
Never assumed they could be dangerous??
I'm 17 weeks now btw.

OST2013 · 25/02/2014 06:40

I hope post creator and other member experienced same problem could pass by and share more.. Thanks a lot

Guiltstricken · 28/02/2014 21:52

I've been sleeping on an electric blanket for weeks now.. I'm 37+3. I didn't even consider how dangerous it'd be if my waters broke!

OST2013 · 03/03/2014 09:37

Hi Guiltstricken
Have you been sleeping with electric blanket switched on all night? I've been worried for more than 10w now... Huhu

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