How dangerous is it to use saunas/steam rooms?

[bettyspaghetti33]

Ok I'm 8 and half weeks gone and just wondering really if I'm ok to carry on using the sauna at my gym. I've been using it for months now and my body is very used to it but lately I have noticed the health and safety sign they've put on the wall outside which says not to use it if you are pregnant, have a heart condition etc. Anyone had any experience of this?

I am Finnish and we use saunas from birth to grave and certainly throughout pregnancies. Never seen any health warnings at home, and no ill effects to mothers or children. And this is a country that builds tiny saunas into tiny studio flats so that no-one will be deprived. Smoke sauna (wood fire without a chimney) I would avoid as it would make you feel dizzy.

Think it is to do with the fact that Saunas, Steam rooms & Jacuzzis can raise your blood pressure quite significantly. Which can cause problems in pregnancy. Maybe wait til your booking app with mw & ask her or phone antenatal unit & ask to speak to a midwife. I was a gym member when pregnant with my 1st & avoided all of the above just used pool & this time round I with no.3 I have not the time or energy or money to belong to a gym!!!! lol

I have read that saunas, steams, hot baths etc are not recommended as overheating babies can give them febrile convulsions, which could lead to brain damage?? Don't know how high the risks are.

'tiny saunas into tiny studio flats'

it's likely to be because if you get too hot when pregnant you are quite likely to pass out. unlikely to harm baby but will make you feel rubbish

Ah yeah I guess I should've known about the blood pressure thing, seeing as I've already been pregnant once before! Thanks for your replies, I think I'll give them a miss for the time being :)

I thought it was because the because the baby can't control it's body temperature very well? I've not heard of the blood pressure thing although that also makes sense.

i think that as you get hot and the blood rushes to your [peripheries you are more likely to get low blood pressure and hence to faint

you can into labour if your body temperature is raised hence why the guide lines say no hot water bottles and no electric blankets

Another Finn here, cousin in Finland just given birth to a beautifully healthy boy having regularly used saunas throughout the pregnancy. She was the same with her first. Guess you shouldn't go for endurance heat but a lovely relaxing sauna sounds bliss during pregnancy. Enjoy

I'd used a sauna a few times before I got my BFP with DD, so asked the dr about this to see if I'd done any damage. He told me that officially he had to advise that I don't use them, but that if it was him he wouldn't worry about it at all and suggested I look at how many healthy mums and babies there are in Scandinavia (as the Finns on here have mentioned) for reassurance

I would go with the Fins and all the other peoples who use saunas, whether you are a baby or an old granny...

Steam baths are 40°C. In Ryadh in Saudi-Arabia it is 50°C in summer regularly, the tribes in the Calahari desert also live in scorching temperatures like this, not to mention the Bedouins in the Sahara. Unless all those people have no babies (which is clearly not true), a steam bath should not be considered dangerous.

Saunas (according to Wikipedia at least) were also used for women to give birth in, even in the early 20th century (so those records can't be products of over-excited minds). If saunas were that bad, you wouldn't actually give birth in them, would you? Not even if they were sterile environments (which was the foremost reason for doing this).

Saunas are reported to be potentially dangerous for people with high bloodpressure, but they do not cause it.