Flying while pregnant

[joymaker]

Hi wondering how safe it is to fly when pregnant and if there is any particular time that it's safest. (I'm currently 19wks)

Also, what if any precautions should I take.

Thanks

You shouldn't fly in the first 3 months or the last 3 months apparently, but if you do decide to (many people do) and your airline allows you, just make sure that your travel insurance covers you being pregnant.
I flew at 20 weeks and had no issues at all.

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/927.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=133

I flew to France at 6.5 months pregnant and was absolutely fine. I got a letter from my doctor just in case, but no one batted an eyelid :)

Oh and I also let my insurers know but they didn't seem to have an issue either and didn't need a copy of the doctor's letter.

Wear flight socks. That was the only advice my midwife gave me, I flew when I was about 26 weeks, did not feel comfortable flying any later although I think our airline were happy up to 30 weeks.

I flew 1 week past the date that the airlines let younwithout a doctors letter. It was only a short flight to Spain but my gp refused to write me a letter and I had to get one from a private doctor

Bit risk averse when it comes to things like this ... don't laugh but I'm only flying 'over the water' that is from N Ireland to London . I don't usually get travel insurance- When pregnant what exactly is it to cover?

I flew long haul (15 hours) at 17 weeks and did the return flight at 20 weeks.
I was a bit worried before the flight but it was fine.

I wore the compression socks and made sure to drink water regularly and not go too long without eating. Also get up and walk around/go to loo every couple of hours to stretch your legs.

Don't go though a full-body scan at airport (the x-ray ones).

I don't know joymaker. The man on the phone told me they didn't see pregnancy as a medical 'illness' so there was no change to the policy.

You'd generally need travel insurance to cover your medical costs if you were to end up going into labour or developing other complications whilst on holiday. However, you're not leaving the country so that wouldn't be an issue.

Thanks everyone, your comments have been helpful and reasurring

OP, I travel a lot for work, and throughout my pregnancy (am now 35 weeks) I flew shorthaul roughly twice a fortnight the entire time. I never took any precautions at all. I think different airlines have different regulations, but the one I usually use required a doctor's note passing me as fit to fly after 27 weeks (though no one ever actually checked it, I could technically have been refused boarding if I couldn't produce it), and required me to have my doctor fill out a specific permission form with a lot of questions and disclaimer between 32 and 35 weeks - I last flew at 33 weeks, and they did check that. They wouldn't allow me to fly after turning 36 weeks.

Well, I'll be flying at 11 weeks with two older DC (4.5 and almost 2, so not that old )

We're flying 10 hours from US to UK.

God help us all....

i yhink it's cos the changes in pressure could maybe bring on contractions and you're not exactly close to medical help. mil tried to guilt me into flying at 37 weeks and i asked the gp. gp said she knew of no real problems, but the airline wouldn't let me go
(thank goodness)

HardCheese thanks for sharing your experience, very informative.

kick I might just check with my GP to see if she thinks any note would be necessary, cant think why at my stage though.

Chocolate, all the best!