Fact or Fiction: Hot Baths...

[MissHobart]

I have heard the advice not to take hot baths/use an electric blanket whilst pregnant, especially in the first few weeks as it raises your core temperature increasing the risk of miscarriage.

My brain is telling me this is unscientific bollocks, the body is perfectly capable of regulating temperature, if it wasn't, women in hot countries would have to stay in a temperature controlled environment as soon as they got PG to make sure they didn't get too hot! Surely a bath at 40 degrees is no different from being in a hot country during the summer especially as the exposure during a bath is normally no more than an hour?!

On the other hand I am 5 weeks PG after 2 x MC in the last 15 months and terrified of losing this one too (currently keeping an eye on some bleeding which panicked me yesterday) and don't want to take any unnecessary risks however I would find a nice hot bath to be very stress relieving and relaxing allowing me to manage my anxiety a bit better.

So great and wise MNers - what do YOU think?

When I went to a miscarriage specialist at St Mary's Hospital the first thing he said was stop taking hot baths and your husband should stop going in steam or sauna.

Sorry the enormity is just sinking in. Presumably you've had recurrent loss? You went there for tests and they suggested it was baths right at the start??

I've been through the test process. I know many people online and in RL who have. I've read many books and medical papers on recurrent miscarriage. I've never heard of this baths thing, even as a bit of an old timer in the RMC world.

1. The consultant should not be telling you how to prevent at the start: the ultrasounds and blood tests need to happen first. St Marys then give you a reason or a 'no reason found' (which is just that ) and their pregnancy guidelines should be the same for all women (i.e. if they warned you, they should warn others - which they don't).
2. If no cause is found, the list of other factors that can make one prone includes weight, age, smoking, previous uterus surgery. Not baths - even if someone lobstered themselves in a sauna daily and had a loss, baths do not cause recurrent miscarriage. I am

Just "treat" myself to a Luke warm bath I'll go warmer in a few weeks I think!

You dont need to go luke warm, you can still have hot, just not steaming! Get a bath thermometer if you are worried, I keep meaning to put ours in the bath to see how hot we normally have them as we have all these lovely ideas about having baby in the bath with us, but will shelve them immediately if that means tepid lol

In a fit of paranoia I tried asking Dr Google what a 'safe' bath temperature for pregnancy was. Now there really aren't any authoritative answers on this (which might tell you everything you need to know in itself) but I tried a bath at a 'recommended' temperature and it was just unpleasant. Brrr! I do prefer a slightly lobster-y bath though.

I think it is very telling that the NHS page is all about hot tubs, saunas, etc and their main comment on hot baths is not to stand up too quickly! linky here

Sorry, their main comment is that hot baths or standing up quickly can make you feel faint.

Honestly, their main worry seems to be you'll come over all funny, not any of the more scary internet stories. I'm totally with Squizita on this one.

Penguins my advice came from St Marys (who know their stuff).

Here's another reputable link where it is LITERALLY called an old wive's tale (again NHS):
www.nuh.nhs.uk/communications-and-media/trust-talk/the-truth-behind-old-wives'-tales-in-pregnancy/

When I fell preg and looked on websites or to dos and not to dos I'd never seen this. Wasn't till about 20 weeks when some one at worked mentioned it. Totally panicked. Now I always make sure I add cold so it's not to hot.

I'm 38 weeks now :)

Squizita - Oh yes, I realise that your advice is far more researched and expert backed than my general gumpf. All I meant is that even the standard NHS guidance is so laid back as to barely think it worth a mention

It annoys me and actually gets my feminist side quite angry that so many restrictions and old wives' tales are constantly bandied about in connection with pregnancy, making women feel worse if something goes wrong, making them feel restricted in perfectly normal day-to-day activities and giving everyone a reason to disapprove of them publicly. But that is perhaps for another thread.

When I was researching my paranoia re hot yoga, I read a pubmed paper about hyperthermia which suggested that the body regulated its internal temperature extremely efficiently, and it was only at sustained temperatures over 101 degrees that were a concern, and only in the very early stages. The reason this was a worry for me was that hot yoga does regularly raise internal temperature to this point. Personally I doubt baths do, as your body is partially out at all points and if you did I reckon you would get uncomfortable and add some cold.

www.cfp.ca/content/60/1/41.full

Penguins: I completely agree with you and it makes me angry too. It also frustrates me, though, that people won't just give us the science behind this stuff and instead just say 'don't worry about it too much' + a vague injunction or prohibition. I want to know what the advice is based on, and whether or not some medical professionals relaxedness about certain subjects is because they haven't, frankly, read the research. As an academic (and a feminist), I am resistant to the idea of just assuming anyone 'knows best' -- gimme the stats!

Thanks for all your brilliant comments, definitely helps towards an informed decision, I too am one for lobster baths usually which caused my concern really plus friend who swears by the goddess zeta I think a bath thermometer is the way to go, I'll test what I'd class as a "nice hot" bath and if it's high I'll reduce it! Love to add a bit of science control to my day!

Anna - I agree completely, I'm academic/scientific and have found the whole ttc/pregnancy thing a fucking nightmare for not being given hard facts, numerical results and real reasons behind what I'm being told. The "wait and see" and "there nothing you can do" have been driving me crazy!

Man, it's weird, isn't it? Suddenly you're treated so differently. All power to you and your baths :-)

Penguin I wasn't suggesting your advice was general at all! :) Just backing up what you were saying with yet more docs behind it!

I'm a real data junkie as well and one of the frustrating things is there just isn't good data on a lot of the things we want answers to - as controlled studies are understandably rarely ethical, scientists have to rely on self-reporting, often retrospectively of behaviours during pregnancy and the outcomes of interest are usually rare.

So I'm often a bit sceptical and don't always believe that "there's no evidence that X is dangerous " is the same as "X is safe". But equally if we were to embrace every scare-story we read we'd hide beneath the duvet for 9 months and never come out (but probably still be worrying we were getting too hot under there).

Yup, totally agree. We are automatically in a zone of uncertainty (one where you're characterised as either hysterical if you 'care too much' about this stuff, or callous if you don't 'care enough'). I wish so many official guidelines etc wouldn't make it worse by infantilising us. I'm sceptical of Doctors' claims to unquestionable authority when they don't want to discuss things, or assume that you couldn't possibly understand the sciency bits. I've had some doctors who knew fuck all about the specific thing I was asking about (and some lovely and amazing ones too of course...).

Mine was general gumpf *Squizita, I didn't think it was a criticism. Thankfully, although I have had a couple of miscarriages, they weren't consecutive and I've never needed further investigations.

I hated the lack of data first time round as well By no. 3 I've kind of dug down and made up my mind what I agree with and what I don't. Googling something and adding 'myths' can be quite a good way to cut through pages and pages of babycentre/mommy and me type links and find someone who has written about things with links to scientific information. Ok, you still have to judge the reliability of the sources, but at least you have a chance of finding proper links to scientific studies, stats, material, etc

Expecting Better is quite a good book took(though I don't agree with all her conclusions and the birth bit has been very half heartedly adapted for the UK).

Food rues are one of my biggest bugbears, especially advice around listeria. But generally the patronising 'we won't give you proper information' tone regarding food rules really annoys me.

Sorry I realise I've caused a bit of confusion on here as I just commented then didn't check again.

I saw Dr Rai. He didn't blame baths on my miscarriage, my DH told him that I take very hot baths (I really like hot things - Jacuzzi, bath, steam) and Dr Rai said definitely do not do those when you're pregnant as they carry a risk.) He didn't specify how hot though.

Then he was talking about how temperatures affect the sex organs and noted to my DH as an aside that if we wanted to conceive again he should not do the steam/sauna at the gym while we are ttc.

Ok, so I bought a bath thermometer (baby one which states 37 is "perfect" and flashes "hot" over 39) and due to miscarrying over the weekend (not bath related ) I have just had what I would class as a hot bath, turned my skin pink (I'm very pale and burn easily so this is very easy).

The temperature at my "hottest" was only 41* so I don't think that is too hot!

It looks like I am heading to assisted conception/pregnancy so will be heading their advice in the future but for anyone who's in the "normal" category this might be useful!

(sorry for the *'s can't find the "degree" symbol on my keyboard )

Like Hedge said, it's different for me as the heat kills sperm, so get him to keep his balls cool while trying to conceive!

*men

MissHobart I am so, so sorry about your miscarriage. Having been there and done that I know it's tough. Glad that you are looking forward too though and exploring other routes.