Shower gel during pregnancy

[FingersCrossed1029]

Did anyone else use normal shower gel during their pregnancy? I did for 13 weeks and I only just stumbled upon a website saying you shouldn’t because it has nasty chemicals and you need to read the ingredients and buy a ‘special’ one so now I’m freaking out... did anyone else use normal shower gel and have a healthy baby? Couldn’t find any other posts about this!

Good grief, yes normal shower gel is absolutely fine! You will send yourself round the twist if you read too much about what you should & shouldn't do when you're pregnant!

Yes, had 3 babies and used normal shower gel every single day of my pregnancies. All fine.

You won't find any posts on it because it is a ridiculous claim.

Reducing chemicals overall is always sensible for anyone, but of course you can use shower gel as normal!

Yes, I have four healthy children and didn’t change a thing in my cleansing routine.
Generally I avoid parabens anyway - is that what you are thinking about?

They’re not so good for you, but unless you’re drinking the shower gel in vast quantities I can’t think that it could do much harm?

Also people have been having healthy babies for years, and people have been using parabens for years, so they can’t do that much harm can they?

You are going to be bombarded with information throughout your pregnancy OP, it can be very stress inducing the first time round.
Lovely that you’re concerned and trying to do your best.

For your own mental health you need to develop a critical eye now and take all advice with a pinch of salt.

did anyone else use normal shower gel and have a healthy baby?

Are you being serious?

Normal shower gel is totally fine! Saying that, I have tried to reduce chemical expose generally, even before pregnancy - shower gel, shampoo, conditioner & toothpaste from greenpeople.com are all really good, as is Shmidtt’s deodorant & Neal’s Yard body moisturiser.

Also either method or ecover for cleaning products & laundry. I’m hoping it’s better for the environment too 🤞🏻

Now I'm uber sensitive to things when pregnant, didn't help I'm a scientist and worked with all sorts of harmful stuff, so things like solvents I wouldn't use at home or breathing in any cleaning fluids etc - didn't even use nail varnish - but not with the soap thing - where do you stop, shampoo, soap, washing powder, washing up liquid -- rinse well and move on,
Good luck with your pregnancy but do try to enjoy and not worry too much (from me who did worry lol 😆)

Yes of course

@FingersCrossed1029 of course it’s absolutely fine, however personally I choose to use all natural skin and hair are products. I did this before pregnancy so just made sense to continue during too x

That should have said skin and hair care!

Had four babies, used plenty of shower gel. All absolutely fine.

Never changed shower gels throughout any pregnancies and our 5 kids are fine.

Jests wept.

JESUS WEPT

seriously OP do you just spend your time googling ‘things that could potentially be harmful to an unborn baby’?

This is not a thing. Seriously.

@SmidgenofaPigeon well clearly not if I only stumbled upon this over 3 months into my pregnancy

Did it occur to you that you didn’t find any other posts about it because it’s completely ludicrous?

Shit, it’s my 12 week scan on Monday and I’ve been using Rituals foaming shower gel. Hope there’s no issue with the baby as a result...

Thank you to those who responded with helpful responses!

Try not to worry OP, I used my usual shower gel, my DS’ are now nearly 20 & 18, no issues at all.

I can empathise, I remember how I was during my first pregnancy.

Good luck with your pregnancy.

I’ve been using normal shower jel. Never heard of it being an issue and I am a major worrier so I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of it haha. It’s only on your skin for seconds compared to something like makeup which again people still wear their normal makeup in pregnancy. Don’t know why people are being mean about it, much nicer to just say no it’s fine in a kind way than to try and make other people feel stupid x

Op if it helps you then look for natural products body shop or supermarket "natural" ranges

Remember that babies health or issues largely depends on genetics and this decided when egg and supermarket collide. No amount of shower gel can change that.

Your baby's genetic make up including any anomalies is already decided.

Unless you sitting in a shower of harsh poison then any gel you can buy is safe

External factors can impact sure but normal day to day activities and products are absolutely fine

When egg and sperm collide

This seems a,sensible list. Don't go spraying pesticides
www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/toxic-household-products-to-avoid-during-pregnancy

You can find people saying just about anything is harmful during pregnancy... but I don't think it's a silly question, especially as RCOG aren't helpful in this space in their position as a UK authority on pregnancy. There's basically no proper research so they published a paper saying that you might want to reduce exposure to all sorts of stuff including household cleaners and personal hygiene products. I think the concern is that an accumulation of these things could have an effect. Having said that no-one is reporting any issues so any impact (if there even is one) has to be incredibly small! Personally I think it's sensible to avoid the stuff that is obviously toxic (paint stripper, breathing in exhaust fumes etc) but don't worry about any of the normal day to day things. I've only made changes where I need to because of skin sensitivity etc.