Bath

[Goldilocks2528]

Hi ladies

I am so sorry if this has been asked before (and I am sure it has been). I have googled and can't find a definitive answer and thought you are likely to know.

I am 5+2 with an IVF baby, and I asked my clinic today about baths. I have read you shouldn't have them as they raise your body temp and this can be very bad. They told me it was fine as long as I didn't come out looking like a lobster. I asked what the temperature should be below and they said there wasn't a set temp, just don't have it scorching hot.

I find baths really relaxing and miss them, but I went through so much to get pregnant and I don't want to risk anything happening now. Doesn't anybody know if it is safe to have one and what temp it should be below if I can (below body temp), or should I just avoid to be safe?

Thank you so much

As long as you don’t sweat/get red skin, baths are fine. During my pregnancy I’ve used the little baby bath thermometers that tell you if it’s too hot. I think it’s too hot when over 37 or 38

I've taken a many boiling hot baths while pregnant, and I've been pregnant more times than the average woman. It's never hurt me.

The hot cold truth is, they give you all these regulations and rules, but they don't really know why some women miscarry and others don't. If you are going to miscarry, you're going to miscarry. No amount of avoiding baths or salami is going to change that. Just enjoy your pregnancy, be cautious but not fearful. If the worst happens, it's going to be heartbreaking regardless of what you or haven't done. If not, you've saved yourself a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety.

A bog standard bath will not raise your core temperature unless you have it scalding hot and are immersed in it. Making it too hit can make you feel light headed afterwards too. A warm bath that doesn't turn your skin red is fine

Of course you can have a bath it just can't be hot.

Usually a healthy women's internal temp is around 37.2 Degrees and a safe temperature is considered for baths at 36 Degrees.
Always check with your elbow or buy a thermometer.

You just need to make sure your core body temp does not exceed 39 degrees.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

Healthy pregnant woman*

@Creepygnochi

I've taken a many boiling hot baths while pregnant, and I've been pregnant more times than the average woman. It's never hurt me.

The hot cold truth is, they give you all these regulations and rules, but they don't really know why some women miscarry and others don't. If you are going to miscarry, you're going to miscarry. No amount of avoiding baths or salami is going to change that. Just enjoy your pregnancy, be cautious but not fearful. If the worst happens, it's going to be heartbreaking regardless of what you or haven't done. If not, you've saved yourself a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety.

You do realise it isn't just about miscarrying right and this is a really insensitive post.

Do a little research and learn to be more sensitive.

If there are risk factors that you can avoid of course people are going to take precautions!

No, learn not to be so oversensitive. Miscarriage is almost always, without failure, either a hormonal or chromosomal issue. If the chromosomes are not viable, no amount of walking past the soft cheese section or neglecting your personal hygiene is going to change the outcome. You just put more stress on yourself, and then when the inevitable happens (not saying it's inevitable for you, op. Just hypothetical) you feel lile a failure and wrack your mind trying to determine what you did wrong. It's bullshit.

So long as your skin doesn't change colour it's usually fine. The bath cools quite quickly anyway so if it starts out hot it will not stay that way long.

What these 'precautions' do is help pregnant women sleep better at night, believing that if they follow some stupid checklist of dos and don'ts that everything will be hunky dory, while leaving those who suffer from loss with the guilt of thinking that if they only abstained from eating that thing that one time or hadn't slept in the position things would have been different. Which isn't true at all.

I always found it very ambiguous when people say that you can have a bath but it can't be "hot". What's hot? How do I know that what I think is a hot bath is what other people mean by that? What if my idea of a safe temperature is too hot? And as it turns out, it probably is. I would normally have my bath at around 40-42 degrees, but then I read on a few websites (Emma's diary I think, and possibly Tommy's charity) that the actual safe temp is 37, so that your core temperature doesn't get to 39 or above, which is when it can become dangerous. I bought a cheap bath thermometer to check. And yeah maybe a little hotter would be fine, but like you I'm not risking it.

As usual, the NHS website to the rescue, although indirectly as it doesn't specifically talk about home baths.
Hydrotherapy baths at 35 degrees so I would say that having a domestic bath at around the same temp would be fine.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/pregnancy/is-it-safe-to-use-a-sauna-or-jacuzzi-if-i-am-pregnant/#close

Thank you all very much. My other half has bought me a baby bath thermometer so I'll use that and keep it around 35-37.

Thank you!

In agreement with Creepygnochi above, miscarriages are dreadful and cruel but are most often due to a chromosomal/biological error, not any fault of the mother and what she has eaten/drunk/been exposed to. (there are obviously exceptions to this) This is coming from someone who had a pretty grim and traumatic MMC resulting in hospital admission and antibiotics last June but I know I did nothing wrong, it was just cruel fate.

There is something sensible about not boiling yourself in the bath as you'll just feel terribly hot, sweaty and dizzy but avoiding a bath because you fear you'll have a boil in the bag baby at 38.1 degrees would be a shame if you usually derive comfort or pain relief from it. Baths cool down quickly too.

Take sensible precautions and you shouldn't feel guilty. I'm pale and pasty, just going in any bath makes me pink, but I take care to not make it boiling hot, because it isn't enjoyable, it hurts and my skin goes dry. Its easy to be overanxious in the first trimester, especially after loss but sensible choices will keep you safe.

I've just RTFT and why the hell are people being so insensitive and mean here! You all sound like my dad who tells me that I should've continued smoking and drinking alcohol and copious amounts of tea when I found out I was pregnant, because that's what his mum did and she was fine and obviously the several miscarriages/stillbirths she had had nothing to do with any of those things 🥴 these "precautions" are there for a reason, because through decades of research they've found that actually certain things DO have higher risks for not only miscarriages but other abnormalities too. That doesn't mean that miscarriages are a woman's fault because most of the time it isn't, obviously, sometimes it just happens, usually it's chromosomal or just not viable.

but if a woman smokes a pack a day of woodbines, drinks 20 cups of coffee, a few glasses of gin every day, and a scalding hot bath every night, I don't think anyone could tell her there was nothing she could've done. Do you really think you'd feel better if you'd done all those things and miscarried rather than following the guidance and realising you did everything you could. It's painful either way if it's going to happen, but it's normal for everyone to want to reduce the risk as much as possible.

You can still bath, just make sure it doesnt make you too hot so your sweating or turns your skin red. Also avoid too hot as can make you sick/ lightheaded. For babies they recommend a bath of 37-38 degrees so if it helps you to relax a little, run it to those temperatures.

They cool very quickly that’s why baths are deemed ‘ok’ but hot tubs aren’t. Baths lose their heat quickly whereas hot tubs keep pumping out the same temperature water.

I get in the bath with DC at 38 degrees, writhing 20 minutes it’s 35-36 depending on how much splashing has happened 😂.

Just have a warm bath rather than a hot one. I have one every day with Epsom salts and I'm 15 weeks x

Instead of a bath thermometer, you can keep an eye on your own temperature using a regular fever thermometer, and make sure it doesn't rise by too much (I went for the very conservative 37.5C, higher is probably fine, but my temperature tends to run low anyway).

Before I was pregnant, I did an experiment where I took my temperature every 5 min in the bath, and found that when it went above 37.5C I felt uncomfortably hot and wanted to stick out my arms or legs to cool down anyway.

This supports the general advice of - baths are fine as long as they don't make you feel uncomfortably hot! Science!

Im a bath lover myself and love them hot. I have cooled the baths I get slightly, open the window and have a nice cold drink beside me when taking one now. Had baths all through my first pregnancy and throughout this one and all is well.

I love baths too, although I prefer it super hot. I was told that I could have it if it was lukewarm. I really love the WholyMe pregnancy epsom salts. Smells amazing and I feel so moisturised after. wholyme.com/pages/pregnancy-bath-salts/

OP I had ivf pregnancy too and heard the same thing and was nervous die to going through so much to be pregnant like you. My midwife said it was fine to have baths as long as it's not too hot. Go and enjoy a nice relaxing bath.