Hayfever in pregnancy...what's safe to take?

[dune2003]

Hi all,

I'm currently 29 weeks pregnant and feel my hay-fever has peaked this week. Constant sneezing, blocked & runny nose..the lot. My nose is worse when sleeping, and worse when side sleeping but then can't sleep on my back either!

I've tried all the natural remedies, saline sprays, vaseline around the nose and twice daily showers - nothing works. Pharmacists are just as unhelpful, they just read the back of hayfever tablets and tell me I can't take them...I can read that myself!

Has anyone been advised by their GP to take loratadine or Cetirizine during pregnancy? There seems to be so much conflicted information about them during pregnancy and some GPs do prescribe and others don't...?!

Waiting for GP's appt next week but have already taken a few loratadine tablets last month when my hayfever was unbearable when abroad as NHS website says it's ok?

TIA!

Hey!

I've been really struggling with hayfever this week so requested some advice from my GP yesterday. A clinical pharmacist from the surgery called me and said we're ok to take steroid nasal drops which you can buy over the counter in a pharmacy. She said the pharmacist might ask for some sort of proof that you've spoken to a clinician if you're pregnant (guessing it's hard to hide that you're pregnant now!).

She also said we can take Loratadine if we're more than 12 weeks. Apparently the reason they all say don't take them in pregnancy is because they haven't been trialled on pregnant women (which makes sense) as opposed to there being proven negative side effects or risks.

Hope that helps.

This was a while ago now but I developed hay fever in my third pregnancy and the GP recommended the steroid nasal spray and eye drops.. baby was fine

I'm 30 weeks and have been taking piriton. It's fine in pregnancy.

My midwife said to take the loradatine hayfever tablets, as well nasal sprays and eye drops, but to avoid the cetrizine hydrochloride tablets

In my country they say use nasal sprays and eye drops as first choices in pregnancy but if they're not enough then you can take loratadine, cetrizine, or fexofenadine. And I know doxylamine is ok as I was prescribed that for HG when I was pregnant.

I was told by my GP that’s it’s fine to take Loratadine during the later stages of my pregnancy when hayfever got bad. Baby is now 6 weeks and fine 😀

cetirizine and loratidine are both considered ok in pregnancy.

eye drops and steroid nasal spray as well if needed

Loratadine is safe xx

I wa 12 weeks yesterday. I’m suffering with Hayfever - eyes itch sooo bad and nose. Really bad headaches and sneezing all the time!! Midwife said ok take Loratadine.It also says on the packet not suitable for pregnant women or when breastfeeding. So that contradicts itself. But if you can stick with saline eye drops and saline nasal spray over tablets. Is my first pregnancy and wanting to do the best I can. I did read on NHS that loratadine is ok for pregnant women so I have taken another today.
I was unable to find any nasal spray or eye drops so any recommendations would be great. Also what about those hayfever wipes I’ve seen are these ok? Do they work?

thank you for all your replies!

I saw the GP yesterday who gave me beconase nasal spray. She didn’t want to give me tablets until I tried that. It seems to have helped slightly, but we’ll see.

I did some research on HEPA air purifiers which are meant to be really good for rooms at night, so I’ll give one of those a go to!

@Newmumtobe2025 ive not used wipes but I think they’re a bit of a gimmick. A shower would probably be better. Try the beconase nasal spray - most sprays safe during pregnancy, although it doesn’t say that on the box, like most medications.

thanks again!