Flying while Pregnant

yumyums

I've flown to four different places since being pregnant. One of those flights was long haul. Haven't suffered any ill effects and my scans have been normal so far. What did the nurse say?

lobey

I am going on a 12 hour flight in 2 weeks when I will be 15-16 weeks pregnant. I told the midwife and she just said get up lots to walk around, drink loads of water and try to get an aisle seat for loo visits. She also said to get a drs note (£15 from my GP) but that's on the very off chance that the airline turns you away because they don't know for sure you don't have any health issues/complications etc.

Amanda65

I flew from Heathrow to Edinburgh (and back) when I was 34 weeks pregnant for a long weekend. BA said it was the latest I could fly and I was fine.

Toto

The advice I give to women in clinic is to check with the airline for their own limits because they all vary. You might need a letter from your midwife or GP to say that they have examined you and deem you to be fit to fly at the time of the consultation.

Make sure your travel insurance covers you for pregnancy, because not all of them do.

If you do fly whilst pregnant, wear support stockings and make sure you get up and walk about the cabin every hour (most women need to wee almost this often ) Drink plenty of water because you can dehydrate in an aircraft. Put the lap belt under your bump, not across it.

All of the above advice works equally for long car journeys too, apart from the letter, you don't need one to go in the car and car seatbelts should be above and under the bump, not across.

ellay864

Without wishing to sound scaremongering, do check travel insurance. My brother had to cancel a trip when his girlfriend developed pre-eclampsia and was advised not to fly having booked the trip a few weeks earlier when everything in the pregnancy had seemed fine

mountainofdebt

ellay864 wrote: »

Without wishing to sound scaremongering, do check travel insurance. My brother had to cancel a trip when his girlfriend developed pre-eclampsia and was advised not to fly having booked the trip a few weeks earlier when everything in the pregnancy had seemed fine

Just to add to the not scaremongering brigade, check the insurance should you give birth abroad.

There was a case recently where the woman gave birth (I think) about 32 weeks, and although the treatment relating to the birth was given free due to her having the european medical card, the baby need to be flown home by specialist air ambulance.

Of course they didn't have insurance and were trying to (effectively) beg for donations to pay the £12K cost.

olibrofiz

we flew from east midlands to Paris when i was 30 weeks pregnant, had no problems at all.

DD kicked a lot when we took off tho!

kavics17

I flew 4 times while pregnant. It was fine, no problems at all. Airline didn't check my pregnancy notes and didn't require any additional papers. However I had to pay extra on my travel insurance as the normal one did not cover pregnancy (it was only an additional £8 for a year).

choccybuttons

Hi

If your quite far along bring your maternity notes. Easyjet were not going to let me fly in a uk internal flight because they thought I looked 30 odd wks not the 25 wks I actually was.

jackyann

I agree with Toto's advice. The issues fall into 3 categories:
1. general health (see Toto)
2. rules - insurance and/or airline
3. premature birth - and this is the really major issue (as mentioned above)
Even if you have had previous uncomplicated pregnancies, you really never know what might happen. This is where only an individual can decide. If, for example, I was 24 weeks, no problems & healthy, flying where I was covered by my EHIC card, for a very good reason, I might risk it. If I was 34 weeks, flying further, or to a country whose health system might be a problem, I really wouldn't go!
I would talk to your midwife, weigh up your reasons for flying and make a dcecision based on that.