Diving when Pregnant?

[hogen-deifar]

STOP RIGHT THERE! NO. Not me. Not anyone I know either! So remove that thought from your heads right now.

It was just a question I asked when learning. Can you dive when pregnant? My instructors couldn't answer the question, but wouldn't recommend it!

The baby is in the fluid, no air in there. So no squeeze, but then what about gases and stuff???

The question is purely being asked out of curiousity. So no assumptions, please!!!

Ta!

[PeeBee]

There have been lot's of threads about this but bottom line is DON'T. No-one knows what the effects might be and they can't really do any experiments so standing advice is "stop as soon as the pee test is blue"

See this recent thread Diving Whilst Pregnant

[hogen-deifar]

Originally Posted by PeeBee

There have been lot's of threads about this but bottom line is DON'T. No-one knows what the effects might be and they can't really do any experiments so standing advice is "stop as soon as the pee test is blue"

See this recent thread Diving Whilst Pregnant

Thanks PB! Before I posted I tried to do a search but I think I'm searching wrong cos everytime I try to seach something I can never find a darned thing! Me thinks I need a YD lesson!

Please ignore this thread! Wouldn't have posted if had found been asked before! Sorry.

[Ferrets]

I was out in Australia a couple of years ago when a couple turned up wanting to do an Open Water course. The woman was pregnant, they were both doctors and insisted that it was safe. The dive school not suprisingly refused to take their word for it and told them to move on!

[Scubee]

Go to the search bar at the top, and click the little triangle on the right. if you type in a key work, or phrase, it usually comes up with loads. I just typed in 'diving while pregnant' and got about 3 pages worth in the results.

But basically, it is a no-no. There has been no research done, so no-one can conclusivley say it is safe, and TBH, who is going to subject themselves to the research. I have heard of women who dived before they knew they were pregnant, then spent months worrying that they had done some damage.

[Scuttler]

Originally Posted by Scubee

There has been no research done, so no-one can conclusivley say it is safe, and TBH, who is going to subject themselves to the research.

I can just see the headlines now if any company announced it was going to conduct research!!

[ardhill]

I have just been reading a chapter in "Deeper Into Diving" (the latest edition) that covers this.

Various trials and test have been done at different parts of the pregnancy and different types of diving.

Bottom line is that if you continue to dive, you do put the child at risk of various things you don't want to happen. The risk doesn't appear to be incredibly high, but there are real risks.

Many women have gotten away with it, but when they didn't they damage a life and give themselves potentially years of extra work caring for a child in need of more care. Not to mention the mental and emotional issues you would have over being the person to cause such damage to new life, all because you wanted to keep diving.

She could get the book and read that chapter then decide if she is happy being responsible for the possible outcome.

If it was my child, I would be 'strongly' advising against the mother diving.

Oh one thing they did say...

If you have just realised you are pregnant and have been actively diving, assuming it is in early stages of the pregnancy - don't worry, it will probably be fine, but you can stop anytime now.

[glanrichbex]

My wife taught in a 3M deep swimming pool when 8 months pregnant - apart from putting on the kit which had to be done in the pool, no real problem.

The research goes into the detail of very fine vital arterial supply to the brain of the unborn baby, which is more suseptable to DCI problems than a fully developed human body so just as you would have no ill effects from a dive as you off gassed, you may have not off gassed sufficiently for the unborn baby.

There is very little research for obvious reasons but the BHA is very keen for any information / details of women who have dived whilst pregnant.

[ardhill]

Originally Posted by Scubee

There has been no research done

There has you know

OK, they didn't set it us as such, but monitored mothers who had chosen to dive whilst pregnant.

They also did some planned research on non-human mothers.
.

[Jules]

Why risk it? You have your whole life to dive and only 9 months to build a baby.