I had the same worry early in my pregnan...

raldim - March 9th, 2007 9:20 AM
[Original Comment]

I had the same worry early in my pregnancy, especially after I read that overheating before week 8 can increase the chance of neural tube defects of the baby. As I had been in a sauna around weeks 6-7 I frantically started reading the literature on the topic and found out that Finish women don't stop their sauna sessions during the first 2 trimesters of pregnancy. At the same time, the incidence of neural tube defects among the Finish is one of the lowest in the world. Aparently the overheating problem becomes an issue if it raises the mother's body temperature beyond 102 degrees for a fairly prolonged period of time (e.g. 24 hours; typically due to fever). My midwife agreed with this, but still advised me not to use sauna for the rest of my pregnancy for fear of dizziness and miscarriage. Hence I hadn't been to a sauna beyond week 8. I am in week 29 of my pregnancy now and according to the anomaly scan the baby seems to be doing fine. Good luck!


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