Tips for Traveling While Pregnant or With Baby This Holiday Season

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Are you planning on traveling this holiday season? For many of us, this feels like the first, best opportunity to see loved ones after almost two years of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns. Here are some tips for flying or taking car rides while pregnant and with your newborn. 

No matter where you are traveling, consider getting vaccinated for COVID-19 if you are not already. USA Today recently reported that only 18% of pregnant people in the United States are vaccinated against COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and World Health Organization all recommend the COVID vaccine even during pregnancy. The benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks. 

Flying During Pregnancy

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) write that during healthy pregnancies, “occasional air travel is almost always safe.” Most domestic airlines allow pregnant people to fly until about 36 weeks of pregnancy, but international airlines may have different cut-offs. You should always consult with your healthcare provider and the airline before booking any travel. 

If you do choose to fly while pregnant this holiday season, you can do a number of things to make the flight more comfortable. First, book and aisle seat if possible. This way, you can get up and walk around more easily. Sitting for more than four hours increases your risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot that forms in your leg and can cause pulmonary embolism (when the blood clot gets stuck in your lung). Even when you are sitting, you can move your feet, toes, and legs to keep up circulation. 

You should also wear the seatbelt low across your hips, below the belly and avoid carbonated drinks. All domestic flights currently require masks during travel, and you should consider wearing an N95 or surgical mask, which offer the most protection against airborne pathogens like coronavirus. To stay hydrated, drink water. 

Taking Long Car Rides During Pregnancy 

Like flying, taking long car rides during pregnancy might feel uncomfortable. Wear loose-fitting clothing and layers that can be taken off or put on. You should also be drinking water and eating regular meals. Usually when we drive we want to get there as soon as possible, but remember to stop to use the bathroom and stretch your legs. Sitting in the car for extended amounts of time increases the risk of DVT and can just be uncomfortable. 

Even though a few hours-long car ride might not seem as noteworthy as flying somewhere, remember to speak to your care providers about where and how you are traveling. They may want to offer additional advice to keep you and baby safe. 

Flying with Newborn Baby

You should speak with your baby’s care provider before deciding to go on a flight. As uncomfortable as flying can be for us, it can be especially bad for newborns. Because their immune systems are still developing and planes are by nature crowded spaces, babies might be more susceptible to picking up a virus during a flight. 

The cabin pressure changes may also hurt baby’s ears. If you are traveling, let baby suck on something during takeoff and landing. And while we don’t always notice how loud a plane is, the engines and air circulation can be very loud for a baby’s new ears. Consider noise-cancelling headphones to protect their hearing. 

The level of oxygen inside an aircraft is also lower, and while this might be fine for some babies, talk to your doctor about any of baby’s heart or lung issues. 

And, although baby is allowed to be in your lap during the flight, best practice would be to purchase a seat for baby and to properly install their infant car seat (double checking for FAA approval). This gives you the mobility to get up and move around as well as a familiar place for baby to sleep. It also is by far, the safest way for baby to fly. 

Finally, make sure that you have everything your baby might need during the flight in an easily-accessible carry-on bag. 

Car Rides With a Newborn 

First, make sure that your car seat is properly installed [link to blog]. Like flying, you should also have everything baby needs in an easily-accessible bag. You or your partner may want to sit in the back seat with baby.

Before you leave, consider when and where you’ll be making stops along the way. Think about when your baby usually eats and where the best place to stop might be. Because of COVID, you may want to stop at a rest stop or picnic area rather than a restaurant. 

5 Things You Should Know About Pregnancy and the COVID Vaccines

If you are pregnant right now or trying to become pregnant, you might be asking yourself, “Should I get a COVID-19 vaccine?” or “Should I get a booster?” Pregnant women are often excluded from drug and clinical trials because the potential risk is often too high, and this was this case with the COVID vaccine trials. According to an article published last year in the New York Times, “Scientists have accumulated a small but steadily growing body of evidence that the vaccines are safe and effective during pregnancy.” Boosters  At Doulas of Baltimore, we encourage you to make decisions regarding your pregnancy and birth that make you feel comfortable and are grounded in the best information available. Here are 5 things you should know about pregnancy and the COVID vaccines (as of January 2022). 

Pregnant women have an increased risk of severe disease after a COVID-19 infection. 

In a study conducted in 2020, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) researchers analyzed data on 1.3 million women ages 15-44 who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. They found that, “pregnant women were at increased risk for severe COVID-19–associated illness.” Pregnant women were more likely to be admitted to the ICU and receive invasive ventilation. Although they are not sure why this is, they speculate it could be because your body is working harder when you are pregnant– including “increased heart rate and oxygen consumption, decreased lung capacity, a shift away from cell-mediated immunity.” Another study found that pregnant women who contracted COVID were at an increased risk for preterm birth. 

A COVID vaccine booster is safe for pregnant people.

If you received your first two shots of the vaccine before you were pregnant, you may now be wondering if you should be get a booster shot. Doctors are now recommending that people who are pregnant get the booster or third shot of a vaccine if they are eligible. Because pregnant people have an increased risk of severe disease if they get COVID, it is important to keep yourself as protected as possible. Dr. Brian Brimmage of the University of North Carolina health system says that,“Obviously, a pregnant woman getting seriously ill with COVID is dangerous for her and her baby.”

A recent study shows the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines produce an immune response in pregnant and lactating women. 

Although pregnant women had this higher risk of severe disease, they were not included in any of the clinical trials for vaccines conducted last year. However, when the vaccine rollout started, some of the healthcare workers who received the vaccine were unknowingly pregnant at the time. Researchers could then track and monitor those women, and additional studies began specifically enrolling pregnant women. 

The CDC now writes that you can receive the COVID-19 vaccine if you are pregnant. In a study of 103 women, researchers found that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines gave women an immune response (meaning the vaccine did what it was supposed to) and antibodies to COVID-19 were present in breast milk and cord blood. 

When administered during pregnancy, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do not damage the placenta. 

An early conspiracy theory regarding the COVID vaccines and pregnancy involved the idea that it might damage the placenta. A study just published in Obstetrics and Gynecology found that COVID “vaccination was not associated with placental histopathologic lesions,” meaning it did not damage the placenta. 

STAT news now reports that, “Three of the leading professional organizations focused on pregnancy and fertility — the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine — all recommend that pregnant people get vaccinated, as well as those considering pregnancy.”

Protect yourself against COVID-19. 

If you don’t want to get the vaccine right now, the CDC recommends taking steps to reduce your risk of contracting COVID. This includes all the key recommendations from the last year: wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, not spending time indoors with poor ventilation, washing your hands, and keeping physical distance. 

At Doulas of Baltimore, we support the decisions that you make during pregnancy, without judgement. This blog post is not intended as medical advice, but provides some information about the latest research and commentary from the government and professional organizations regarding the efficacy and safety of COVID vaccines on pregnant women. As with all of your pregnancy and birth decisions, you should consult with your doctor before making any decisions about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

Pregnant & Worried about COVID-19?

Are you pregnant and worried about how COVID-19 will affect your pregnancy care and birth? We have been reading all we can. Of course, the available information is new and constantly changing. 

Our goal is to provide you with solid resources so that you can have answers you are looking for while cutting out all the extra static.

As of now (3/21/2020), we have located two informative pieces that cover a lot of expectant parents’ concerns:

Please let us know what questions you have and share with us any links or information that you have found particularly helpful. 

As for Doulas of Baltimore, we have moved to virtual childbirth classes and virtual birth doula support. Our in-home postpartum support is on a brief pause as our doulas and clients get through a minimum of 14 days of social isolation and then schedule in person support of a case by case basis. **

We know the services and resources we offer are needed, in this time more than ever, and want to ensure that we continue to deliver professional, consistent support to the expectant and new families in the Baltimore area. This will not look like you had been imaging but together we can help relieve some of your worries.

** UPDATE 04/01/2020: We have redesigned our services to meet the current needs of expectant and new families during this time. We are now offering three separate options for doula support during this time of social distancing – Pregnancy Support, Virtual Birth Support, and Newborn Care Support. More information is available on our Virtual Doula Support page.

Open Adjusting to Open Eyes to Chiropractic!

My chiropractor office in North Baltimore looks a little different than your average doctor’s office. It’s a wide open adjusting space so you can see me at work when you walk in the door. Oh, and there is usually a two-year-old shadowing my every move with a tiny colorful clicking toy.  The office was set up this way by design – there is a lot of a mystery around pediatric and pre-natal chiropractors. By having open adjusting, we hope to dispel some of the mystery, and to start a conversation. Let’s address the most common questions I get in office when someone sees a baby or pregnant woman getting adjusted.

1)     Why would an infant get adjusted?

This is first question I get asked when someone sees one of my tiniest patients. This stems from an incomplete understanding of why anyone would get adjusted. Most people associate chiropractic care with back pain, neck pain and headaches. That’s what commonly brings people in img_1730our doors, but we actually don’t cure anyone’s pain – we make sure that bones are aligned properly in order to make sure that the nerves that run in between those bones are able to function. Those nerves are responsible for telling you about pain, but they also control everything from your sense of spatial awareness to muscle tone to organ function. So even though a baby can’t tell you they have a backache, they can come in with colic or latch difficulties. Plus, have you seen a birth lately? Even in the best delivery, there’s still a lot of stress that goes into that little spine – I know I’d want to get a once-over by a chiropractor if it were me!

2)     If you adjust a pregnant patient, will it hurt the baby?

Done right, chiropractic care is safe throughout pregnancy. If you see a chiropractor who works with pregnant women, we have tables and pillows that allow our moms to lay face-down! The chiropractic adjustment itself is about the same in pregnancy, if a little bit more gentle. We’re still looking to move the subluxated (misaligned) bone back into place, but with the change in hormone levels in pregnant patients, chiropractors must be sure to account for bones that are more “suggestible” with increased the flexibility that goes along with it.

3)     How soon is too soon to get adjusted after a baby is born?

For munchkin, it’s almost never too early to get adjusted! We use fingertip pressure at specific points and directions to guide a bone (which isn’t even fully solidified yet!) into its proper position. The smallest patient I’ve adjusted was just five pounds! For mom, my rule of thumb is that if you are comfortable laying face-down, I’m comfortable working to help everything that moved to accommodate baby in the last several months find its way back to its non-pregnant place.

If you have more questions about chiropractic for moms and kids, stop on by First Step Chiropractic and see it in action!

Written for Doulas of Baltimore by Dr. Pam Woodward

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