Traveling While Pregnant

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Unless your need for medical tourism is extremely urgent, you should seriously consider putting off your trip until after delivery.  Traveling anywhere can be stressful.  But given that many medical tourism countries are in hot, humid countries with varying levels of hygiene (outside of hospital facilities), you face added risks.  In addition, you won’t be under the immediate care and supervision of your physician and/or obstetrician.   

This isn’t to say that you won’t be able to find comparable prenatal care when you travel to a medical tourism destination.  However, you will probably lack the comfort and familiarity that many expecting parents crave.

If you absolutely must travel while pregnant, we recommend that you discuss any potential dangers, tips, and advice with your physician and/or obstetrician.  We also strongly recommend that you do not travel alone.  If lone female travelers are vulnerable to potential attacks, lone pregnant travelers are even more so. 

Here are some more safety and health concerns of which every pregnant traveler should be aware: 

Remain Cognizant of Hygiene

Avoid traveling to developing countries where poor hygiene and disease exposure could cause irreparable damage to you or your unborn baby.  This is especially true in countries where malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, and avian flu are present.   

Because many antiviral drugs are dangerous to developing fetuses, you’ll often be faced with a choice between protecting yourself and hurting your baby or exposing yourself and your baby.  Neither of these is a very appealing option. 

Protect Yourself from Food Poisoning

Diarrhea and food poisoning are common annoyances in an age of international travel.  But for pregnant women, these things can prove extremely dangerous.  Under certain circumstances, food poisoning can trigger miscarriages or retarded development.  With this in mind, be sure to: 

• Only drink treated bottled water that is properly sealed.

• Do not use iodine to purify water.  This can have adverse effects on your baby’s development.

• Avoid ice unless you can be certain that it was produced from treated water.

• Avoid buffets, undercooked meat, seafood, and raw vegetables & fruits.

• Wash your hands before and after every meal.

• Wash your hands before and after every toilet visitation.

• Avoid deli meats, foods with mayonnaise, and foods that use fermentation (pate, cheese, yogurt, etc.).

Hydrate Often

Make certain that you hydrate often.  This is sound advice even if you don’t travel.  But when you do go abroad, you often exert more energy and perspiration than you normally would in your daily routine at home.  And if you travel by air, understand that cabin pressure, low humidity, and air-conditioning can often cause dehydration.  Make sure you drink at least 8 fluid ounces (236 ml) of water every hour.   

Stretch Often

Many pregnant air travelers are prone to blood clots and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).  Again, hydration can play a crucial role in preventing these two common ailments, but it’s also important  to stretch often, walk around the cabin whenever permissible, and conduct gentle exercises from time to time.  For a more complete list of how to combat DVT and blood clots, please visit our corresponding Air Travel Safety section. 

Monitor Your Calcium Intake

Calcium is crucial during pregnancy, but you can’t always find pasteurized milk in some medical tourism destinations.  Certain types of fish are excellent sources for calcium, but because you’re supposed to limit your seafood intake, this is not always a good option.  The following is a partial list of USDA-certified sources of non-dairy calcium.  Be sure to check with your physician and/or obstetrician before switching over to a diet consisting of these items: 

• Calcium-fortified soy

• Calcium-fortified tofu

• Collard greens

• Spinach

• Turnip greens

• Calcium-fortified oatmeal

• Cowpeas

• Kale

• White beans

• Bakchoi (aka Bok choy, Pak choi, Bak choy, and Bok choi)

• Beet greens 

Avoid Potentially Harmful Activities

Although you might be tempted to hike a mountain, sunbathe, go scuba diving, or relax in a nice hot sauna, activities like these can expose your unborn baby to unnecessary risks. 

Schedule Plenty of Rest Time

Rest and relaxation are crucial to the overall development of your unborn child.  Even if you are in a major hurry to get back to your home country, make sure you schedule plenty of rest time into your travel itinerary.  In addition, don't forget to leave plenty of time to make connecting flights. 

Check Your Meds

It’s not uncommon for pregnant women to take various types of medication for everything from morning sickness to pain management.  Make certain that you have enough supplies to last you for the duration of your trip.  Equally important, be sure that your travel companion knows how to administer these medications in the event of an emergency.  For more detailed discussion on how to travel with prescription medications, please read our section on Traveling with Meds. 

Check Your Insurance Policies

Some health insurance policies do not provide global coverage for you and your baby, so be sure to check the fine print.  Additionally, some travel insurance policies do not cover pregnancy.  Make sure you understand the exact limitations and restrictions of whatever policies you hold. 

Alert the Airlines

Many airlines have strict rules regarding pregnancy and travel.  For some, the cutoff is 25 weeks.  For others it is 35 weeks.  And you may need a doctor’s certificate regardless of how advanced your pregnancy is.  Make sure you understand the exact restrictions and limitations before purchasing your ticket.  And be sure to get all of this documentation in writing. 
 

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