Travel during pregnancy

Posted on 22 December 2014

Pregnancy need not be a reason to cancel your holiday plans but there are certain risks to keep in mind. Here’s what you need to know.

Whether you’re planning a relaxing or romantic pre-baby getaway or cramming in a few business trips before maternity leave, make sure your travels don’t compromise your pregnancy. The good news is that avoiding travel altogether is rarely necessary. ‘Travel should only be avoided when specifically advised by your doctor or midwife,’ says Dr Leneque Xanthe Lindeque, a gynaecologist and obstetrician at Mediclinic Highveld in Mpumalanga. ‘Conditions such as placenta praevia (where the afterbirth lies over the mouth of the womb and can cause life-threatening bleeding) might necessitate this.’

Long journeys
While air travel is allowed during pregnancy, there are certain risk factors to keep in mind. ‘These include developing a blood clot from a long flight, a small chance of radiation exposure and going into labour while in the air (with no-one with the necessary training onboard to manage the delivery),’ explains Dr Lindeque. ‘Most airlines restrict air travel in the last month or two of pregnancy and you may be asked to provide a letter from your doctor stating how far along you are and that you’re healthy.’ While airlines differ, in SA pregnant women generally aren’t allowed to fly after they’re 36 weeks along.

If you’d prefer to hit the road, buckle your seatbelt and keep in mind that road travel can be almost as potentially dangerous as air travel if precautions aren’t taken, cautions Dr Lindeque. This is especially true when it comes to the risk of blood clots during long trips. ‘Pregnancy causes changes in the amount of clotting factors present in the blood to manage the delivery where there’s a risk of life-threatening bleeding,’ she explains. ‘What’s more, the blood vessels of a pregnant woman dilate which makes movement of the blood through them slower. This combination adds to the risk of developing blood clots when combined with other risk factors such as long periods of sitting in the same position, often a necessity for travel.’

Dr Lindeque offers the following tips for reducing blood clot risks during long trips:
• Keep well hydrated during travel
• Take regular breaks to walk around and stretch your legs (this might just mean getting up from your seat on a plane to go to the toilet)
• Wear compression stockings

Vaccinations
Before you enter certain countries, vaccines are sometimes required. While travel to high-risk areas should be avoided during pregnancy if possible, certain immunisations can be administered but only after proper medical consultation.

Dr Lindeque discusses a few:
Yellow fever is a life threatening viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes that occurs in tropical regions of South America and sub-Saharan Africa. If travel isn’t avoidable and the risk of yellow fever is high, immunisation with a live virus vaccine may be considered. Consult an infectious disease specialist if yellow fever vaccination is needed.
Malaria areas should ideally be avoided in pregnancy but certain medication is available as prophylaxis (prevention of developing disease) if travel is unavoidable. Speak to your doctor prior to travel to high-risk areas.
Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis — Sometimes required for travel, the tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine is actually recommended for unvaccinated pregnant women in each pregnancy, and should be given after 20 weeks of gestation, ideally between 27 and 36 weeks, to help protect the newborn from pertussis infection (whooping cough).

The information provided in this article was correct at the time of publishing. At Mediclinic we endeavour to provide our patients and readers with accurate and reliable information, which is why we continually review and update our content. However, due to the dynamic nature of clinical information and medicine, some information may from time to time become outdated prior to revision.