Can I Take a Hot Bath While Pregnant?

Can you really not take baths when you’re pregnant?! 😭
—M

A concern in early pregnancy is that excessive heat might lead to an increased risk of birth defects. For example: this study suggests that there might be an increased risk of several gastrointestinal defects. There are also studies that focus on neural tube defects. The mechanism by which excess body heat might impact fetal development in the first trimester is supported in animal models. Some studies show miscarriage risks.

It is important to say that this evidence isn’t from enormous or especially well-designed studies. Most of it comes from “case control” studies that do a lot of different statistical tests, and it’s hard with that type of setup to know if the effects are just showing up by chance. But the consistency of the evidence and the mechanisms makes this seem like a caution worth taking.

Having said that: on the other end of pregnancy, during labor, baths are a known source of pain relief. So it is not that you can never bathe in pregnancy. The caution is about first-trimester bathing. Once you are out of that period, out of the initial neural tube development period, then taking a bath does not carry these risks.