Top tips to help pregnant women keep cool in a heatwave
As the mercury rises, the team of expert midwives behind My Expert Midwife’s award-winning skincare brand for pregnancy, birth, new mums and newborns, have compiled some of their top tips to help pregnant women feel more comfortable during the rest of the summer months.
10 top tips to help pregnant women feel more comfortable during a heatwave:
- Wear natural fibres such as cotton, bamboo or silk rather than synthetics, and favour light, loose-fitting clothing. Synthetic materials retain moisture and don’t allow your skin to breathe properly which can increase irritation.
- Dry, irritated skin can be very common during pregnancy. As well as choosing natural fabrics, keeping your skin well moisturised will hopefully provide you with some soothing, cooling relief. My Expert Midwife’s Fantastic Skin Elastic is ideal for soothing and hydrating tight, itchy, and stretching skin during pregnancy.
- Although water is essential and should be drunk throughout the day, optimal hydration requires other elements that are found in foods. You can ensure an adequate intake of these by eating fruits and vegetables such as pineapple, mango, grapes, melon, pears, berries, cucumber, courgette, asparagus and dark leafy greens.
- Avoid caffeinated drinks such as tea, coffee and colas, which may have a mildly diuretic effect, disrupting your fluid balance. It’s best to avoid these or look for their decaffeinated version. Dehydration impacts your and your baby’s health, so it is important to keep your drinking bottle topped up.
- Remember to take cooler showers or baths. You could try adding some organic oatmeal to your bath as this has soothing properties for your skin.
- When outdoors in the heat, staying in the shade will reduce your risk of overheating as well as help prevent the appearance of darker patches of pigmentation that pregnancy hormones can leave on your skin, often on your face. Because of this and the fact that many skins become more sensitive to the sun during pregnancy, a high protection sunscreen is recommended.
- If you spend time in the sun while pregnant, you may find you burn more easily. Protect your skin with a high-factor sunscreen of at least 30 to protect against UVB and at least 4-star UVA protection and don't stay in the sun for a long time. Spend time in the shade when the sun is strongest. In the UK, this is between 11am and 3pm from March to October.
- An effective way to cool down is to aim for your pulse points. You can place ice cubes wrapped in a towel or cool, wet flannels over the back of your neck and forehead, run your wrists under a cold tap and/or place your feet ankle-deep into a basin of cool water. If you are out and about, invest in a handheld fan and/or a cooling spray for your face and body.
- Swelling of feet and ankles can be helped by soaking them in cold water, elevating your feet above the level of your heart, stimulating drainage by repeatedly pointing your toes to and away from you (dorsiflexion exercises), by gentle massage and by trying a cooling spray such as My Expert Midwife’s Keep Your Cool spray.
- Find a willing partner to gently massage dry, tired legs as this will encourage the blood flow to the surface of the skin, or you can use My Expert Midwife’s Marvellous Massaging Stick. Using My Expert Midwife’s Super Scar Recovery Oil in the massage will also enable better circulation and hydration in your body.
