Air pollution

[crazycatlady5]

Hey ladies,

There are really bad forest fires going on in my area. And there's tonnes of smoke in the area. Should I be concerned for baby?

I'm supposed to go to a stagette that is right in the area where air quality is at the worst point. There's been an advisory put out. I read a study linking air pollution to autism in the third trimester, I won't be in the third yet, but it's still worrisome.

Any thoughts? What would you do?

I know DH will want me to cancel.

 

[Stephytiggs]

In all honesty I wouldn't go... That's based in gut instinct tho and not anything science based. Although the placentas job is to stop nastiest getting to the baby, if it was a problem for me E.g making me cough etc then I would think it was a problem for baby x

 

[MindUtopia]

I probably wouldn't go either, but only because I personally have asthma and burning anything is bad for my lungs and the last thing anyone wants in pregnancy is bronchitis, plus just the risk of having to evacuate if the fires get to close sounds a bit scary to me. But I wouldn't personally be concerned about the link between autism and air pollution. I'm a health scientist, and those studies are primarily measuring particulate in the air from car exhaust and industrial pollution, not from wood smoke. It's not great to inhale loads of wood smoke, but it's natural and it's not contaminated with all sorts of chemical pollutants the way other types of pollution are. Those studies are also measuring chronic exposure, so people who are exposed to high levels every day in pregnancy and probably before getting pregnant as well. A couple days isn't going to do any real harm in most cases. So I wouldn't worry about that. But smoke inhalation can just make you get sick as it irritates the lining of your respiratory system making you more prone to infections and asthma flare-ups if you're asthmatic. So I probably wouldn't risk that if it was me, but I wouldn't worry about the other stuff.

 

[Emmymommy]

Hey crazycatlady5! We've had air quality warnings here where I'm at as well, and although I found one website listing pregnant women at risk, the rest didn't. However, I found that each time there were a few days with air quality warnings in a row, I would have constant headaches during those times, and the last bout of smoke I had a two day migraine, so I've decided to play it safe and stay inside when the air quality warning is anything beyond low. I'm outside a good portion of my day, but have just stood my ground in saying I don't feel comfortable being out in the smoke. It's a personal preference, but I agree with the previous posters - better to stay away, especially if you know you have breathing issues, but even if you don't it could trigger other problems.