Tips to Protect From Cold & Flu During Pregnancy

By Anna Harris, Women Health Coach

Staying healthy & safe during the winter months can be tricky especially when you are pregnant with low body defenses. Here is our guide to help you safely navigate through this winter season

The Winter season is a wonderful time filled with festivals, holidays, good food, and awesome piping hot & comforting beverages but for a pregnant mother, it can also be an uncomfortable period filled with the stress of catching seasonal diseases like cold & flu especially when the natural body defenses are down. In this article, we will discuss a few tips to help you navigate through this winter safely.

Risk Associated With Cold & Flu

Winter season onset is the time when flu is at its peak with germs present almost everywhere infecting people all around you. Additionally, since your body immunity lowers down when you are pregnant, you have to be extra careful to not get infected. here are some of the risks of catching the flu which you need to be aware of –

You can feel like you are hit by a truck if you get infected with flu while you are pregnant mostly because your body defenses are low. Flu can present itself with multiple symptoms like fever, stuffed nose, body pains, nausea, muscle pain, etc. which could seem much worse because the baby would also be competing for some of your resources.
Depending upon the stage of your pregnancy, you might not be able to take some medicines which can slow down the healing process.
Flu during pregnancy has been determined to increase the chances of complications like miscarriages and pre-term births.
Since body defenses are down during pregnancy, a flu episode can result in more serious complications like Pneumonia.

SIMILAR READS: Food You Must Have While You Are Pregnant

Precautions to Protect Yourself From Cold/Flu

Now that you understand the risks associated with flu and seasonal diseases during winter, here are some of the recommendations on precautions you should take to protect yourself.

Flu Vaccination

The best possible prevention option is to get timely vaccination against flu under the careful guidance of your doctor. It is important to note that the flu viruses can gradually evolve year over year so it is critical to get the latest flu shots to protect against the most prevalent virus strain. Since pregnancy can make your immune system weaker, flu vaccination can be a very effective way of protecting yourself.

We would love to hear back from you. Please share your views in the comment section and feel free to ask any questions. Cheers!