Braniff

The most basic question of all. We flew (Europe to Asia) when my wife was 4 months pregnant. There's been a discussion among friends when is the earliest one should fly???

Some say it's irrelevant and all the stories are based on old non-pressurised planes? Some say 3 months? Some say 6 months??? Appreciate any comments....

bankops

My wife flew in April, 32nd week. We gave her a shot of Clexane against DVT and I had wheelchairs everywhere for her. LUX-AMS-ATL-MSY and back on a Sunday to Friday trip in Y was tough but in order for us to get married it was worth it. Catherine Elizabeth was born this past Monday and doesn't appear to be any worse the wear

We had a letter from her GYN and most airlines accept up to 34 weeks. Aircraft are pressurised to 8000ft or below and even non-pressurised a/c rarely go above that. So the pressure thing is a real wives tale.

jenn_1K

I'm four months pregnant now. I flew when I was 8 weeks or so and didn't have any problems. I haven't heard any restrictions on too early. Just restrictions towards the end.

6rugrats

As early as you like; it's not a problem for a normal pregnancy.

Congrats to the new and expecting parents!

Flews

Mrs. Flews flew at three months, with permission from Ob-Gyn. Our healthy twins are four weeks old today.

Cheers,

xray

Airlines don't want you to fly when you are in the late third trimester because of the chance you may deliver... There really is no rationale for NOT flying any other time of the pregnancy...

expatboy

Mrs EB flew BOM-LHR at about 4 weeks - the day we found out...so far none the worse for it. Similar thing with the previous pregnancy, which resulted in a healthy baby (now 21 months).

vicarious_MR'er

SAme here. I flew at around 8ish weeks, as well. No problems, and not a bat of an eye from the Dr when I inquired.

Flyer23

I was on a trip when I found out I was pregnant, so around 4-5 weeks along.

I continued to fly weekly through the first trimester, and then monthly throughout the rest of my pregnancy. My last flight was at 33 weeks. My doctor was fine with me flying until 36 weeks.

My daughter is 11 months old today and perfectly healthy. Although maybe all the "early" flying is why she refuses to sit still in an airline seat these days

jan_az

I flew the day I found out I was pregnant ( which was around 3 weeks), I continued to fly during the entire pregnancy. Never had any issues. With my second I flew at 37 weeks ( had to attend a funeral). Both "kids" are in their 20's and as healthy as can be.

icedancer

I flew to Hawaii for vacation at about 6 or 7 weeks, then to Hong Kong for work at 20 weeks. The doctors and midwives had no issue with it. The only complication I've heard is that in the case of a severe decompression at high altitude (the kind that would cause the oxygen masks to drop), your water could possibly break after 28 weeks or so.

themicah

I've never heard of it being problematic to fly early in pregnancy. mrsmicah flew when she was about 2-3mos in, and again a couple times when she was about 5mos in (including a long-haul trip to BUD) all completely without incident.

Most doctors seem to recommend NOT flying in the third trimester, but I think that has more to do with physical discomfort (and perhaps staying close to your doctor/midwife/hospital/birthing-center in case of an early delivery) than with any real physical risk to the fetus from flying.

The only thing I could think of being an issue for first trimester flying would be if you're suffering from bad morning sickness, in which case an airplane might be a particularly uncomfortable place to be while already feeling queasy.

dchristiva

I was going to make the same comment. When my wife was pregnant, the doctors didn't seem concerned about traveling until the last trimester. No flying those months, she was told.

sucheng

I flew at 5 weeks, 7 weeks, 10 weeks, and on and off until about 32 weeks (pregnancy was uneventful and son is now 20 months old.) No limit from my OB on early flying, except that at my 9 week visit she wanted to confirm a healthy heartbeat first, just so there wouldn't be any nasty surprise/experiences while I was overseas... if you have concerns about that (viability in the first trimester) you might just keep it in mind, but there's no actual risk to the fetus caused by the flying.

More common are issues of comfort, e.g. exhaustion, morning sickness, staying hydrated/peeing, etc.

michellemck99

One more data point to this thread.

I too am not aware of any prohibitions on traveling early in a pregnancy.

Towards the end of my pregancy last year, my doctor didn't want me traveling at the 36 week mark SAN-SFO and back. I was thinking that for such a short hop, even if there were complications right away (such as my water breaking), the length of time to a regular landing and getting to a hospital was only going to be an hour or so. Plus, this was on Southwest where their policy allows for travel up to 14 days prior the due date.

So it was a surprise to me when my doctor said that she didn't want me going. The issue was pressurization of the cabin and the effect on the baby. Since it wasn't important for me to go (such as for a funeral), I didn't really dive into the details of the risk assessment and I just stayed home.