Car Rides during Pregnancy

Whether you are behind the wheel or in the passenger’s seat, it’s hard to avoid riding in a car during pregnancy. But as you get bigger and bigger, you are bound to hear more and more cautionary advice warning you to steer clear of driving. But not everyone can or wants to follow this advice. How risky is driving during pregnancy? And what can you do to cut down on the risk?

Riding in a car during pregnancy is safe as long as you follow certain precautions, unless you have a particular medical condition that makes car rides unsafe. The first and most important step is to properly use a seatbelt. This is the first rule of thumb for any passenger in any car, and it’s no different during pregnancy. Although this may seem like a no-brainer, some people actually worry more about the seatbelt across a pregnant woman’s belly than the risk that she could fly out the windshield or hit the dashboard on impact. Recent studies using a revolutionary crash dummy to simulate the effects of car accidents on pregnant women confirm that the best way to protect yourself and your unborn baby is to use your seatbelt properly. The best protection for pregnant women and their unborn babies is for the mother to wear her three point safety seatbelt (the standard seatbelt), and to wear it properly. This reduces the fetal injury risk significantly. The crash dummy is built to simulate an average sized woman who is pregnant in her 36th week and is specially designed to collect information on the state of the fetus, placenta, uterus, and amniotic fluid and has been used to simulate crashes at a variety of speeds. The computer model makes it possible to study in detail how the occupant moves and how the safety belt and airbag affect the woman and her fetus, including surrounding structures. Not only does the study conclude that seatbelts make a difference in protecting pregnant women and their unborn children, it also concludes that steering wheel airbags improve protection in frontal impacts.

However, just putting on a seatbelt is not enough – you have to use it the way it was designed to be used, which means never slipping the shoulder harness behind your back or tucking it under your arm. These can actually cause more harm to you or your baby. (Please carefully read our Steps to Proper Seatbelt Use.)

It goes without saying that avoiding a crash is the best thing you can do. Just like any other time in your life, you should do your best to drive as safely as you can – take your unborn baby as an extra incentive to stop engaging in distracting behavior like talking or text messaging on your mobile or searching through your purse while you’re driving. Increasingly, research is confirming that this sort of distraction causes more accidents than anything else. So if you absolutely have to make that call, find those directions or solve your kids’ problems, pull over until you do.

If you do have an accident, you should seek prompt medical attention, even if you don’t feel like you’ve been hurt. Car accidents can result in potentially fatal placenta abruption where the placenta separates from the uterine wall, early labor, or damage to the fetus’s limbs and skull. Of course, if the mother is severely injured, this will affect the fetus.

Steps to Proper Seat belt Use

• Try not to sit too close to the steering wheel, so adjust the seat as far back as possible, while still allowing comfortable access to the pedals.
• Adjust the lap belt across your thighs, not over your belly.
• Position the shoulder harness across your chest, between your breasts, but to one side of your belly. Make sure the belt is not loose.
Tips for a comfortable trip!

• To make your journey more comfortable, take a break every hour or so to stretch your legs and ward off swelling.
• Stay on well paved roads.
• Take along a few healthy snacks and plenty of water.