Scuba diving is extremely fun to do with friends and family. But what if your friends and family members want to go scuba diving while you are pregnant? Is it safe for you to scuba dive while pregnant?
Pregnant women should refrain from scuba diving because it increases the risk of malformation and embolisms in both the child and the mother. If a woman dives while pregnant, it can cause serious injuries to the fetus. Diving while pregnant also increases the risk of DCS.
There are many reasons why pregnant women should not scuba dive. If you would like to learn more about these reasons, keep reading.
Why Should Women Not Scuba Dive While Pregnant?
Women should not scuba dive while pregnant because the baby is not protected from decompression problems, which can cause some serious injuries to the mother and baby.
Decompression sickness, also known as DCS, is a common problem and concern for scuba divers. It is caused by nitrogen dissolving in our blood while ascending from a dive, forming small bubbles that eventually get blocked in our joints causing dizziness, fatigue and paralysis.
Just like every diver, a pregnant woman is subject to DCS if she ascends to quickly or ends a dive incorrectly.
In case of a pregnant diver, decompression sickness, does not only affect the mother, but it can also strongly affect the fetus in negative ways as well.
For instance, if nitrogen bubbles dissolve within the mother’s blood and tissue, that means they will reach the fetus as well. Nitrogen bubbles can cause an increased risk of malformation and air or gas embolisms.
Both risks are big enough to cause concern for pregnant women who go scuba diving. They could cause a miscarriage, pregnancy complications, or birth defects for the child.
One of the biggest reasons women should not scuba dive while pregnant is related to psychological factors.
For instance, if you scuba dive while pregnant and later find out your child has some type of birth defect or health issue, you are likely to feel a significant amount of guilt and self-blame.
No matter if scuba diving was the main cause of those health issues or not, any mother would still blame herself for being a possible cause of the child’s problems.
This is a huge weight on the mother, and realistically, it can all be prevented by just not going scuba diving until after birth.
Babies and pregnant mothers are very susceptible to injuries, illnesses, and diseases, and scuba diving considerably increases the risk of these things occurring.
When it comes down to it, scuba diving is fun, but it is not worth the many issues that might occur when a pregnant woman scuba dives. There are plenty of other fun things to do that will not cause harm to you and your child. Save yourself and your child from any possible injuries and just wait to scuba dive until after you give birth and have fully recovered.
Other Reasons Why Pregnant Women Shouldn’t Scuba Dive
There are many other reasons pregnant women should not go scuba diving other than just the harm that may come to them and their children.
One of these reasons is that equalizing while scuba diving may be more difficult while you are pregnant.
A woman’s body changes significantly during pregnancy, and this can cause a scuba diving suit to not fit and be uncomfortable for the mother to wear.
Lastly, pregnant women are typically nauseous and vomit regularly while pregnant, and these symptoms may increase while scuba diving.
Both nausea and vomit might be the cause an uncontrolled ascent, which in turn will expose you to an increased risk of DCS.
What if I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant and Went Scuba Diving?
If you went scuba diving and did not know at that time that you were pregnant, there is no need to panic.
There is a significant number of women who have gone scuba diving while pregnant and have not noticed any complications, injuries, or birth defects.
Although scuba diving is not a suggested activity for those who are pregnant, if you accidentally go scuba diving while pregnant, there is a big chance that your pregnancy will continue like normal.
Again, I highly suggest waiting to scuba dive until after the pregnancy is over when your body can handle it so the baby will not be affected.
However, if you did it by accident, I suggest consulting with your doctor to make sure your child did not suffer any injuries or complications during the dive.
What to do Instead of Scuba Diving while pregnant?
I understand scuba diving might be on your bucket list, or you may do it as a hobby, but it is not something you should be doing while pregnant.
Luckily, there are tons of other water activities you can do instead of scuba diving.
Activities like swimming and snorkeling are great activities that pregnant women can enjoy, and they are way safer than scuba diving.
However, while snorkeling, make sure not to go too deep because going underwater while pregnant can sometimes cause harm to the child as well.
Just be safe and do your research before doing activities that may cause injuries to a mother or child.
If you are still planning to go on a dive holiday, but realize you will not be able to scuba dive, I suggest checking out places like the Maldives or Bonaire.
In both places you will be able to do some great snorkeling and have the chance of spotting the same marine life as if you were scuba diving.
When Can I Go Back to Scuba Diving?
If you love to scuba dive, you may be wondering when you can go back to your favorite activity after giving birth.
It all depends on what kind of birth you had and on how it went. If you had a vaginal delivery and it went well, you could easily go back to scuba diving just 21 days after the birth.
If you had a c-section or had complications during a vaginal delivery, I suggest waiting 12 or more weeks before scuba diving again. Realistically, you likely won’t want to go diving soon after you give birth because of how much time and energy it takes to care for a newborn baby.
These are just basic guidelines to follow when deciding when to go back to scuba diving, but I highly recommend consulting with your doctor to make sure that she thinks you are ready to go back to scuba diving. You should specifically ask for clearance to scuba dive.
Scuba diving can cause serious complications if your body is not yet ready to endure scuba diving and what comes with it.
If you are keen on getting your children scuba certified, check out my post with all the minimum age requirements to scuba dive.