[hannah.e.law]

My husband and I have been planning a vacation to Thailand over Christmas for months now, but I am now 8 weeks along (i.e.- I will be 4 months in Dec). I really enjoy SCUBA, but am worried about the baby's safety. Should I just stick with snorkeling? Anyone have any experience with this? Any advice would be appreciated!

[jzb]

DO NOT SCUBA DIVE WHEN YOU'RE PREGNANT!!! There isn't much research because nobody dives in pregnancy but it's really not a good idea. My husband is an instructor and when I just asked him whether there were any guidlines he jumped straight up and said not to even think about it!!!

Sorry to spoil your plans! But babies are more important than fish! Sure you'll find plenty of other relaxing stuff to do in Thailand! Bummer hey?

Enjoy.

[Buckeroo]

Definitely do not scuba dive when pregnant. Not worth the risk to the baby.

We went to Sipadan when I was 3 months pregnant and I just snorkelled, which was a real bummer. :(

[rebekah]

Anecdotally: I know a woman who dove when pregnant 9more than one pregnancy) and her babies were fine, however, the risks are unknown and the dive master will likely not allow you to dive if they know you are pregnant.

[aussie mum]

a friend of mine went diving while 9 weeks pregnant earlier this year while we were all in fiji. she later miscarried - there is no way of knowing if she would have lost the baby anyway but she obviously regrets going diving now.

I was very disappointed to be pregnant on a live-aboard dive trip on the outer barrier reef in Oz a few years ago. completely gutted. obviously wasn't pregnant when i booked it ;-)

snorkelling was fine although i was very jealous of everyone else diving. i wasn't prepared to take any risks despite hearing stories of others doing it without any problems.

[hannah.e.law]

Just to make it clear, I wasn't planning on SCUBA diving, as I don't want to endanger the baby and had heard similar things, but was merely wondering if it is done. I wonder why no one has tried to find out the effects (Positive or Negative) of SCUBA on pregnancies.

Snorkeling it is, which is fine by me, since my husband wouldn't have done SCUBA anyways.

[rebekah]

mostly it's because no one would knowingly take the risk to be studied in as much depth as would be necessary to make a correlation between diving and and possible effects on the pregnancy, nor would a study would be approved by an ethics board, so it's all anecdotal evidence/surveys of those who have knowingly or unknowingly done it and their experiences.

[Matty]

I went diving in early pregnancy, didn't know I was at the time, baby was fine and is now a healthy 2 year old.

I think like many things in pregnancy, it's OK unless something goes wrong.
If you have a problem during a dive, the results are just too big a risk.