|
|
 |
|
WOMEN'S & CHILDREN'S | Family Maternity Center | Pregnancy Resource Center | Pregnancy Library | Birth Planning | Can you keep working while you’re pregnant?
Can you keep working while you’re pregnant?
If you're enjoying a low-risk, normal pregnancy and your job presents no particular hazards, there's no reason to stop working while you're pregnant. Most women work because they need the income and because they get satisfaction from their job. If those factors haven't changed, then by all means work as long as you like.
How long you keep working is up to you. Many working women go all the way to their due date to avoid using up their maternity leave before the baby is born. Some experts suggest women take off that last month, when they're likely to be more fatigued. There's no medical reason to stop working at Week 34. But don't keep working just to prove yourself; if you can afford an extra month off and you'd like the break, by all means do it.
Workplace hazards for pregnant women
There's no evidence that working at a computer causes any harm to a fetus. However, certain jobs do come with specific risks for a pregnant woman and her fetus. You may need to request reassignment to another job, change jobs entirely, or quit working if you have one of these kinds of jobs:
- Jobs in farming, factories, dry cleaners, printing, painting, and pottery glazing, which may expose workers to high levels of harmful substances such as heavy metals, pesticides, cleaning solvents, and other chemicals.
- Tollbooth attendants and others who work around heavily traveled roads, which expose workers to high levels of lead in car exhaust.
- Physically demanding jobs that require a lot of heavy lifting, climbing poles or ladders (even stairs), carrying, standing, or movements such as bending at the waist and pulling or pushing. Nausea, dizziness, and fatigue increase the risk of injury early in pregnancy; later, as your belly grows and weight shifts, you're more likely to be thrown off balance and injured that way.
- Jobs in health care. Exposure may be higher to viruses such as hepatitis B, rubella, and chickenpox. Some jobs expose women to medical gases and toxic drugs. Others work around ionizing radiation used in x-rays or to treat such diseases as cancer (but most workers are well protected from radiation).
Avoiding harm at work
- If your job exposes you to agents that could cause birth defects, seek reassignment immediately.
- If your job is physically taxing, consider getting reassigned to a less demanding job early on, or at least by Week 28.
- If your job requires you to spend more than four hours a day on your feet, the American Medical Association recommends switching to a more sedentary job by Week 24.
- If your job puts you on your feet more than half of each hour, try shifting to a desk job by Week 32.
Your doctor may advise you to stop work early under certain circumstances:
- If you have previously given birth to a premature baby.
- If you have diabetes or high blood pressure.
- If you have a history of miscarriage.
- If you are carrying twins.
Date last reviewed: October 2002.
Back to top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|