Pregnancy Guide for Hay Fever Sufferers: Tips for a Comfortable Nine Months
Being pregnant brings many joys, but also some challenges, including dealing with hay fever. As your body changes and prepares for the arrival of your baby, your immune system can react in different ways, sometimes with an increased sensitivity to allergies like hay fever. In this blog, we’ll dive deeper into what hay fever is, how it can affect your pregnancy, and provide tips on how to manage the symptoms without compromising the health of you and your baby. Let’s discover together how you can get through this period more comfortably!
No danger to the baby
Fortunately, hay fever has no direct impact on your unborn child, but it can affect your sleep, making you tired more quickly. This can affect your immune system, which can indirectly affect your baby. It is therefore important to rest well and, if necessary, take extra breaks during the day.
If both you and your partner have hay fever, there is a greater chance that your child will develop it later. The predisposition for hay fever is already present in children from birth, although the symptoms usually only start to appear after a few years.
Hay fever during pregnancy
When you are pregnant, your body does not stand still. Your immune system and hormones change, which can sometimes have surprising effects on how you respond to allergies such as hay fever. It can go either way: while some women notice that they suffer more, others experience fewer symptoms than normal.
Because the changes in your immune system during pregnancy are quite complex and not yet fully understood, it is difficult to predict exactly how you will react to hay fever. Every pregnancy is different, so it remains a bit of a surprise how your body will react!
Tips to reduce complaints
When you are pregnant it is better to use as little medication as possible. Therefore try to reduce your symptoms as much as possible in other ways.
- Soothe itchy eyes with wet cotton pads or cucumber slices.
- Wear (sun)glasses when going outside to protect your eyes.
- Do not hang your laundry outside to dry, as pollen can easily settle in textiles.
- When driving, keep windows closed and turn off outside ventilation in areas with high pollen and grasses.
- Apply Vaseline to the inside of your nose, this will prevent pollen from sticking and entering the mucous membranes.
- Do not rub your eyes, this will only make the symptoms worse
- Take a shower in the evening and wash your hair, this way you don't take pollen with you to bed.
- Close the doors and windows at home, and air the house early in the morning. There is often a peak in the amount of pollen in the air in the afternoon/towards the evening. Early in the morning there is usually less pollen in the air.
- Do not eat honey, it may contain pollen.
- Keep the windows in your home closed or have pollen-resistant screens installed. If you still want to air your home, do this early in the morning or after a rain shower.
Medication against hay fever
If, despite the advice mentioned above, you still suffer from hay fever, there are fortunately many other remedies that you can safely use during pregnancy.
It is generally safe to use most hay fever medications during pregnancy, but not all. There are different types of medication available, such as nasal sprays, eye drops and tablets, depending on the specific symptoms you are experiencing. For precise advice on which hay fever medications are safe to use during pregnancy, it is wise to contact your GP or midwife.
Often it is not necessary to take hay fever medication daily. Only use it when you experience symptoms or expect to develop symptoms.
Nasal sprays are a convenient option because they usually only work on the nose and don’t release much of the medicine into your bloodstream, meaning the risk to your baby is minimal. There are two types of nasal sprays: one containing antihistamines for allergies, such as Levocabastine and Azelastine, and the other containing anti-inflammatories, such as Beclomethasone, Budesonide and Fluticasone.
Eye drops work in the same way, with the medication usually not reaching your bloodstream in large quantities. Examples include Levocabastine and Azelastine.
If nasal sprays and eye drops don’t help enough, you can consider tablets. These enter your bloodstream more and can therefore also pass to your baby. However, there are some safe options during pregnancy, such as Cetirizine and Loratadine. Homeopathic remedies, such as Pollinosan by A. Vogel, can also be used, but they may take a little longer to show results and their effectiveness has not been scientifically proven."
https://www.24baby.nl/zwanger/gezondheid/hooikoorts-en-zwanger/
https://www.puurgeboortecentrum.nl/nl/kennisbank/zwangerschap/hooikoorts#:~:text=Hooikoorts%2C%20ook%20wel%20pollen%2D allergy ,pregnant%20vrouw%20minder%20fit%20voelt .
https://www.zwangerenPortal.nl/hooikoorts-tijdens-de-zwangerschap
https://www.longfonds.nl/longverzekeringen/astma/prikkels/hooikoorts