By Wond PregA general rule is to only bathe or soak in water that is comfortable to you. To be specific, we ask that you keep your water temperature below 100-102°F. The goals of this are:
- Don’t burn your skin and
- Don’t send yourself into heat stroke/exhaustion.
You should be able to gauge if the temperature of the water you’re getting into is going to cause either of these things. No thermometer is needed. If you do like hot baths or showers, just remember that you can get dehydrated quickly and maybe keep a cold water and a chair or stool by the tub. Also, get yourself a non-slip bath mat!
Many hot tubs might be set to 104°F or higher. One study from the 1990s showed that soaking in a hot tub at this higher temperature during the first trimester may be associated with neural tube defects in babies. Because of this study, we recommend to avoid temperatures that high for long periods of time, especially in the first trimester. The research is weak, but it is certainly something to consider. Hot tubs are different that most baths because the water is maintained at that higher temperature and your body is typically submerged with little opportunity to cool off. But with baths in your home, the water starts to cool immediately after its drawn so it doesn’t raise your core body temperature in the same way or to the same extent as a hot tub might.