Stay safe during summer travel

It’s officially summer – YAY! If you’re from the Northeast, this summer is greatly welcomed after the winter we’ve had! Summer is a great time to travel and lots of people use this time to travel overseas. If you’re pregnant and healthy, chances are you can safely travelwith your provider’s OK. But there are some things you should do to take extra care and be safe when traveling abroad.

Talk with your provider before taking any big trips. She can tell you if your pregnancy is healthy enough to travel and what steps you can take to stay healthy. Your provider may also talk to you about vaccinations during pregnancy to help keep you and your baby healthy.

Also, check out the Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website for any travel advisories. The CDC just issued an advisory for travel to Japanand Poland due to a Rubella outbreak. Rubella, also called German measles, is an infection that causes mild flu-like symptoms and a rash on the skin. It can cause serious problems for your baby during pregnancy.

Contact your health insurance carrier to be sure you’re covered for medical care if you’re overseas. Most insurance plans cover emergency medical care no matter where you are. But you need to know what your plan means by “emergency” to know exactly what it will pay for.

If you’re traveling by air, check with your airline to see if they have a cut-off time for traveling during pregnancy. You can fly on most airlines up to 36 weeks of pregnancy. But if you’re flying out of the country, the cut-off time may be earlier.

Vaccinations during pregnancy

Some infections can harm you and your baby during pregnancy. This is why vaccinations are so important. They help protect your body from infection, and you pass this protection to your baby during pregnancy. This helps keep your baby safe during the first few months of life until he gets his own vaccinations.

Vaccinations also protect you from getting a serious disease that could affect future pregnancies. You probably got vaccinations as a child, but they don’t all protect you for your whole life. Over time, some childhood vaccinations stop working, so you may need what’s called a booster shot as an adult. Plus, there may be new vaccines that weren’t available when you were young, like the flu vaccine, recommended each year, or the Tdap vaccine that is recommended during each pregnancy. Talk to your health care provider to make sure all your vaccinations are up to date.

Not all vaccinations are safe to get during pregnancy. Here’s a link to a chart to help you know when you can get certain vaccinations if you need them. It includes the latest recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and from the CDC. Talk to your health care provider about vaccinations you need before, during or after pregnancy.