One of the most common pieces of advice you may have heard from well-wishers is to drink plenty of water every day to stay healthy throughout pregnancy. Drinking enough water keeps you hydrated, detoxified, and active. However, you might be wondering if drinking hot water during pregnancy is healthy or not. While drinking water is essential for your unborn baby’s health and development, drinking warm water adds to the list of advantages and is quite beneficial. It keeps dehydration, weariness, infections, and other illnesses at bay while helping you stay energetic and strong. It also protects you from potential water-borne diseases. So, read on to know more benefits of drinking warm water while pregnant and some cautions to keep in mind.
Intake Requirements
Here are some guidelines on water intake for pregnant women:
You must have eight to twelve glasses of water every day. This ensures proper hydration and healthy functioning of your body (1). Your water requirement may increase with the changes in your weight, weather conditions, and daily activities. After exercising, you must drink extra water to compensate for the body fluid lost during the workout.
It has been found that during pregnancy, drinking more fluids also helps to reduce water retention in the body. You should keep having water at regular intervals and never wait to get thirsty to drink water. However, please consult a doctor (or your physician) in order to determine the specific amount of water that is safe and advisable to be consumed.
Importance of Optimum Hydration
Dehydration and fatigue are common issues faced during pregnancy. Dehydration can lead to many complications such as nausea, dizziness, cramps, edema, and urine infection. In some cases, it may also lead to more serious complications such as neural tube defects, low amniotic fluid, insufficient breast milk production, and preterm labor (1). Water helps in the formation of the placenta and amniotic sac and is therefore plays an important role in the growth and survival of the fetus. (1).
Benefits of Drinking Warm Water During Pregnancy
Drinking tepid or lukewarm water renders many health benefits to both you and your baby. They are (2):
Warm water helps to detoxify your body as it makes you sweat. You can get rid of irritants and toxins via sweat.
It helps ensure proper and healthy bowel movement and provides relief from acidity and constipation, especially if you have a known history of hemorrhoids (piles). Warm water helps improve blood flow in your body. A glass of warm water daily, especially with a small quantity of lemon in it, helps boost stamina and energy levels and keeps fatigue at bay. Warm water also helps keep cold, cough, and flu at bay.
Caution
Is it safe to drink hot water during pregnancy? It should be remembered that your drinking water should be tepid or lukewarm, and not scalding hot. Hot or warm water from taps is considered unsafe and not recommended for drinking during pregnancy as this may contain lead and high mineral content, accumulated from the pipes it flows through (3). It may stunt the physical and mental growth of your baby and can cause considerable damage to the developing lungs, brain, liver, nervous system, kidneys and red blood cells in your baby. You must always have filtered and boiled water to eliminate the risk of lead, unwanted minerals and also microbes from your drinking water.
