Hot Water During Pregnancy Is It Safe To Drink?

According to Chinese traditional medicine, the temperature of the water should be in accordance with your body temperature. It is seen that drinking warm water is more beneficial than drinking cold water (1). Warm water helps you fight fatigue, builds stamina, and improves your resistance to infections.

Why is Drinking Enough Water a Must in Pregnancy?

Every article you read on pregnancy and every person you talk to about it would advise you to keep yourself hydrated by drinking enough water during your pregnancy.

Why is this? Pregnancy can often result in fatigue, lethargy, and dehydration. This, in turn, can cause dizziness, blood pressure fluctuations, constipation, and cramps.

In fact, in the last trimester, dehydration can even result in preterm labor. So it is absolutely important to remember the following:

• Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water daily for proper hydration and the function of bodily processes (2)
• The water intake is also dependent on the season, the area where you live, and your activity levels.
• During summers, or if you live in a humid area, increase your intake as you will be losing water through sweat.
• During winter, or if you sit in an air-conditioned room often, you might not feel very thirsty. Despite the season, have water at regular intervals.
• If you are not much of a water drinker, use various mobile apps that can remind you to drink water at regular intervals.
• Water retention is a common problem during pregnancy, and it can be treated by drinking more water.
• If you are doing light workouts, drink more water post-workout. Even during workouts, continuously sip water.

Water carries the nutrients from the food you eat to your fetus and aids in the development of the placenta. So, despite eating nutritious food, if you do not drink enough water, your fetus will not fully benefit from it. So a well-hydrated mother will lead to a healthy fetus.

Drinking enough water daily not only avoids dehydration but also reduces the chances of urinary infection, which is very common during pregnancies. It also improves your energy levels and stamina.

What Is the Recommended Water Intake During Pregnancy?

Knowing that drinking water during pregnancy is very important for the baby’s growth, we need to know how much pregnant women should drink. As a pregnancy advances, so does the woman’s requirement for fluids. Experts say that pregnant women should drink between 8 and 12 cups of water every day. Between 1.9 and 2.8 liters is what it should be.

Most women throw up a lot in the first trimester. This makes the body lose water. Drinking a lot of water during this part of pregnancy is important to make up for the water that the body is losing. Aiming to consume 2.5 liters of water daily does not imply one should consume a half-liter of water five times a day. Expectant mothers should sip water slowly throughout the day.

Benefits of Drinking Warm Water During Pregnancy

Drinking lukewarm or hot water during pregnancy (remember, not scalding hot!) will not only help you hydrate yourself, but it also comes with its own set of added advantages: (3)

1. Improves Blood Circulation

Having good blood flow is important during pregnancy to make sure that both the mother and the baby get enough oxygen and nutrients. It is said that drinking hot water improves blood flow, which helps make sure that both the mother and the baby get all the nutrients they need.

2. Helps in Curbing Morning Sickness

Drinking hot water during pregnancy will reduce the occurrence of morning sickness. It will also reduce acidity and heartburn, two common problems women complain of during pregnancy.

3. Averts Constipation

Hot water can stimulate the digestive system. Warm water is known to improve bowel movement, thereby ensuring healthy digestion and avoiding constipation, a common problem during pregnancy. It clears your digestive tract and flushes out toxins, making it easier for the nutrients to reach your unborn baby. Better digestion and lower levels of toxins can help your body relax, and you will not feel uncomfortable.

4. Better Bronchial Health

Warm water also ensures good bronchial health as it reduces the chances of throat infection, cold, cough, and flu. This is especially beneficial during the winter when viral infections are common. During pregnancy, we should try as much as possible to avoid any infections that will need medicine, which in turn might cause problems for the fetus.

A woman’s vulnerability to colds and coughs increases during pregnancy. It’s easier to get rid of mucus in the respiratory tract when you drink hot water. This can alleviate symptoms like coughing, a sore throat, and a stuffy nose.

5. Better Hydration

Drinking hot water during pregnancy can help you stay hydrated and resume your body’s natural processes with ease, which get messed up thanks to all the hormonal changes. Drinking a glass of hot water during pregnancy to start your day can help you flush out toxins from your system. Plus, drinking warm water melts the oil and fat deposits in the body, whereas cold water hardens them.

6. Can Help Regulate Body Temperature 

Pregnant women should try to keep their core temperature in the normal range. By inducing sweating and thereby lowering core body temperature, hot water may aid in thermoregulation. Unlike artificially cooled liquids like sodas and iced coffees, drinking hot water helps ladies cool down from the inside out without putting any extra strain on the body.

7. Improves Oral Health

Changes in dietary habits may put pregnant women at risk for cavities. Gingivitis has been found to affect between 60 and 75 percent of expectant mothers (4). Warm water offers various benefits, including improved oral health. Warm water can temporarily relieve the pain and discomfort associated with a toothache or sensitive teeth. Because it increases the amount of blood that flows to the gums, drinking warm water has been demonstrated to improve gum health and ward off gum disease. Dissolving and eliminating tartar and plaque from teeth when drinking hot water can improve dental health significantly. 

8. Drinking Hot Water Before Bed Helps To Sleep

Hot water can promote relaxation and reduce stress levels, which can help improve sleep quality. A sore throat or cough, which might prevent one from sleeping, can also be alleviated. If you’re having trouble sleeping because of stomach pain or bloating, drinking a hot glass of water may help.

Caution While Drinking Water During Pregnancy

The most important thing to remember while drinking water is to ensure it is pure and does not contain any harmful toxins. Tap water in India is considered unfit for direct consumption (5). Even the pipes in many of our buildings result in the accumulation of lead and other minerals in high quantities in the water.

And if you live in a city, you might be getting hard water. In fact, even well water (which is a rarity) can contain germs and other toxins. Many times, these, when passed to the fetus, can cause damage to their vital organs.

Below are three tips that can be helpful:

1. Invest in a Good Water Purifier

Try to invest in a good water purifier that cleans water through reverse osmosis and UV technologies. Many people buy water purifiers and forget about them, thinking water will always be safe. If you invest in such a purifier, make sure you service it often and clean it according to the instructions given in the manual.

2. Make it a Habit to Boil the Water Before Consumption

Make it a practice to boil water before drinking it, whether you have an excellent water filter or not. Make sure you boil your water long enough to kill any bacteria or germs. Ideally, during pregnancy, you should boil a few liters of hot water in the morning, store it in a jar, and drink from it. Before drinking, you can also slightly warm it. You can also store it in a flask at the desired temperature.

3. Carry Your Water Wherever You Go

Carry your filtered and boiled water in a bottle wherever you go. This is to make sure that you do not drink unsafe water when you are outside the house. Further, try to use a steel bottle or a good-quality plastic bottle.

Is It Safe to Drink Hot Water With Lemon While Pregnant?

The addition of lemon improves the advantages of drinking hot water during pregnancy. Lemons are rich in vitamins that support a stronger immune system and aid with digestion. Consuming hot, lemon-infused water can also help reduce the morning sickness associated with pregnancy. For pregnant women, the smell and sour flavor of lemon reduce nausea and vomiting (6). Citric acid, which is found in lemons, can also help keep kidney stones from forming (7). This is especially important for pregnant women.

But it’s important to remember that too much lemon during pregnancy can cause acid reflux and other problems. One or two slices of lemon per glass of hot water is the most that should be eaten. Talk to your doctor before making any big changes to your diet while you are pregnant.

Drinking Warm Water in Pregnancy- Will it Harm My Baby?

While drinking warm water does not have a direct impact on the baby in the womb, drinking hot or scalding water might cause burns in your mouth and throat. This can cause a lot of discomfort. Thus, it directly impacts food intake. A decrease in food consumption might make you weak. Besides, when the intake of nutrients through food is reduced, it can adversely affect fetal development.

Water is essential as it carries all the nutrients to the fetus, thereby helping in its proper growth and development. So it becomes necessary to drink an adequate amount of water during pregnancy and keep yourself hydrated in order to keep all illnesses at bay.

FAQ’s

1. If I Drink Hot Water While Pregnant, Will it Cause My Baby to Lose Hair?

There are many people who hold this superstitious belief. The temperature of what you consume cannot affect a baby safely inside the womb. The scalding water can only burn your tongue, not your baby’s head!

2. Can Drinking Hot Water While Pregnant, Help With Morning Sickness?

In some cases, it can. Hot water helps with indigestion and constipation. Warm water can also be soothing to a throat that has been strained due to all that retching.

3. Can Drinking Hot Water Cause Preterm Labour?

No, it cannot. Only a hot-water bath or a sauna can trigger preterm labor.  When you drink anything hot or cold, it cannot impact your pregnancy.

4. Should I Drink Hot Water Only When I Am Pregnant?

No, you don’t have to. There is no hard-and-fast rule that you should drink ONLY hot water. However, hot water has benefits for a pregnant woman.

5. Can Drinking Hot Water During Pregnancy Helps To Relieve Muscle Cramps?

Warm or hot water consumption has been linked to reduced muscular stiffness and lessened cramp pain and discomfort. Hot water has been shown to enhance blood flow to the affected area, which can speed healing and reduce the likelihood of further cramping.

6. Is Drinking Hot Water With Honey Safe While Pregnant?

In moderation, drinking hot water with pasteurized honey may be safe during pregnancy.  Lemon and honey should only be avoided if you have gastrointestinal problems like chronic heartburn or acid reflux.

7. Hot Water or Cold Water What Is Good During Pregnancy?

Hot water can warm your stomach. This may help increase the functionality of your internal organs generally and decrease some gastrointestinal diseases. As for cold water, it may decrease the temperature of your internal organ environment, which may slow blood circulation. Cold food may also solidify fats in your stomach, which can cause digestive problems, whereas hot liquids may aid in digestion.

References

1. THE CONCEPTS OF ‘HOT’ and ‘COLD’ IN TCM – [https://www.totalwellnesscentre.ca/resources/hot-cold-tcm]
2. How much water should I drink during pregnancy? – [https://shorturl.at/ktwxQ]
3. How Drinking Hot Water Can Transform Your Health and Wellness – [https://www.nanavatimaxhospital.org/blogs/benefits-of-drinking-hot-water]
4. Pregnancy and Oral Health – [https://shorturl.at/luyAU]
5. WATER – KEY FACTS FOR ITS SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA – [https://www.teriin.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/water-factsheet.pdf]
6. The Effect of Lemon Inhalation Aromatherapy on Nausea and Vomiting of Pregnancy: A Double-Blinded, Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4005434/]
7. Medical and Dietary Therapy for Kidney Stone Prevention – [https://shorturl.at/rBKQZ]