What To Look For in a Pregnancy-Safe Bug Spray, According to Doctors
When you’re pregnant, it’s important to do what you can to ensure a healthy pregnancy. This will involve thinking twice about what you put on your skin and opting to use pregnancy-safe skin-care products—bug spray included.
Certain ingredients found in bug spray—such as DEET—can be absorbed into the skin, and if these ingredients aren’t deemed safe for use when pregnant, it can be potentially harmful to a pregnant person’s developing baby, especially if used in high concentrations. “As a product is absorbed into the skin, it will usually end up in our bloodstream and then get shared with a growing baby via the placenta and/or umbilical cord,” says Sarah Connors, ND, a naturopathic doctor and doula based in Ontario, Canada. “Keeping in mind that any products we use end up getting shared with our unborn children makes it that much more important to be aware of the ingredients in that product.”
Still, it’s essential to use bug spray to protect against itchy bites and insect-borne diseases like Zika and West Nile virus, which can also put pregnant people and their offspring at risk of harm. Fortunately, there are options that are safe and effective to use when pregnant.
Kutoka kwa kikosi
Mazungumzo ya Campfire na jamii yetu, kutoka kwa Wanachama wa Squad na Mabalozi kwa Washirika wa Brand na timu ya Sawyer.
Majina ya Vyombo vya Habari
Clothing and gear can be treated with a 0.5% permethrin spray, sold under names including Sawyer, Insect Shield and Ranger Ready.
Majina ya Vyombo vya Habari
Sawyer’s picaridin lotion offers the longest protection windows on test — up to 14 hours against mosquitoes and ticks — and its creamy, low-odor formula goes on smooth and dries quickly.
Majina ya Vyombo vya Habari
The Sawyer Squeeze and Cnoc Vecto made hydration easy.
