Flying whilst pregnant

[BayAreaLondoner]

I posted this in the Cabin Crew forum as well, but this may be a better place for it:

Advice I've heard in the US for women early into a pregnancy (first trimester) is not to fly.
I was wondering if airline professionals in this forum can shed some light on their experience and what the risks might be.
Reason behind the question - a 4-week pregnant woman is debating whether or not to fly across the country.

[QDMQDMQDM]

There is no obvious reason I can see why a 4-week pregnant woman should not fly as a passenger. What rationale can there be?

QDM

[Airbus Girl]

Crew are generally advised not to fly in the first trimester due to the amount of radiation received. Radiation in the first 3 months of the foetus' development can cause all sorts of abnormalities. Flying as a passenger should be fine, its just that crew get a lot of radiation due to the number of flights (and are officially monitored by their employers as radiation workers).
After the first trimester it is OK to fly as crew, in the US it is quite common and many airlines now have maternity uniforms for pilots.

[Bodie]

Flying whilst pregnant? Sounds like a realllly long flight.

[BayAreaLondoner]

Thanks for all the useful replies.

[flapsforty]

BAL, with my company both pilots and FAs get the choice for the first trimester to either fly or be temporarily ground-based.
For what it's worth, for the first 5 months of both my pregnancies I worked full time, long-haul.
Now 16 years later, 2 healthy & brainy teenagers terrorise 40Towers. :ok:

[lorel]

Some good info on this topic can be found on:
http://www.cami.jccbi.gov/AAM-600/Radiobilolgy/600radio.html

[wynned]

I have a freind a Captain in BA. Eight years ago he was flying a 747-400 and a woman went into early labour. The baby was about a month early and she wanted her child to be born in Britan. Any way to cut a long story short, she the baby at FL330...perfect baby now eight, an fly's free with BA in 1st class for the rest of his life...Lucky sod!!!