Women should avoid standing for long periods of time during pregnancy

Women should avoid standing for long periods of time during pregnancy, with new research finding this may affect the baby’s growth.

Research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, finds that working up to 36 weeks of pregnancy is not harmful, but standing for long hours may affect fetal growth.

Researchers from the Netherlands assessed the fetal growth rate of more than 4,600 women from early pregnancy onwards between the years 2002 and 2006.

Each pregnancy was monitored against the working conditions of the mother and development of the babies using ultrasound.

Working up to 34 to 36 weeks of pregnancy was not found to have an adverse affect, but women who spend long periods of time on their feet in jobs such as teaching and retail had slightly smaller babies.

The authors conclude that women working during pregnancy had fewer comlications than those who were unemployed, but the nature of some jobs did leave some risk.