Pregnant women working night shift are ‘a third more likely to suffer miscarriages’

Scientists have put out a strong cautionary for working cum expecting/pregnant mothers. The experts add that pregnant mothers who work night shifts are nearly a third more likely to suffer a miscarriage as the shift of timing messes with the pregnant women’s body clocks. Danish scientists conducting the study found the dangers of losing a baby dramatically increase for those working in the night shifts.

The experts add that this has to do with a lack of light exposure which in turn causes low levels of melatonin affecting the placenta - the organ that allows your baby to feed, breathe and remove waste products in the womb.

Dr. Luise Moelenberg Begtrup, who led the study at Bispebjerg-Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, said the findings are important given 14 per cent of pregnant women in Europe work at least one night shift a month.

Her team looked at health records of more than 20,000 pregnant women in public services - over a six-year period.

Working two or more late shifts a week ups the risk of miscarriage the following week by 30 per cent, the findings show.

And the risk is greater after a woman's eighth week of pregnancy.  

Dr Moelenberg Begtrup said,  "The study corroborates earlier findings that night work during pregnancy may confer an increased risk of miscarriage, and it indicates a lowest observed threshold level of two night shifts per week.

"The new knowledge has relevance for working pregnant women as well as their employers, physicians and midwifes.

'Moreover, the results could have implications for national occupational health regulations’ she added.