Chemicals and air pollution in pregnancy

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What is pollution?

How does chemical and air pollution affect pregnancy?

How to reduce your exposure to outdoor pollution

How to limit your exposure to indoor pollution

You may worry about how everyday chemicals and air pollution could affect your unborn baby. Our information explains the risks linked to chemicals and pollution and what you can do to protect yourself and your baby.

There is no official guidance about avoiding chemicals and air pollution in pregnancy. In many cases you won’t be able to make changes to avoid pollution completely, for example if you live beside a busy road.  But there are some things you can do to reduce your time in very polluted areas.  

Try not to feel anxious or guilty about things that are outside your control.  

Being healthy in other areas will help keep you and your baby well. Steps you can take include stopping smoking, not drinking alcohol, eating a healthy balanced diet and staying active.

What is pollution?

We often think of pollution in relation to outdoors, but it can come from indoors too, including chemicals, smoking and fires.

Pollution can come from:

• car exhaust fumes
• petrol and diesel fuel fumes from other vehicles like buses and planes
• smoke from buildings like factories
• generating power and heat
• fires
• cooking, heating and lighting the home
• household products
• second-hand smoke from cigarettes.

How does chemical and air pollution affect pregnancy?

Even if you’re exposed to low levels of pollution every day you can have a healthy pregnancy and baby. Hundreds of thousands of healthy babies are born every year to parents in the UK who have been exposed to pollution and everyday chemicals as part of normal life.

However, research carried out either in the UK or other countries has shown that high levels of pollution during pregnancy are linked to:

• pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy condition
• premature birth
• a baby with a low birth weight
• babies developing asthma, wheezing or reduced lung function later in childhood.

There is also some research that suggests there may be a link between air pollution and fertility problems, and pollution and miscarriage. But the risks are small and these links are not certain. More research is needed into air pollution and pregnancy outcomes.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has called on the UK government to carry out more research to understand how pollution affects pregnancy. RCOG has also lobbied the government to reduce air pollution.

This all sounds worrying, but the research concerns high levels of pollution. The risk for most people is small so try not to feel anxious. If you are worried about the effects of chemical and air pollution on your pregnancy though, speak to your midwife.  

Since everyone is exposed to pollution every day and it’s a difficult thing to control, the best thing to do is to focus on what you can do. 

How to reduce your exposure to outdoor pollution

The following will all help reduce outdoor air pollution exposure during pregnancy.

• Avoid contact with people who are smoking and ask household members who smoke to do it outside.  
• Try to choose routes that have less traffic when you’re walking around.  
• Avoid intense outdoor exercise when pollution levels are high. This includes anything that makes you breathe a lot faster. This is because you will be breathing in more pollution particles. Try to exercise inside on days when pollution levels are high or stay away from busy roads.  
• Keep an eye on air quality. The UK Air website allows you to monitor air pollution levels in your area. You can also get air pollution updates on the @DefraUKAir feed on X (formerly Twitter) or by calling the Defra helpline on 0800 55 66 77.
• Face masks are not likely to help with pollution. Masks with active charcoal filters can filter out some pollution particles, but not the smallest and most harmful ones.

How to limit your exposure to indoor pollution

Pollution at home is easier to control than outdoor pollution, whether it’s from chemicals or other pollutants.  

Here’s what you can do to reduce your exposure, but also remember that that many household and cleaning products may be hard to avoid and are unlikely to harm your baby.

Cigarettes  

Stopping smoking and staying away from secondhand smoke is one of the best things you can do to protect your unborn baby.

When people smoke in your home, you will be inhaling the harmful poisons found in the smoke, even if you can’t smell the smoke. This means it will be passed into your baby.

Secondhand smoke has been proven to increase the risk of complications like premature birth, low birth weight and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Try to get any smokers in your home to quit smoking or smoke outside and take off the outer clothes they wear as they smoke.

Indoor fuel and carbon monoxide

Cookers, heaters and other household appliances can release pollutants into your home. Make sure you open the windows to dilute and remove these pollutants from your home with fresh air. 

The biggest danger in the home is from carbon monoxide, which is a toxic gas with no smell or taste. Carbon monoxide is made when fuels like gas, oil, coal, or wood do not burn fully.  

Make sure that your cookers and heaters are serviced when they should be, and that chimneys and vents are never blocked. Make sure you have carbon monoxide alarms in your home just in case. 

Cleaning products and pesticides

Most modern cleaning products are very low risk for you and your baby. This is especially true if you use less of the stronger products and use all products carefully.

• Open the windows to get fresh air into the room during and after cleaning. Wear gloves and long sleeves to avoid getting any on your skin, too.
• Be extra careful if you’re cleaning your oven. Many oven cleaners have harsh ingredients and produce a lot of fumes from strong chemicals. Cover up with protective clothing, make sure the room is well ventilated and follow the product instructions with care. 
• Cut down on using spray air fresheners and cans of cleaner. You’re more likely to breathe the chemicals from these in as the spray goes into the air.
• Never mix cleaning products because they can produce harmful fumes if you do this.
• Limit your use of pest products like fly sprays, bug killers and flea powders.

Some products say they are free of ‘harmful’ chemicals or label themselves as ‘natural’. This does not always mean they contain fewer chemicals than other products.  

If you are very worried, you could try using all natural products instead. White distilled vinegar is a great natural cleaner and you can add lemon or herbs to give it a fresh smell. Baking soda can also be a great cleaner on ovens and other stubborn surfaces.   

Painting  

The risk to your unborn baby from modern household paints is very low. But it may be slightly greater if you’re working with solvent-based paints or older paint. These could contain traces of lead. Avoid using solvent-based paints and stripping old paintwork while you are pregnant.

If you want to paint while you’re pregnant, here are some tips to help you reduce any risks:

• Any small risk to your baby would be greatest during your first trimester. This is when your baby's organs start developing. So, you could wait until at least the second trimester of pregnancy to do any painting.
• Use water-based paints instead of solvent-based ones or spray paints.
• Make sure any room you paint in has plenty of air coming in and going out. Opening all the windows and doors will clear any paint fumes.
• Wear clothing like gloves, long trousers, a face mask, long-sleeved top and goggles.
• Avoid drinking or eating in the room you are painting. Wash your hands well when you have finished.

Hair dye  

The amount of chemicals in hair dye and bleach is very low and not highly toxic. However, if you’re worried about dyeing your hair or bleach fumes while pregnant you can reduce any risk further by waiting until after 12 weeks of pregnancy (the first trimester), when the risk of any harm to your baby is even lower.  

Read more about hair dye and pregnancy.

Chemicals at work

Your employer needs to do a risk assessment of your workplace as early as possible in your pregnancy. This is to limit workplace risks, including any possible harm to you and your baby from chemicals that you work with.  

The best way to protect yourself and your baby is to keep exposure to chemicals at work as low as you can. You may be given extra protective clothing or better ventilation. Or your employer may give you work which does not mean using chemicals.  

There are no official employment guidelines that cover all chemicals at work, but you can ask your employer for the chemical data sheets to check their safety.  

If you’re still worried about your risk at work, contact ACAS. This is an independent organisation that offers free, confidential employment advice for workers. 

More information about air pollution

If you’re worried about pollution in the UK, you can find out more about what’s being done to reduce it:

Action for Clean Air  

Asthma and Lung UK local clean air campaigns  

The British Safety Council Time to Breathe air pollution campaign