Job conditions do affect pregnancy

Reuters Health is reporting that negative job conditions may lead to poor pregnancy outcomes. A study published in BJOG, notes that pregnant women who work at physically demanding jobs, who work long work weeks or irregular hours could be at risk for delivering a low-birth-weight baby or a premature baby. The study, which followed about 1,100 pregnant women found that the ones who said their jobs were very physical were at an increased risk of having a low-birth-weight baby. Other issues that resulted in poorer pregnancy outcomes included:

• Longer than average work hours (40 plus hours a week).
• Shift work.
• Temporary contract work.

What you can do: If you're pregnant and work at a high stress, physically active job or you work long hours, you need to discuss your job requirements with your boss. If you run into problems; say your boss ignores you take a look at how to stop pregnancy discrimination at work. You can also read: Body comfort during pregnancy at the workplace. IF worst comes to worse, you may need to take extended maternity leave.