crazy question about flying & radiation....

[evjolin]

so i just started reading dr oz's book, "you having a baby" and in it, he mentions that 30 hours of flying in an airplane is equivalent to one x-ray while pregnant. he suggests limiting your flying.

i have googled radiation info, and most of it is in majorly scientific physics terms that mean nothing to me.

does anyone know how dangerous the amount of radiation really is??

i have already flown twice while pregnant, and have 3 more potential flights...am kind of wondering if i should hold off on travels. thoughts/experience??

[Jenica]

From what I've read is pregnant flight attendants and pilots have a "slightly" higher risk of miscarriage than the normal population. I don't remember the exact percentage but it wasn't much. Women in those professions are probably in the air I would say at least 5 hrs a week (this is a pretty educated guess for me because my dad and brother are both pilots), so you figure 150 hrs flight time over the first 30 weeks of pregnancy. Even if they take leave at 20 weeks that's 100 hrs. I think a few flights here and there during pregnancy is a pretty small exposure. That said, I wouldn't take an international flight where you are at higher altitudes for a sustained amount of time. On shorter domestic flights you are climbing and descending a good portion of the flights and the closer you are to the ground the less radiation. I would just make sure you get up during the flight and walk around a bit as I think blood clots would be the greater risk.

This is all my opinion though and what I decided for myself so take it with a grain of salt. I've flown once already, would have been twice but I caught the flu and couldn't go on one trip, but I plan on flying at least once more.