Can a pregnant women douche? In simple terms the answer has to be a no on all counts. The main reason on why women still stick to douching is that they are not aware of the potential risks associated with the same. Pregnant women need to be aware of the fact that douching is not recommended at any point of time as the chances of it leading to more side effects does work out to be all the more. Vaginal douche needs to be restricted to pregnant women and let us understand the reasons for it.
What is the definition of douching?
In the French word douche does mean to soak or wash. Your vagina is cleaned by soaking it with water or a liquid in the process. The liquid used is normally vinegar. It is appealing for a woman to clean it as it does contain a scented aroma. They normal undertake it after their menstruation or a session of intercourse.
What are some of the myths that are associated with douching?
Some women are of the opinion that they do feel a lot fresh after douching. This is a mere myth as the feeling is that it does lead to a decrease in the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases.
What are the risks associated with douching during pregnancy
The doctors will be the first person to confer the fact that douching prevents any infections or sexually transmitted diseases. You cannot consider it as a method to prevent contraception as well. One thing for sure with douching the chances of ectopic pregnancies does increase all the more.
In spite of the fact whether a woman is pregnant or not, it is better to keep away from douching on all counts. But still in spite of the pitfalls associated with it, you need to find out why women douche in the first place. A study was conducted among 141 women and it was asked what made them pick up douching. 6 among 10 African American women douched and the same ratio dropped to 4 out of 10 when it was Latina women. What it proves is that the former have a tendency to douche more.
This was a study conducted in Los Angeles and the reason which was given by the woman is that they did it for personal hygiene. What they could not understand is that douching does go on to disturb the balance of good and bad bacteria in the body.
Now the question that comes to the mind is how a woman cleans the vagina. You can let the outside of it clean with the help of warm water and as far as the inside is concerned let it clean itself by the process of mucus. Just be aware of the fact that a healthy vagina is not going to smell like a garden of flowers and if you notice a thick discharge you would need to get in touch with your doctor.