Being pregnant is a great feeling because you know you'll soon be embracing motherhood. However, it is important to take good care of yourself to ensure you deliver a healthy child. Most pregnancies go off well, but some women experience certain issues that make this time a lot more stressful for them. They have so many questions about pregnancy, and some search the internet with phrases, like "feeling cold early pregnancy". Why do you have this feeling and is it caused by something serious? Keep reading to know more about it.
Feeling Cold During Early Pregnancy, Why?
It is obvious to have so many questions about pregnancy, especially if this is your first. Feeling cold in early pregnancy may happen due to many different reasons. Here are some of them:
1. A Normal Phenomenon
Your hormones will change a lot during pregnancy, and it is normal to sweat and feel you're hot due to a surge in progesterone and estrogen. However, it is equally normal for many women to feel chilly and cold due to a change in their hormones.
2. Thyroid Disease
Located in the front of your neck, the thyroid is a small gland, weighing about 15 grams. It receives signals from your brain to produce and maintain certain level of thyroid hormone in the body. And the main hormone is thyroxine or T4. A thyroid disease can affect the whole process and change the levels of thyroid hormone, especially T4, in your body. When there are low levels of T4, you will feel cold, fatigue, sleepy, etc.
3. Nutritional Issues
If besides feeling cold, early pregnancy, you feel fatigue and other pregnancy symptoms together, that may be caused by a simple nutritional issue. Some women won't eat properly, especially when they have morning sickness or feel nauseous all the time, which will make you lack energy to warm yourself up during pregnancy. You should ensure that you take a healthy diet and provide your body with minerals, vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates for a healthy delivery. Just be sure to avoid energizing foods such as unpasteurized milk, uncooked fish, raw eggs, milk, etc., because they may contain toxic substances.
4. Weight Loss
You may lose weight during the first trimester. This is usually the time when morning sickness makes living difficult for you. Therefore, your fat storage will deplete and you will lose energy. This, in turn, will make you feel cold. You need to understand that being overweight or underweight during pregnancy will be harmful for your unborn baby. You should gain at least one kilogram of weight during your first trimester – you may gain about five kilograms of weight during your second and third trimester. If that's not the case, talk to your nutritionist to eat stuff that will help gain some weight.
5. Anemia
When you're pregnant, it is common to have anemia, especially iron deficiency. Without enough iron in your body, there won't be enough red blood cells to carry oxygen through your body. This can slow down your rate of metabolism which makes you feel cold during pregnancy.
6. Infection
Feeling cold in early pregnancy could be a sign of infections. A number of infections are usually more common when you're pregnant. A kidney infection is one common complication. However, if you're feeling cold due to an infection, you may also experience some other symptoms, such as vomiting, nausea and a fever.
Tips on Handling Cold Feeling During Pregnancy
It is obvious to feel worried and irritated when feeling cold during early pregnancy, but there is usually nothing serious associated with it. Still, it is a good idea to discuss your feeling with your healthcare provider to identify the underlying cause. Here are some tips that will help you manage your cold feeling in a better way.
- Feeling cold during early pregnancy isn't serious most of the time. Just put on some warm clothes or use a blanket to make yourself feel warm again.
- Be sure to have a balanced diet with meals that contain all the nutrients, including protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. These nutrients will provide you with enough energy to keep you warm. Talk to your doctor if your nausea makes it difficult to eat.
Have a look at the following video to help understand how you can have a balanced diet during pregnancy and keep yourself from feeling cold:
Note: If you continue to feel cold even after taking some homecare measures, you should go talk to your doctor about your condition. They will check you for other symptoms and ask you about your medical history to find any underlying health condition that may be changing your body temperature.