« Active Birth workshop in Japan | Main | Childbirth Education in Japan »

Pregnant women's body temperature

One of the most interesting things that was discussed in the workshops was the temperature of pregnant women in Japan. Apparently, many pregnant Japanese have low body temperatures and this is thought to cause problems with the labour and birth. When I was asked my opinion about this, I was stumped - in Australia we pay little attention to a woman’s temperature in pregnancy, unless she says she is feeling sick and we want to check for signs of fever.

For Australians, normal body temperature is 37.2 degrees. This would be regarded by many Japanese as being at fever level, especially when pregnant. I was told that Japanese women have a body temperature about a degree lower and many hover around 35 degrees.

This phenomenon is thought to be the result of eating the wrong foods. Traditionally, the Japanese diet consists of vegetables, rice, fish or a little meat - whatever is in season at the time. With the arrival of refrigeration, transport systems, and international trade, many foods are available year round, especially vegetables which can be imported from other countries. This means that pregnant women may not be eating foods in season, perhaps resulting in an imbalance and perhaps a lowered body temperature.

I formed the impression that during pregnancy, a woman’s temperature is measured frequently and much advice is offered about the importance of a good diet. No arguments there! However, I was also told that women are often required to observe a strict weight gain of no more than 8 - 10 Kgs for the whole pregnancy. This may not be difficult for Japanese women to achieve given that they are often of small stature and slightly built. However, I wonder if the regular bouts of starvation sometimes used to attain the desired weight each month of pregnancy results in women’s metabolism being impaired and their body temperature to fall. Could they be underfed and therefore cold?

When I was asked what should be done about this problem of women being cold and therefore not labouring well, all I could think was to get them warm - pop them into a hot water bath or wrap them up in a blanket. Perhaps some nourishing food at the start of labour might help too.

Aren’t the birth customs and culture in different parts of the world interesting?

Posted by andrea at December 16, 2006 01:03 PM