The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends the flu shot for every woman who will be pregnant during the flu season, which typically runs October through March.
Pregnancy changes your immune system and puts extra stress on the heart and lungs. This puts pregnant women at an increased risk of serious complications from the flu including pneumonia and respiratory distress. In addition, complications of the flu may cause miscarriage or preterm labor.
Studies show that flu shots in pregnancy also protect your baby after he or she is born. Babies whose mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy had a 41% lower risk of developing a flu infection.
You should get a flu shot even if you have had it in previous years because it is adjusted depending upon the different strains of flu predicted to come around each year. The 2010 flu vaccine also includes H1N1. Pregnant women should NOT receive the nasal spray flu vaccine, which is made with live virus.
