It is not the sole responsibility of the mother to take care of her health, her partner and family are equally responsible to provide a calm and healthy environment. The most concern during pregnancy is for women who commute large distances. Studies show that commuting can be stressful for the unborn baby and affects its health to great lengths. One should avoid commute during pregnancy.

Commuting more than 50 miles is very stressful both for the mother and the unborn baby. A study in New Jersey has found that pregnant women commuting for more than 50 miles have a chronic strain on both their and their child’s health. Researchers in their study at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh University found that pregnant women commuting larger distances are more likely to have low birth weight infants.

Every 10 miles after 50 miles increases a woman’s chance of having a low weight baby by 14 percent which means that every extra 10 miles traveled, is highly dangerous for the unborn child. Because of commuting larger distance, the fetal growth in the babies has decreased by 43 percent according to the research found in the journal Economics and Human Biology.

A baby weighing less than 5.5 pounds is considered as a low weight infant. Since the woman travels a lot too and from their workplace, they are likely to miss their regular check-ups as compared to the women who live nearby their workplace or do not work during pregnancy. The statistics found regarding pregnant women commuting is unrealistic. It can be understood why the new generation has so many health complications.

Not only after they are born they are affected by the environment and other things but when they are in their mother’s womb they are affected by the stressful commutes. More than 1.7 million workers spend 90 minutes or more in commuting each side from work and about 2.2 million workers at least travel 50 miles one way. New Jersey tops the list of highest commute time taken one way according to the census.

After analyzing the birth records of the year 2014 and 2015 it was found by the New Jersey Department of Health that women who commute between 50 and 100 miles were most likely to skip or get a delayed trimester checkup. They were the ones who usually missed the first-trimester checkup. Flexible working hours during pregnancy are very important for the mother’s and the unborn baby’s health.

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