About a third of all pregnant women in the period of bearing a child encountered such a concept as "washing the fetus." It is important to clarify that this is not a medical term, but many expectant mothers have the so-called spotting from the vagina, in appearance resembling normal menstruation. But nevertheless, you should not confuse both of these phenomena, since they are markedly different in abundance and duration.
However, some ladies, especially in the first trimester, are sure that the menstruation has passed and by the next month they don’t suspect anything about the formation of a new life in the womb. Sometimes spotting is repeated in later stages of pregnancy, but again, this phenomenon does not scare active women, as well as those whose menstruation is scarce and short.
The question arises whether washing the fetus is dangerous? It is very difficult to get a definite answer to it, since even experts are not unanimous in their comments. The situation is twofold, since in most clinical pictures women with similar complaints give birth to healthy and strong children without pathologies. However, it is still necessary to determine the cause of this process.
Fetal washing, also referred to as implantation bleeding, is caused by the formation of new blood vessels that grow abundantly around the embryo that has invaded the uterine wall. Newly made vessels are quite fragile and brittle, therefore they are easily injured, which provokes light and short hemorrhages.
The second reason for this phenomenon is the detachment of the placenta or the ovum. The scary thing is that many women take such bleeding for washing the fetus and do not pay special attention to them, which can lead to a number of pathological processes and even a pregnancy failure. In such cases, the risk of miscarriage increases significantly , as well as the possibility of abnormal development of the fetus.
Now it’s clear why the washing of the fetus occurs, the symptoms of which sometimes bring a lot of discomfort and discomfort to a woman, but, according to experts, in most cases they do not harm the health of the mother and child. Pregnant ladies also support this position, but are vigilant about any anomalies in this period.
However, there is another side to the coin, according to which washing the fetus poses a threat to the safe course of pregnancy. And here's why: bleeding of this kind can harm the embryo due to carelessness and a woman’s ignorance of pregnancy. Sometimes busy ladies are unaware of the existence of pregnancy, equating the washing of the fetus with the monthly menstruation, as a result of which she can unknowingly put at risk the life and health of her still born child. Among the risk factors are smoking, alcohol abuse, the use of strong antibiotics in the early stages, hazardous work and an improper lifestyle.
It can also be confusing that such bleeding most often occurs on days when, in the absence of pregnancy, the woman should have had her next menstruation. It is necessary to be alert to such a phenomenon as washing the fetus, the signs of which should alarm every woman. That is why you should always be extremely attentive to the menstrual cycles and regularly perform pregnancy tests when planning one.
One way or another, it is important to understand that any spotting of unknown origin in a pregnant woman is an alarm signal to immediately contact an experienced specialist, who, in turn, can prevent extremely undesirable consequences and significantly reduce the risk of miscarriage.