Women shooting while pregnant?

[email protected] said:

My wife shot in competition the week before our daughter was born and the
week after. Daughter is 16 now. No ill effects.

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I'm glad your daughter is fine, but using a single anecdotal example is a bad way to determine if something is dangerous or not. If someone drives home from a bar drunk and gets home fine, does that mean drunk driving isn't dangerous? Of course not. The same is true for a lot of situations: We've all done things that put us at a greater risk of harm; just because we managed to avoid being harmed doesn't mean those things weren't potentially dangerous.

Pretty darn sure that there aren't NRA rules that PROHIBIT pregnant women from shooting. The NRA recommends consulting with a doctor.

Amniotic fluid protects the unborn infant from the sound. However, as some have already said - lead should be a primary concern. If she's gonna shoot, shoot outdoors and shoot sparingly.

Amniotic fluid protects the unborn infant from the sound.

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Well, that's one layman's opinion, however the opinion of the medical community (as reflected in the report GEM linked above) does not reach that conclusion with anything like unanimity.

Why would we consider rolling the dice for such a short wait?

Better safe than sorry.
It's only 9 months. Take a break from shooting.

I certainly don't have any medical training, just offering my opinion.

If you just can't go without shooting that long (which I totally understand), get a nice air rifle. Some of those are darn near like shooting a .22 lr, and some of the higher end models are fairly quiet.

We used a lost art called common sense. Like washing your hands after
shooting, always carried handy wipes. She did not put her fingers in her
mouth either, stuff like that. Daughter tested at early age for any trace of
lead and all of us get tested since we are a shooting family, during pregency
consulted with a shooting doctor who just happened to be a member of the
shooting club. Common sense stuff like that. Oh, none of us have or ever had
any trace of lead in us. Your mileage may vary. Some people shouldn't get out
of bed in the mornings.

And the concern for the child's hearing extends after birth.

We were vastly amused when trying ear protection on my 8-month-old grandson. Just like everything else, he wanted to chew on it, so it stayed on about 10 seconds. (It was infant-sized and designed for infants, not an ordinary over-the-head pair of earcups, though after we stopped laughing we did try those - they did not stay on, either.) Fortunately, this was the evening before we went out to shoot, so we just kept him in the car with Mom, windows up.

Does anyone recall at what age small children will keep their ear protection on?

My youngest sister is 5 and still will not keep them on for long, but she does not come shooting with us at all really, besides BB guns.

We used a lost art called common sense

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Some folks have the common sense to be able to determine medically how the body works and know without a doubt that they aren't doing harm to the baby's ears.

Others don't have that much common sense and so look to the medical community for answers about whether damage can be inflicted on the infant that way. But it seems that the medical community doesn't have enough common sense to answer the question definitively in the negative, either.

Funny thing, that common sense. Count yourself very fortunate to have so much common sense that you can guess at these answers with certainty.

My wife shot in competition the week before our daughter was born and the
week after. Daughter is 16 now. No ill effects.

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"Everybody who didn't get killed when they were a kid, raise your hand!"

"Look, everybody made it; why worry?"



Larry

Honestly this makes my stomach turn. Make whatever decisions you want about your exposure to lead or loud sounds.

For an unborn baby dont make the wrong choice for them. Do the right thing and dont have expecting mothers firing weapons or around those firing weapons.

I perfer to listen to the Doctor than medical experts on the internet. But that's
just me. Oh, by the way, we had our daughter's hearing checked also. Perfect.
Glad everybody is so concerned for her safety . It's a wonder we ever raised
her this far. I'm 71 and the wife is in her 50's so we are not real young parents.

Women shooting while pregnant?

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Why is this question limited to women?

Why is this question limited to women?

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I suppose if you know any pregnant men, this applies to them as well.

April Fool's just can't end fast enough...




Any reason to keep this discussion alive or is the question answered?

There are some recent studies that are starting to suggest ultrasounds can be harmful to a child in utero. I wouldn't risk the concussion of firearms. Also like others have mentioned the lead and other chemicals that can be associated with shooting.

You are forgetting the largest source for lead ingestion is not from the shooting of firearms but from drinking water. Your wife needs to be able to protect herself inspite of being pregnant. Noise suppression is what you need. Is there a chance that you have a buddy that can meet her at the range and loan her the use of a suppressed firearm so she can take the class?

Why do so many people on here act like it would be the end of the world if they couldn't shoot for a day? Some of you act like shooting is the most important thing in the world.

hartcreek said:

You are forgetting the largest source for lead ingestion is not from the shooting of firearms but from drinking water.

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OK, now we're just getting ridiculous here. Yes, the largest source of lead contamination is from leaded drinking water. But that's because everybody in the country comes into contact with drinking water on a regular basis. But most people don't go shooting at indoor ranges on a regular basis, so the average lead exposure from shooting is fairly low.

A single session at an indoor range will expose someone to a lot more lead than they usually get from drinking water. For two years I worked at an LGS that had an indoor range. Lead contamination was a constant issue for the range employees. It was also an issue for some of the range regulars. But for the casual visitor it wasn't usually an issue.

But pregnancy changes all that. My wife is a medical doctor and also a mom. She once explained to me how a pregnant woman and her unborn child are at a much higher risk of just about every medical problem there is. And that includes lead exposure.

hartcreek said:

Your wife needs to be able to protect herself inspite of being pregnant.

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It's amazing to me how many people have a huge problem calculating the risks in their lives. It's just like the people who are afraid of flying so they drive everywhere. Or the people who carry a gun for protection but refuse to wear a seatbelt. Or the parents who won't let their kids over to a house with guns in it but are fine with sending them to a house with a swimming pool. It's a little ridiculous to prepare for something that's unlikely to be dangerous and at the same time ignore a much more likely danger.

This woman has only four months of pregnancy left. The chance that taking a basic pistol course will save her life in the next four months is extremely low. But the chance that taking the class will expose the unborn child to dangerous levels of lead and noise is much higher. It's really a no-brainer to figure out which is the most logical choice.

hartcreek said:

Noise suppression is what you need. Is there a chance that you have a buddy that can meet her at the range and loan her the use of a suppressed firearm so she can take the class?

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Have you ever shot a suppressor at a range before? It's fun, but it's not much better for your ears because the people next to you usually aren't shooting suppressed. So unless she can get everyone on the range to shoot suppressed also, it's pretty pointless.

Congrats on being a grandpa to be !!

I'm not doctor, I'm also not pregnant (obviously), and my woman isn't pregnant. So, feel free to take my opinion with a huge grain of salt, and remember that you found it here on the interweb.

Personally, I don't think there's a whole lot of risk to this activity. The lead exposure issue has been repeatedly mentioned in threads like these. But, the guys who work at my department's indoor range are constantly exposed to an indoor shooting environment, and handle ammo all day, every day. They get checked for lead exposure every year, and they've all told me that none of them have elevated lead levels. So, a person shooting occasionally for recreation in the great outdoors is probably going to be at a much lower risk of lead exposure (unless, perhaps, they are handling a lot of lead bullets, instead of jacketed ammunition).

The second issue that is brought up is the sound of gunfire. If I cover my ears with my hands I can muffle the sound of gunfire pretty darn effectively. I would presume that a fetus developing inside of a woman would probably be pretty well insulated from the sound of gunfire, even if amniotic fluid is a non-compressible liquid.

Again, I'm just guesstimating all of this. Do whatever you think is best!

^^"The second issue that is brought up is the sound of gunfire. If I cover my ears with my hands I can muffle the sound of gunfire pretty darn effectively. I would presume that a fetus developing inside of a woman would probably be pretty well insulated from the sound of gunfire, even if amniotic fluid is a non-compressible liquid."


Well, "they" say a baby can hear your voice while in the womb, and encourage expecting parents to talk to it. "They" don't say to yell at it. If a baby can hear your normal talking voice from inside the womb, I'm pretty sure the sound of gunfire would be pretty loud to them. I'm watching TV right now at a normal volume. If I cover my ears with my hands I can't hear diddly squat.

If she uses proper hygiene and jacketed bullets she will not have lead exposure problems especially at an outdoor range.

What are you going to do next prohibit her from driving her car because of all the automotive exhaust that she may be exposed to...and are you going to be at her beck and call so she does not have to stop at a filling station. The lady probably is disturbing the fetus more with the radio station and her car radio cranked up.

Two final words:

RISK

REWARD

Think very carefully about each one and make the wisest choice you can.

When my wife was pregnant (can't remember how far along) she went to the range with me to shoot her .22 rifle. She said every time she shot she could feel the baby kick.

Thus ended her shooting while pregnant..... Daughter is fine.

I'm sure rapists, robbers and other violent criminals will wait until the baby is born before they attack a pregnant woman.

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And so NOW, after getting pregnant, is the time to start firearms training? Not hardly. As noted, there are only 4 months left. There are a LOT of other things she can do in her life to make herself a harder target other than getting into firearms at this moment.

If mom wants self defense trigger time while pregnant, you can go the suppressor route and have her wear a respirator as well, but the added bulk of the suppressor and the inconvenience of the respirator won't make for realistic practice very well...if the goal is self defense, oriented. Of course as noted, if she is at a range, then all the other sound and such isn't going to be good and so the suppressor won't be that beneficial.

She might as well practice with an Airsoft pistol in order to get in trigger time. In fact, the savings in ammo alone (plus savings in range fees) will pay for the Airsoft gun.