Consumer Health
Pregnant women in stressful jobs should cut back work immediately
By DPA
May 1, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Amsterdam - Women in stressful jobs who become pregnant should virtually halve their time at work right from the start of their pregnancy, according to Amsterdam specialist Gouke Bonsel.

Bonsel, a professor of social health at the well known AMC hospital in the city, says women should work no more than 24 hours a week, if their occupation is stressful.

Preliminary results from a recent study had shown surprisingly strong results, he said.

\'We were astonished and we thought long and hard about publishing the results, but it is perfectly clear.

\'Women who work 32 hours or more in a stressful position have noticeably lighter children, with all the consequences,\' Bonsel says.

The study, a major long-term investigation into pregnancy, found an average weight decline in newborns by 150 grams, the same as that caused by smoking during pregnancy,

Bonsel says pregnant women should not work more than three days a week.