Can I float while pregnant?

Yes! You can float at Isolate Flotation Center while pregnant after your first trimester, and up to 37 weeks. We recommend that you consult your physician before floating while pregnant.

Pregnancy is different for everyone and even each pregnancy is unique. However, most people will tell you pregnancy can be quite uncomfortable at times. Many clients have found floating to be the most relaxing experience they had during their second and third trimesters.

Common benefits you may experience from floating during pregnancy include:

1. Promotes Mom-Baby bonding: Many clients have noted a deep connection with their baby during and after floating. The float tank is a cozy, quiet womb-like environment. Your baby is floating, and you are floating with them. When you turn the tank lights off and allow your mind and body to drift into deep relaxation, you can often feel connected with your body and your baby. This benefit continues well after exiting the float tank.
2. Reduce Swelling and Joint Pain: Flotation can help with all the aches and pains and inflammation normally associated with pregnancy. This reduction of pressure can also help reduce edema or prevent swelling. An established remedy to reduce swelling is taking magnesium as a supplement. It’s important to remember that the Epsom salt in float tanks are Magnesium Sulfate.
3. Reduce Back Pain: Flotation Therapy can provide relief from the added weight of pregnancy by reducing the strain on the body and spine. The water is about 10″ deep with over 1,000 pounds of Epsom salt dissolved into it. This creates such positively buoyant water that anyone can float effortlessly. It is the closest thing to no gravity we will experience.
4. Reduce Stress: Our always rushed, always busy culture leaves little time for peace and quiet. We are chronically over-stimulated. Of course this applies to everyone, especially if you’re already a parent – It is already difficult to devote time and space for self-care! The float tank is a large, enclosed salt water bath designed to minimize sensory input to the brain. It allows the user deep relaxation in an almost weightless environment. Your body needs to spend very little energy and everything slows down. There is no sense of time and meditation happens effortlessly. It gives your body a chance to heal and the mind a chance to organize itself.
5. Lower Blood Pressure: Blood pressure is closely related to stress levels. In addition to the relaxation, when your body is relieved from the burden of gravity your blood vessels can fully dilate, reducing blood pressure and increasing blood flow.

Things to keep in mind for floating while pregnant

All inclusive and private rooms
At Isolate, we provide everything that you will need for your float. If you are a contact wearer, please bring your own case and solution or glasses to your session. Each float suite is totally private and has its own shower, toilet, and sink.

Don’t drink too much water
Float sessions are 60, 90, or 120 minutes in length. Taking this into account, pay attention to your water intake prior to your float. We suggest not drinking a lot of liquids prior to floating. Your session puts you into “Rest and Digest” mode. Although you control your float and can get in and out as you wish, it can be somewhat cumbersome to continually exit the tank to use the restroom.

We are here to help
Feel free to let your float facilitator know you are pregnant. We have suggestions of common comfortable positions. Floating on your back is a common position but it is not your only option. We provide foam supports you can experiment with. Some people float on their side or belly while pregnant with the aide of the foam supports. Finding your comfortable position may take several minutes but once you do, it is bliss!

Please call ahead so we can set up your room with extra foam flotation supports, and help you pick the right tank style for you.

About the Author

Colleen Caron has facilitated thousands of float sessions as the Operations Manager at Isolate Flotation Center in Boulder, Colorado. She believes that in our over-stimulated culture, floating is the most accessible way to connect with the deepest parts of ourselves and tap into our potential, whatever that may individually look like. Her mission is to help as many people as possible discover the “float tank as a tool” for their own personal development. Colleen has personally used the tank to manage lifelong anxiety and depression, practice compassion, meditate and expand consciousness, boost creativity, problem solve, recover from a bike accident, and to simply rest.