In recent years, there has been a lot of concern about how cellphone and electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation could be bad for our health. Even more worrying is their negative impact on fetuses and infants as research continually finds they are the most vulnerable to EMF radiation.
Accordingly, if you are an expecting parent who has been informed of all the dangers, your number one question is likely, “how do I protect my unborn child from all this?”
In summary, how do you protect your unborn child from cellphone radiation? An unborn child can be protected from cellphone radiation by wearing EMF protective clothing, using EMF radiation shields, keeping cellphones and EMF emitting devices at a distance and keeping your electronic devices in EMF protective cases.
Based on the above list of ways to protect your unborn child from cellphone radiation, there is a broad variety of solutions that can help you whether you are at home or on the move.
However keep in mind that, no matter how much anyone makes the claim that their solution can give you full protection, there is nothing you can do to get 100% protection from EMF and cellphone radiation for you or your child.
Every solution you try is really about minimizing your exposure and if anyone claims you can completely protect yourself then as the FTC advises you are likely being scammed.
I explain all this in more detail towards the end of this post after showing you the complete list of various solutions you can implement to protect your unborn child.
The Complete List of Solutions to Protect Your Unborn Child From Cellphone Radiation
Like I have said, there are many measures you can put in place to protect your unborn child from the harmful effects of cellphone radiation. The challenge though is that in your search for solutions and how to implement them, its difficult to find detailed information in one place.
In most cases, when reading articles online, you will find a lot of information on the dangers of cellphone radiation but when it comes to actually protecting your child you will only find a couple of bullet points on what you can do. Besides the lack of details on solutions, you also have to dig around for a while to find all the protective measures you can try.
Accordingly, below is a list of all the solutions I found online that you can possibly try. This list is quite extensive as I spent hours researching to make sure I covered everything you could possibly find recommended online that will be worth your time.
Looking at the entire list, I found that you can categorize the different protective approaches into habits you can adopt and actual protective gear and tools you can use. The list is in no particular order. Have a look and let me know your thoughts or questions if you have any.
1. Turn Off Your Phone And Other EMF Emitting Electronic Gadgets When Not In Use
So let me start with the most obvious but probably the best thing you can do,
“Turn Your Phone Off”.
Though this is not always practical because this is how we stay connected with everyone, turning off our cellphones, laptops, tablets, WiFi and other devices that give off EMF radiation is like literally switching the radiation from your device completely off.
Keep in mind, when you turn your device off you should also make sure that it is not actively plugged into an electrical outlet.Either turn off your sockets switch or just unplug the device entirely. The reason behind this is that live electric cables and charging, device circuit boards and charging devices also emit EMF radiation.
I know, many of us would probably lose our heads by just keeping our gadgets off for an hour or so but think of this solution as a way of reducing the length of time your child is exposed.
Yes, we are always expecting a message or a phone call at any minute but when you are pregnant and concerned about cellphone radiation, for the sake of your child, it’s time to create periods during your day whereby you are not available online or on your cellphone.
Turning your device off is much easier to do successfully when you have your own closed office at work or when you work from home but it’s much harder to pull off if you are a mum who works in close proximity with other people. Like, how do you get everyone else to turn off their devices in a cubicle office space or if you work at the till in a store?
In view of everyone’s unique situation, I found the best way to approach going off the radar is to identify the times in your routine when you are not around people and when you are least active and don’t need your devices and then take advantage of those time slots in your day to turn off everything.
Bedtime is definitely a given as you don’t make phone calls or browse the internet in your sleep. Then during the day, you can switch off, when you are doing chores, relaxing, reading a book or when you are not doing any work that needs you to be online or on your phone.
If you need to use your phone, for music or anything that does not need you to be online, you can also simply put it on airplane mode. Otherwise, then you just turn it off.
Remember, every time you switch off your devices, the less time your developing baby is exposed to radiation and the lower the amount of radiation your child absorbs, reducing the chances of radiation negatively affecting it during its fragile growth stages in your womb.
That said, in places where you are among people and away from home or your private space, you might as well keep your phone on. There is really no point turning your phone off in such cases, but make sure to keep your phone at a distance. I explain this in detail next.
2. Keep Your Phone And Electronic Gadgets At A Distance
When it comes to times when you have to use your phone or any electronic device, keeping these devices as far as you can when you are using them is key. Avoid placing your tablet, cellphone or laptop on your body, especially directly on your belly.
Research shows that if you keep your cellphone at least one foot away from your body, you reduce the strength of radiation exposure to you and your unborn child by up to 80%. Accordingly, at any time you need to be on your phone, either put the phone on loudspeaker or for private conversations, use a pair of airtube headsets.
Unlike normal wired and Bluetooth headsets, airtube headsets do not emit EMF radiation (you can read more about airtube headsets here). In addition to headsets and loudspeaker calls, also keep your conversations as short as possible and opt to chat face to face at home or wherever there is minimal EMF radiation exposure whenever it’s logically possible.
Lastly, a good way to keep devices such as laptops and tablets at a safe distance, to limit your child’s EMF exposure while you are pregnant is to use a lap table.Lap tables help by allowing you to use your device over your belly at a safe distance while you are comfortably seated in bed or on your couch. I talk about lap tables in more detail here.
3. Use A Radiation Safe Pair Of Headsets
I have touched on this already, but this solution is worth repeating on its own. There will be times you may want to listen to something from your phone or on another device through a pair of headphones. You could be at home, at the office, or taking a walk.
I know I am repeating myself, but if you find yourself in any situation where you need a headset rather stay away from wired and Bluetooth headsets while you are pregnant. Stick to a good pair of airtube headsets.
They not only help minimize your baby’s exposure to EMF radiation but also your brain’s exposure. A good way to use airtube headsets to minimize your child’s radiation exposure is to put your cellphone on airplane mode. This obviously means no streaming and that you have downloaded whatever media you need so you can listen offline.
4. Do Not Use Your Cellphone When Your Network Signal Is Weak
Whenever you make a call on your cellphone, the level of energy it emits depends on how strong the signal you are receiving from your network tower is. As your signal strength improves, your cellphone uses less and less energy when it connects to your network and accordingly emits less radiation.
All this means is that you should avoid using your phone when your signal is low. By doing this you will reduce the level of radiation you and your child are exposed to. Some common places where your signal is likely to be low is in elevators, while you are driving or in your basement. So avoid using your phone or connected gadgets in these areas.
5. Switch To A Phone And Devices With Lower Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) Value
One thing I discovered when exploring the harmful effects of EMF radiation is that based on industry regulations every single cellphone gets a rating for the level of radiation it emits.
The rating is called the specific absorption rate (SAR) value and it tells you the highest level of radiation you or your baby’s body can absorb from your cellphone when you are using it.
The approach here is to switch to a cellphone with the lowest SAR during your pregnancy. According to the FTC, this approach is supposed to ensure your child absorbs as little radiation as possible while you use your phone. However, there is a lot of debate on whether SAR values are reliable.
EMF Academy explains the reliability of SAR values well and provides a table with SAR Values for common cellphones here. You can also search for your specific devices SAR value on the FCC’s website here.
6. Use Alternative Safer Modes Of Communication
There are a couple of alternative means of communication that emit less EMF radiation and you can use to lower your unborn child’s exposure to cellphone radiation. During your pregnancy opt to send text messages rather than make phone calls wherever possible.
This is becoming less common but if you can, switch to a landline and make sure you use a corded phone. WiFi calling is also much better than a normal voice call but landlines are by far the best option for phone calls when it comes to protecting your unborn child.
In addition to switching to a landline, you can actually get rid of your WiFi during your pregnancy by installing Ethernet cables in your home that run from your router to your laptop and a variety of devices that need the internet to work. This method takes care of EMF emissions through WiFi from your router and laptop.
7. Keep Your Phone Or EMF Emitting Electronic Gadget In A Radiation Shielding Case
EMF protective covers, casing, and sleeves are now very common for most electronic gadgets. You should definitely get one for your cellphone so you can easily place it in your pocket without any worry. Besides your cellphone, get one for your laptop and tablet too.
EMF protective casings work by containing radiation emitted by your gadget within the casing and thereby preventing you and your child from getting exposed to radiation. The casings block EMF radiation without affecting your device’s signal quality.
Beyond using a casing, it is also smart to get an EMF protective bag to put your devices in. The bag will not only prevent you from carrying your gadgets in your pocket or too close to your belly and body when you are on the move but it will block any EMF radiation being emitted by any gadget placed in your bag. For more on casings and bags you can go here.
8. Wear Anti-Radiation Clothing
With people increasingly conscious of cellphone and EMF radiation, companies are now starting to manufacture more EMF protective clothing. Your selection of clothing will obviously be limited but a lot of the clothing is well suited for pregnant women.
You can now get tee shirts, camisoles or belly bands that will keep out radiation coming towards your belly bump from all angles. The clothing is able to keep out EMF radiation because it is lined with silver fibers that neutralize approaching electromagnetic waves.
EMF protective clothing are a tried and tested concept. Before they started being made for consumers, they were already an industry standard for workers working under conditions whereby they are at risk of EMF exposure.
The trouble with EMF protective clothing though is that they can make you feel extremely and uncomfortably hot and stuffy under hot weather conditions. Otherwise, they are a great way to minimize your baby’s pre-birth exposure to cellphone radiation, especially when you are out and about and in public spaces.
Besides wearable clothing, you also have a variety of EMF protective blankets you can put over your belly to keep the radiation at bay (learn more about EMF clothing here).
9. Sleep In An EMF Shielding Bed Canopy
The best way and time to avoid EMF and cellphone radiation is during nap time. In addition to turning your devices off, and snuggling up with a comfortable EMF shielding blanket, you can use an EMF shielding canopy.
An EMF shielding bed canopy is literally a mosquito net made out of silver fiber material. Like EMF clothing the net keeps out EMF radiation not just from your gadgets but also from harder to avoid sources like cellphone towers, and dirty electricity from your home among others.
If you are familiar with Faraday cages, EMF bed canopies use exactly the same principal. They come in all shapes and sizes but if you cannot find one tailored for your needs, you can also buy the canopy material and have it tailor-made.
With an EMF Bed Canopy, you not only protect your child from direct EMF radiation exposure but you also improve your sleep which is great for your baby’s development.
Your sleep improves because as you block out all forms of EMF radiation, the radiation stops messing with your natural ability to produce melatonin.
Melatonin regulates your sleeping pattern ensuring you get enough sleep and that your body properly repairs itself as you sleep. So by limiting your radiation exposure, you optimize your body’s supply of melatonin and your nap time.
10. Use EMF Shielding Paint
EMF shielding paint is a conductive paint that prevents EMF radiation from entering your home through walls. Normally this paint is black and you paint your wall with it just like you do with regular paint.
Some experts advise that you use two coats of shielding paint for more effective protection but one coat of paint will work just fine. However, be sure to have your wall properly grounded when applying the paint so that you can more effectively neutralize radiation as it comes in contact with your wall.
Also take note that, once you apply the EMF paint and it has dried, you can further paint on top of it with any color regular paint. So don’t worry if you don’t like the color of the shielding paint. You can always apply whatever color paint you want over it.
11. Eat Healthy
When protecting your unborn child from cellphone radiation, like for other health conditions, what you eat will go a long way. Studies show that you are more vulnerable to radiation if your body does not have enough, potassium, calcium, and certain other nutrients.
Like you do to prevent many other health issues, you have to eat natural, fresh, organic and unprocessed foods as much as possible while avoiding processed foods. You can get more details about what to eat to protect yourself and your child from radiation from the following article.
12. Use An EMF Meter
Measuring the level of cellphone and EMF radiation around your home and workplace is probably the first step you need to take before implementing any other solutions to protect your unborn child.
By using an EMF meter, you can see how bad the level of radiation is around your day to day environment. This will better inform you on what degree of EMF protection you need. If you live close to a cellphone tower, for example, you might need more drastic measures than if you don’t but the best way to be absolutely sure of things is to use an EMF meter.
With an EMF meter, you will see how bad things really are and get the best idea of what kind of intervention you will need. Then once you have set up your measures to protect your child, you can again use your EMF meter to see how effective these measures are.
For instance, you can take your EMF reading before and after applying EMF Shielding Paint to your walls and compare the results, or you could take readings before and after your devices are turned off or inside and outside your EMF bed canopy.
Is There Any Point In Protecting Your Unborn Child From EMF And Cellphone Radiation?
Now that you have read through all the measures you can put in place to protect your unborn baby from cellphone radiation, the next thing you might be asking is, are all the measures even worth it?
In short, EMF radiation protective measures are worth it. Protective measures may not completely shield you but help to minimize you and your unborn child’s exposure to EMF radiation from all sources including cellphone radiation.
From my research I have found strong views informed by ongoing studies both for and against investing in EMF and cellphone radiation protection. Some people state that based on the current body of knowledge EMF protection is an absolute waste of time, while others say you absolutely need to protect your unborn child.
Of those who do not see the point of EMF radiation, some people argue that most cellphone radiation is non-ionizing, low-frequency and harmless, and so it’s pointless protecting yourself and yourself and your loved ones from it.
There seems to be a consensus among some medical doctors, traditional health organisations and device manufacturers that since most research done so far on the impact of EMF radiation has been limited to animal testing and there is no absolute certainty that mobile phone usage during pregnancy is unsafe, its a futile exercise trying to protect an unborn baby from EMF radiation.
On the other hand, numerous documentaries like the one in the video below, showing anecdotal evidence of people potentially suffering from EMF radiation continue to surface and there is an increasing number of organizations convinced about the harmful effects of EMF and dedicated to helping people protect themselves.
At some point when reading about whether anyone should worry about EMF radiation, I came close to agreeing with the studies that say there is really no point in investing in EMF protection. Then later I stumbled on a paper by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that made me think twice.
In summary, WHO’s paper says that they need to invest more in studying the impact of EMF radiation on human health as no one currently knows how EMF radiation really affects us and whether it is harmful or not.
If you think as I do, this statement is pretty much saying “we can’t guarantee you are safe when using EMF emitting devices, so don’t blame us if we later find out you are not”.
Seeing all the research that is being conducted, and just hearing WHO’s neutral stance about the safety of EMF radiation, as a better safe than sorry type of person, my mind has since shifted more towards investing in EMF radiation protection. That said, as I mentioned earlier, you cannot completely protect your child from cellphone radiation.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where most things are out of our control, and there are people using EMF emitting gadgets as they please all around us. So it’s obviously inevitable your unborn child will get exposed to some radiation.
Nonetheless, your focus should be to minimize your child’s exposure as far as possible and with the extensive list of measures I have listed above, I trust I have armed you with pretty much all the information you need to optimally protect your unborn child.
I hope you found this post helpful. In case you want more info on which protective products you can try, I also have a detailed list of all the EMF protection gear I mentioned in this post and much more to protect your unborn child and yourself over here.
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