There are close to 140 million visits to the ER each year and out of those, 39 million are injury-related visits. While there is no data to show specifically how many of those visits are due to injuries from a trampoline, there are many ER doctors who say they would never have a trampoline in their own homes because the risk of injury is simply too high. When you compound those sobering facts with the idea of a pregnant woman jumping on a trampoline, you can safely assume that you should avoid trampolines during pregnancy.

Balance in early pregnancy

Some women maintain that the aerobic workout is ideal and if you are early in your first trimester, it shouldn’t be an issue. As in all things, the option is yours when to stop jumping on trampolines or whether to not use them at all during pregnancy. It’s true that in your first trimester, your body seems to be pretty much the same. You have yet to gain that growing belly and your center of gravity may still be intact.  However, hormones are at work inside your body and they can wreak havoc with your equilibrium causing nausea and vomiting but also dizziness and lightheadedness.

In addition, prolactin is now loosening up your joints. You may even notice this while simply walking; your balance may be off and you may be more prone to slips and slides. All of these changes can throw your balance off and cause falls, and while you may not hurt you, baby who may not even be the size of a bean yet, you can very likely hurt yourself.

Rocking and bouncing the baby

Some women worry if the motion caused by jumping will disturb the baby or cause too much rocking or bouncing inside the uterus. The short answer is no, the baby is perfectly content and safe with your body rocking or bouncing. Some babies are even soothed by the rhythm. While this is true, a trampoline is still not ideal for jumping on when pregnant.

Later in pregnancy: second and third trimesters

Now that the baby is growing, your potential of either falling down on your own simply because your center of balance is off is just too high to risk. You can easily get hurt and now your growing baby can, too. Also, the possibility of falling down on your stomach is a genuine threat, which could have disastrous results, including placental abruption and premature labor.

Ask your doctor

The best course of action is to be smart not doing anything that has a high risk of injury. And to ask your doctor or midwife for advice regarding any exercise program or sport you would like to do during pregnancy.