The Missing Piece of Pregnancy Wellness: Why You Need More Sun - Without Sunscreen
Sunlight is Crucial for Your Health and Your Baby’s
Two major studies from across the world, New Zealand and China have shown us that sunshine during pregnancy isn’t just a nice bonus… it’s crucial for your health and your baby’s. Yet nobody is talking about this and sunscreen is still being recommended when out in the sun, despite recent studies recommending we ‘rethink’ the advice to avoid sunlight due to the health risks.
🌞 First, the New Zealand study:
Researchers looked at over 7,000 full-term births and found that women who soaked up more sunshine in their first trimester had babies that weighed nearly 70 grams more on average. And no, that wasn’t because they were eating more or doing anything different, it was the light itself helping boost placental growth and nutrient flow, likely through increased levels of something called IGF-1 (which is basically like growth support for your placenta and baby).
🌞 Next, the massive China study came in with even more jaw-dropping results:
Looking at over 637,000 pregnancies, they found that women who had more sunshine during the second trimester didn’t just avoid complications - they actually had heavier, healthier babies. More sunlight meant higher birth weights, giving those little ones a stronger, healthier start.
And here’s the kicker: these weren’t women using supplements or following a strict nutrition plan. This was pure, natural sunlight, doing what it was designed to do. And get this, sunscreen use was almost nonexistent in both studies. So we're talking direct, unfiltered sunlight, which maximizes the body's ability to create not just vitamin D, but a whole family of supportive, hormone-balancing metabolites.
🚨 But here's the modern-day problem…
While these studies show the incredible benefits of natural light, most of us are living in an environment that's drowning us in the opposite: artificial light, especially at night. We're talking:
Phones.
Laptops.
Artificial lighting.
Screens, screens, and more screens.
And the research on artificial light during pregnancy is very clear—it’s linked to higher risks of:
🚩 Preeclampsia.
🚩 Gestational diabetes.
🚩 Preterm birth.
🚩 Low birth weight.
Chronic exposure to artificial light messes with your melatonin, throws off your hormones and even your microbiome and can disrupt the natural rhythms that support a smooth, healthy pregnancy.
🌥️ But what if you live somewhere with very little sunlight?
For my friends in higher latitudes where the winter (and sometimes even summer) the sun barely makes an appearance. If you live in a place where natural sunlight is limited (especially above 30° latitude), you're probably wondering, “How do I get these benefits when the weather isn’t cooperating?”
This is where red and near-infrared light therapy (PBM) can be such a powerful tool. While it doesn’t replace all the benefits of natural sunlight, near-infrared light (around 810 nm) has been shown to help stimulate IGF-1 production, just like we see with natural sunlight. That’s the same growth factor that supports placental health and fetal growth in early pregnancy.
So if you're not getting enough sun, or you're heading into the darker months of the year, adding therapeutic light sessions with NIR wavelengths could help fill in some of those gaps and support your pregnancy in ways that go beyond what a vitamin D supplement can do.
If you’re growing a baby, you need real sunlight - especially during those critical first and second trimesters. It's not just about vitamin D (though that's important!). It's about the full spectrum of light-driven goodness that helps regulate your hormones, reduce stress, and give your baby the best possible start.
So yes, supplements and healthy food play their part, but they can’t replace the benefits of sunlight and it’s time we had this conversation with moms around the world.
Resources
Click here to learn more about using red light therapy safely in pregnancy while reducing the harms of artificial light.
https://blog.tracydonegan.org/blog/red-light-therapy-to-protect-your-pregnancy
https://blog.tracydonegan.org/blog/beat-gestational-diabetes-with-red-light-therapy
https://blog.tracydonegan.org/blog/the-hidden-dangers-of-blue-light-exposure-during-pregnancy
Sunlight and Skin Cancer - Swedish Study on Women’s Health
https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/scheer/docs/sunbeds_co158_en.pdf
Sunlight - Time for a Rethink?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X2400280X