Is it okay to wear high heels during the pregnancy period?  

Celebrities like Meghan Markle and Kim Kardashian advertise the fact that they wear heels despite being well into their 2nd or 3rd trimester. Pregnant women should note that despite this endorsement of heels during pregnancy, you should avoid wearing heels, especially in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters.

When it comes to footwear, comfort should be your principal priority. Style and fashion while important are nowhere near comparable to the importance of comfort during pregnancy.

Why should you avoid wearing heels during pregnancy?

Your body during pregnancy releases a hormone called relaxin to loosen up the stiff tissues that keep your joints (ligaments) stable. This helps to make your pelvis more flexible and ready to give birth, but it also translates into extra pressure on your joints which leads to lower back pain. Putting heels during this causes you to change your posture, albeit slightly, putting unnecessary pressure on your back, your ankles and knee joints.

Increased clumsiness during pregnancy is extremely common and normal, especially in the 3rd trimester, from forgetting where you put your keys to being exhausted all the time to your hormones going crazy. Clumsiness makes you more prone to have a fall and injure yourself seriously. So, it's advised not to wear heels during such times.

Swelling in your feet is common during the 2nd and 3rd trimester due to a 50% increase in the volume of your blood and fluid retention. Slowly your body is building its supply of various fluids and blood, which are just a few of the factors that are responsible for swelling. This makes being on your feet extremely uncomfortable and wearing heels only aggravates this problem.

Centre of gravity, as your uterus gets larger and heavier as your baby grows it will lead to a change in the centre of gravity which makes balancing a tough task, wearing heels will significantly increase your chances of falling over and seriously injuring yourself.

Last but not the least, your feet will thank you later. Wearing heels is an extremely strenuous task even for women who are not pregnant, from ankle to calf to hips almost everything is affected, so one can only imagine the issues pregnant women will have to go through.

There is a very real and very scary possibility that your heels will make you fall a couple of times. For your safety and that of your child, it's the right choice to avoid wearing heels during your pregnancy.