Mothers-to-be are more likely to get malaria as their immunity is lowered, says the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).
Malaria carries serious risks for mother and baby including miscarriage, stillbirth and premature labour.
The tropical disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes a fever, flu-like symptoms, vomiting and diarrhoea.
There have been no malaria-related deaths in pregnant or recently pregnant women in the UK in the past decade but the RCOG says it has been receiving inquires from worried women.
In the UK, about 1,500 cases of malaria are reported each year and about 10 people will die, said the RCOG.
It says all non-essential trips to areas with a high risk of malaria should be avoided.
Risk areas include large areas of Africa, Asia including China and India, Central and South America, parts of the Middle East and some Pacific Islands.
If the trip is unavoidable, the college advises women to seek advice from a centre with expertise in malaria which will provide information on ways to reduce the risk of infection.
Women should make sure they are aware of the risk, take out measures such as mosquito nets for bite prevention and take anti-malarial medication.
Philippa Marsden, who chairs the RCOG's patient information committee, said although the risks were still relatively small it was important that women were well-informed.
Cath Broderick of the RCOG women's network said: "If women are worried about symptoms after returning from a high-risk country and think they may have malaria, they should see a doctor immediately and inform them of their recent travels."
Symptoms can take a week or more to develop after being bitten.

The details emerged during the sentencing of Arshid, Bannaras and Basharat Hussain at Sheffield Crown Court.
Arshid, 40, and Basharat, 39, were found guilty by a jury of 50 offences.
Bannaras, 36, pleaded guilty to 10 offences before the trial started.
Michelle Colborne QC said Bannaras Hussain met one victim when she was 12 or 13 and she performed sex acts on him.
"He was indifferent to whether she consented or not," she said.
"When her brothers found out, they were furious with her and would physically assault her because she was involved sexually with an Asian man."
She said Bannaras abused one victim in a car park next to Rotherham Police Station, and told the court how the sister of another of his victims described her sister as a "broken human being".
Ms Colborne said one woman had described the Hussain brothers as "a pack of animals".
Summing up the contents of a number of statements from the women abused by the brothers, she said: "They describe from their teenage years a life in the main of feeling dirty, ashamed and guilty.
"Between them, a plethora of emotional conditions - eating disorders, self-harm, agoraphobia, self-loathing and terminations for many of them from the age of 14 - events they have never been able to put behind them."
She said many of the victims have had relationship problems throughout their lives and have found themselves subjected to domestic violence.
Three associates of the Hussain brothers, their uncle Qurban Ali, 53, Karen MacGregor, 58, and Shelley Davies, 40, will also be sentenced.
Ali was found guilty of conspiracy to rape, while MacGregor and Davies were convicted of false imprisonment and conspiracy to procure a woman under 21 to become a common prostitute. MacGregor was also convicted of two counts of conspiracy to rape.
Pregnant women should visit countries with a risk of malaria only if their trip is essential, experts are warning.
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A victim of one of three brothers who raped and sexually assaulted 15 teenage girls in Rotherham was attacked by her own family when they discovered the abuse, a court has heard.