How much weight did you gain during pregnancy?
The less you weigh at the beginning of pregnancy, the more extra calories you need to eat to provide your baby with proper nutrition for growth [1]. As a result, healthy weight gain figures are different for everyone. Doctors usually focus on BMI before pregnancy or in the first trimester.
If your starting BMI was 18.5, healthy pregnancy weight gain ranges from around 26 to 39 lbs;
At 18.5 < BMI < 25, healthy weight gain is 25 to 35 lbs;
At 25 < BMI < 30, it is 15 to 25 lbs;
At BMI > 30, you should gain around 11 to 20 lbs.
Gaining less weight than these minimum recommended amounts can lead to premature birth or a baby born with premature symptoms. Gaining more weight than the maximum recommended amounts is often associated with an increased chance of needing a Cesarean section, as the baby may be too large to pass through the birth canal safely [2].
European experts do not give much attention to excess weight gain during pregnancy, looking instead at the mother’s starting BMI. If it is higher than 30 before pregnancy or after delivery, they warn that it will bring an increased risk of birth complications [3]. This mother’s pregnancy will be considered a higher risk, even if she remains on a prescribed diet during pregnancy. If the mother’s BMI was between 18.5 and 25 before pregnancy, and she returns to that range after delivery, these experts are not concerned with the short term BMI increase that occurred during pregnancy.
American studies show that a pregnant mother’s excessive weight gain almost doubles the risk of obesity in a child under three years of age [4]. However, the European experts believe that rather than pointing to a direct connection between the mother’s pregnancy weight and the baby’s weight, obesity in children under three is a result of family patterns. If the adults in the family eat in a way that leads to obesity, they pass along those patterns to the children [3].
