Can your weight affect your baby's health?

 Managing your weight during your pregnancy can be extremely difficult. As if weight management wasn’t hard enough on its own, it can be even more challenging to know how much food and how many calories your baby might need inside of you. If you are of an average weight and BMI, you should expect to gain approximately twenty-five pounds over the course of your pregnancy. This weight gain should start very slowly in the first trimester and should become more apparent in the last two when your developing baby starts getting bigger. However, if you gain a lot more weight than this, you are putting yourself and your baby at risk for multiple complications. 

Because weight management is difficult during pregnancy, you might gain some extra pounds. Especially if you are overweight, this gain could bring about the need for a cesarean delivery, because your baby will be larger than normal. Additionally, it will be harder to lose the weight after the pregnancy, and you put yourself at risk for gestational diabetes and preeclampsia in subsequent pregnancies. 

A recent study even shows that excess weight gain during pregnancy has complications that last long after the delivery is over. Kids born to mothers who gained weight during their pregnancy were much more likely to be overweight at age three. When kids experience obesity at an early age, it is difficult for their bodies to break the pattern and bring them back to a normal weight for the rest of their childhood. By gaining excess weight during your pregnancy, you are making childhood more difficult on your baby’s body. 

How many calories does your baby need each day?

If you are worried about having a child who could be overweight through his or her childhood, first consider losing weight before you conceive to make sure your BMI is at a normal level. By taking care of this first, weight management during your pregnancy will be much easier. Additionally, you should speak with your health care provider about diet plans that are both nutritious and low fat. You baby only actually needs approximately 300 calories every day during his or her development, so you shouldn’t be eating that much more than usual. However, you should be adding more vegetables and minerals to your diet. While managing your weight during your pregnancy is difficult, you should make it a top priority because gaining excess weight could negatively affect your child’s life. 

Source: Christine M. Olson et al: Maternal Weight Gain During Pregnancy and Child Weight at Age 3 Years. Maternal and Child Health Journal Volume 13 Issue 6 pp. 839-846 2009