Weighty issue: Pregnant women carry too few or too many kilos

THREE out four women are not gaining a healthy amount of weight during pregnancy putting mothers and babies’ health at risk.

Dr Rebecca Goldstein, who is now eight months pregnant, found that more than half of women are putting on dangerous amounts of weight in pregnancy. Picture: David Caird

THREE out four pregnant women are not gaining a healthy amount of weight, putting their health and that of their ­babies at risk, according to the world’s largest ­research review.

Almost half of the 1.3 million pregnant women studied put on too much weight, increasing the risk of having a large baby and requiring a caesarean birth.

While almost a quarter did not gain enough weight, raising the chance of a premature birth and having a baby that was too small.

Recommendations for weight gain during pregnancy range from 11.5-16kg for women with a normal weight to 7-11.5kg for those classified as overweight.

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Dr Rebecca Goldstein, who is now eight months pregnant, found that more than half of women are putting on dangerous amounts of weight in pregnancy. Picture: David Caird

The Monash University-led ­review found that 7 per cent of the women were underweight during pregnancy, half were a normal weight and almost 40 per cent overweight or obese.

“We know that reproductive age women are putting on weight at a faster rate than anyone else, but we need to move beyond blaming individuals,” said senior author Professor Helena Teede.

“This is not about making mothers feel guilty or bad, it’s something that all of society is struggling with.

“We go into pregnancy with the concept of ‘eating for two’ and confinement and rest — and they are complete fallacies.”

Women who did not gain enough weight had a 5 per cent higher risk of having a baby that was small for its gestational age and premature birth.

With 23 per cent of women gaining below the recommended weight this could correspond to 15,000 more preterm births, according to the findings published in the ­Journal of the American Medical Association.

Reproductive age women are putting on weight at a faster rate than anyone else. Picture: Thinkstock

Almost half of the women studied put on too much weight during pregnancy. Thinkstock

While those who put on too much had between 4 and 6 per cent higher risk of a baby that was large for its age and caesarean delivery.

Lead author Dr Rebecca Goldstein said relatively simple interventions had been shown to optimise weight gain. Health professionals needed the skills to provide this support before, during and after pregnancy.

It has been two years since Prof Teede led the ­National Health and Medical Research Council case for prioritising a healthy weight gain in women in their child-bearing years, but little progress has been made.

Funding was urgently needed to work out the best way to roll out lifestyle interventions ­already proven to work across that country.

But medical researchers keep getting knocked back.

“The evidence shows that if you weigh women and support them during pregnancy they have a much higher success rate of staying in the healthy weight gain range,” Prof Teede said.

THE RIGHT SCALES DURING PREGNANCY

■ Women who are underweight (a Body Mass Index of less than 18) should gain between 12.5kg and 18kg during their pregnancy

■ Women who are a normal weight (a BMI of 18.5-24.9) should gain 11.5kg to 16kg

■ Women who are overweight (a BMI of 25-29.9) should ideally gain just 7.5kg to 11.5kg

■ Women who are obese (a BMI of more than 30) should gain 5kg to 9kg only

— SOURCE Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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