Nothing says fun like taking your 5-year-old in for his kindergarten checkup, i.e. The Checkup That Requires Shots. (Bonus points for bringing along a tantruming 2-year-old who is missing his nap!) So it was in this frame of mind that I was looking for a little diversion, magazine style. My choices were the regional magazine, Mnpls/St Paul, which as far as I can tell is 256 pages of advertisements with an additional 4 pages of advertisements featuring “local” models ’cause actual articles might impede all the advertising they are trying to do; Family Fun, which really ought to be titled Mother Guilt (Now in color!); and Fit Pregnancy. I, naturally, picked up the latter.
There I was, giggling over all the questions sent in by neurotic first-time moms (Question: “My baby was born two weeks early, should I wait an extra two weeks to start him on solid foods – just to be safe???” Their answer: Why wait? Feeding solids is fun!! My answer: Feeding solids is a huge pain but I wouldn’t worry one way or the other – if your baby isn’t ready, he or she will just spit it back in your face. They’re not masters of subtlety at that age.), when I came across an article called Too Much Mama. The premise of the article is that obesity in mothers causes a whole host of health problems for both the mother and the baby, fantastically illustrated with a story about a poor obese woman whose placenta exploded and had to deliver her baby early (thankfully they both survived and are healthy). The article pretty much comes right out and blames her weight for the placental failure. I’m not saying the health risks aren’t real but, really, how common are exploding internal organs?!
As if that isn’t enough to give any woman, gestating or not, nightmares, the article segues neatly into how the IOM (the government’s Institute of Medicine) is in the process of revising the weight gain guidelines for pregnancy saying that the current ones are too high. They even give you a handy little chart where you can look up your current BMI and it will tell you the old guidelines and then the new guidelines. (Maddeningly, the chart is not included when you click thru the above link.)
For me, a woman of normal weight with a “healthy” BMI, they used to say to gain 25-35 pounds. Which seemed about right to me. That’s about the range I gained during all four of my pregnancies and all of my kids were born happy and healthy (save for the first one, who died of genetic complications not at all related to my weight). However, the revised guidelines say I and all other normal-BMI women should gain – are you ready for this? – 5-22 pounds. FIVE FREAKING POUNDS?!? My babies all by their little butterball selves weighed in on average at 10 pounds each. What about my placenta and growing uterus and the fact that my blood supply has to double? And don’t forget the visit from the Titty Fairy in which I gain at least two pounds in each boob. Will no one think of my breasts?!?
I was so upset about it that I took the article in to the pediatrician’s office with me and after my son’s exam was over (but before the shots – I’m not crazy) asked her about it. She looked bewildered for a moment and then said she hadn’t heard about the revisions although they “sounded reasonable” to her. Upon seeing my face purple with apoplexy, she added hastily “but then I don’t have any children.”
In case you are curious, if you are “overweight” according to the BMI scale, then you are advised to gain 0-15 pounds. “Obese” women are broken down into 3 categories of obesity with category I women gaining 0-9 pounds, category II women gaining nothing at all and category III women are actually advised to go on a diet and lose about 9 pounds. While pregnant.
I do realize that some women lose weight while pregnant – my sis-in-law did it – and I’m certainly not knocking that if that is what they and their doctors decide is the best plan. But it seems highly irresponsible to mandate a woman lose weight while she’s pregnant. In my mind that sets up a whole host of problems that could be damaging to the health of the mother and child in an entirely different way.
So my gut reaction is to tell the IOM to take their revised recommendations and do something very impolite with them. But then the little part of my brain that loves nothing more than science wonders if perhaps they know something we don’t? After all, they do have access to years and years of research and data and medical files. Also, in generations previous, women have been advised to gain only about 15 pounds per singleton pregnancy. So maybe this is like portion control – just creeping up on us over the years until we don’t realize what we’ve done?
And then the other other part of me (split personalities hereby acknowledged) thinks that women have been getting knocked up, gestating and birthing babies since, oh, the beginning of time. Maybe all the scientists should shut it and just let us do our thing. In the meantime they can work on a cure for breast cancer because that runs in my family and you know I’m already freaking out about it.
What are your thoughts on the new guidelines? How much weight did you gain in your pregnancies? If you’ve never been pregnant, how does it sit with you to have someone telling you in advance that you can’t eat ice cream even if you’ve been puking all day long and it’s the only thing that sounds remotely good to you? And if you don’t have a uterus, well, um, how’s your prostate doing? Eat your lycopene today??
That is so bizarre. 5 pounds? That is like a normal weight gain, needless to say pregnancy. But I am not pregnant so I’m not a good source.
I heard from a pregnant friend that about 9kg is normal just for the baby, placenta, uterus and all. True or not, the figures seem pretty low.
The other thing is, should things like that be in magazines to stress out pregnant women or make them take maters into their own hands that could be dangerous? Isn’t it better if the guidelines are only discussed in doctor’s offices where the individuals situation is taken into consideration? BTW I like the photo’s!
I live in Japan and let me tell you how tiny the pregnant women are over here. Most of them have these cute little tummies and are urged by doctors not to gain much weight at all. I was really surprised! A friend of mine here, another expat, is preggers and her doc said no more than 20lb weight gain. They are very strict with it here. They must know something we don’t??!
Restricting weight gain in pregnancy is totally backward, and based on faulty science. It’s the common fallacy that correlation=causation. Some of the most serious pregnancy complications cause weight gain–in severe eclampsia a woman can literally put on pounds each day of pure water weight. So there is a correlation between weight gain and complications, but a lot of the time it’s backwards: being heavy isn’t causing the problem, it’s the result.
I am not sure why pregnant women should be thinking hard about how much weight they do or do not gain. If you are eating healthy food and getting appropriate amounts of exercise, you will gain however much weight you need to gain for your baby to be healthy. I have a friend who told me she doesn’t want to gain more than 15 pounds when she is pregnant. I think that’s crazy!
To be blunt, I think it’s freakin’ nuts!!!! I lost 27 pounds just by giving birth, both times!
I think there is WAY too much emphasis on weight during pregnancy. I also think it’s pretty much impossible to not gain weight when you are GROWING A PERSON INSIDE OF YOU!
(P.S., Also love the pictures!)
crap. that’s total crap.
I’ve gained anywhere from 22 to 38 pounds with my kids. The ironic thing was the twenty two pound gain yielded the heaviest baby (9 lbs. 7 oz.)
I say it was a typo. 5 pounds. seriously, are you kidding me?
If one is able to eat relatively healthy and exercise during pregnancy GO. FOR. IT. I’ve never been one of those people. I’m a puker. I eat what my body tells me to eat. I gain weight. I have a baby. the end.
Obesity in pregnant women certainly poses risks. I’m not trying to downplay that. But “revising” the guidelines to a dangerously low threshold REALLY doesn’t seem like the answer.
Crazy!
My understanding was that the old 15 pound recommendation was based on the fact that in the late 19th century many women were malnourished as children and had very small pelvises; doctors worried that they wouldn’t be able to deliver babies that were too big, and that led to the 15 pound recommendation, which was perpetuated long after the original malnourished/tiny pelvis problem was no longer an issue.
I think our bodies tend to do their own things no matter what. In my one and only pregnancy, I was so sick that I lost 10 pounds in the first trimester, then I gained 35 for a net gain of 25, then I lost 25 within two months of giving birth, without paying any attention at all, ending up exactly where I started.
My friend just gave birth and her placenta ruptured. She and her baby spent almost a week in the ICU / NICU. It wasn’t weight related and it is very, very rare.
I think they need to just lay off on the pregnancy weight gain thing. People aren’t going to change their ways much regardless, probably just feel guilty. I gained 30 lbs with each of my kids, which I will admit was a bit much for my height, but the kids were healthy.
Women who see pregnancy as an excuse to all out binge should at least be aware of the wieght guildelines. I know several people who saw pregnancy as a license to gain 75-125 lbs and had serious medical complications as a result.
Well, if the GOVERNMENT’S institute of medicine says it, it MUST be true.
After all, government scientists have been so reliable on everything else diet and exercise related. How many times have we revised that stupid food pyramid by now?
I think the focus should be on healthful eating and reasonable exercise, not a number. I gained 45 during my pregnancy, despite not going overboard on the food, etc, and remaining active throughout. I think pregnancy is a time to think about being healthy. If that means someone will cut out the fast food and lose lbs because of the change, then so be it. I would love to only gain 15 lbs and give birth, ending up 10 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight, but I don’t see it happening!
Not pregnant (nor have I been), but pissed off that someone would set numbers to pregnancy weight-gain. (Combining body image issues with the idea that you could be hurting your kid seems like a horrible idea).
Besides I know a woman who gained 90 pounds for both her pregnancies, but lost the weight in a month or two, without any kind of plan to lose weight, it just happened naturally.
I would think any women who has a good relationship with their OB/Gyn would be able to work out a healthy pregnancy plan that keeps everyone happy, and leads to a successful childbirth.
I have never managed to carry a child to term, so am definitely no expert, but a 5 lb weight gain seems ridiculously low. Doesn’t an average baby these days weigh around 6 or 7 lbs? My math skills are bad, but that doesn’t compute, even to me!
Perhaps their time would be better spent in educating pregnant women on how to exercise, eat properly, and do everything else needed to ensure a healthy baby – like…. oh, I dunno… no drugs, or alcohol, or cigarettes….
Obesity has been proven to cause a wide range of health complications and risks, therefore it makes sense that it would effect pregnancies.
That being said I still disagree with these scare tactics that the media employs. I don’t have any statistics, but I believe that healthy babies are born from all types of women.
I agree with above comments that the focus should be on the individual and not a generalization of all overweight, pregnant women.
“women have been getting knocked up, gestating and birthing babies since, oh, the beginning of time. Maybe all the scientists should shut it and just let us do our thing.” I agree with this. I don’t think that any of us REALLY have a right to say anything unless we’ve been pregnant.
Five pounds seem unhealthily low. But I DO believe that, like portion control, the amount of birthweight gained has been creeping up over the years. Just like weight in general.
I say who cares about how much weight you gain, as long as you ar making sure you are eating healthfully and exercising. I haven’t been pregnant, but I can imagine that if you are treating your body well and caring for yourself and your baby, your body will do what it needs to do.
WHAT. THE. Um, wait. I won’t use that last word on your blog, Charlotte. (But it rhymes with “duck.”)
SERIOUSLY??? 5 FREAKIN’ POUNDS? People are out of the ever-loving MINDS.
I have to say that it seems to me it would be more helpful if instead of focusing on the pounds, doctors focused on WHAT we’re eating. (Although even then, if you’re a puker like Katieo, they should lay off the WHAT as well as the HOW MUCH.)
*Sigh* Every body is different. Some people don’t gain much; some people will gain a lot. Even eating a healthy diet.
For the love of little green apples . . . (to use a “Charlotte-ism.”)
HATE.
But then, I am 10 days away from my due date and have gained 35-ish pounds. So clearly I should be banned from commenting on anything at the moment.
Still. Those guidelines are crazy – for me. They would totally work for some women. You know…it’s ALMOST LIKE women are all INDIVIDUALS, with different body types and needs. Nah…I’m sure The Doctors would have considered such a wild possibility.
Grrr.
Well most women do tend to eat too much when pregnant (you don’t really need to eat a lot extra)
But 5# is a bit extreme on the other end.
And the whole japanese women thing is kind of irrelevant… 20# gain for a japanese woman is about equivalent to 30#+ here, because the women tend to weigh about 100 pounds, or less. i assume their babies are also quite a bit smaller.
of course in theory it is silly to even feel the need to advise a woman on how much weight she SHOULD gain during pregnancy, but we do live in a world where people eat themselves to death sometimes.
If everybody could be rational, eat well and exercise throughout their pregnancy, then yeah sure – the body will gain what it needs to for a healthy baby.
But this is more often not the case, in today’s food obessed, overly indulgent culture.
Wow, I gain 5 pounds after Christmas dinner! For the record, I’ve never had a baby, and I’m naturally thin, but I sure as heck HOPE I gain at least 20-40 pounds when I have a baby.
So I’ve never done the baby thing – but 5 pounds seems kind of crazy. I mean, yeah, the baby alone weighs more than that. Doesn’t that mean that at a normal weight, (which I am) I would need to be losing weight while pregnant in order for the scale to show only a five pound gain? Hmmm . . . . it seems really odd.
Never had a baby, but 5-22 lbs. All of my friends are having babies, and the kids have all weighed more than 5 lbs! That is crazy…and losing weight during a pregnancy. I didn’t know that doctors ever advised that one. I’m hoping if I ever do have kids that I will continue to eat healthy and not focus on the numbers, but I can tell you right now that I WILL gain more than 5 pounds.
Never been pregnant. As it is, already, if the only thing I could keep down is ice cream (like when I was sick in January, all I wanted was sugar, which is weird because I usually just crave salt), I’m eating some freaking ice cream. I think it’s probably something best decided between you and your doctor, not freaked out about because some magazine is putting out crazy numbers. Again, anything I see in a magazine I take with a grain (shaker) of salt.
Seems crazy to me. Then again, I gained about 50 lbs with mine and lost it all and more within another nine months time – I was breastfeeding and the weight just melted off. I went back to being thin and have stayed pretty slender although the years have passed by too quickly.
I followed the guideline of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I filled up on all the healthiest foods, didn’t eat junk at all.
I remember my Aunts talking about pregnancy “diets” in the 70’s and the doc not wanting them to gain over 25 lbs. if you started at a”normal” weight. Any number of lb/kg is ridiculous when second to healthy intake of nutrients. Count me in the 40lb range for all my pregnancies.
You know I had to come out of lurking to comment on this! And not just to justify my 40 lb gain… Yes, obesity can cause problems in pregnancy, but for a normal weight woman, as long as she’s eating healthy foods she should let her body decide what it needs. So there…
I too had to come out of lurking for this one. Gained 77 pounds with my first (was minus 87 by her first b-day) and then gained about 65 lbs. with #2 and #3. All happy, healthy pregnancies, babies and mama!
Those new guidelines are RIDICULOUS!!!
OK, folks I have a totally different experience so I’ll comment. I am an obese woman and gained a mere 6 pounds with my first child without any dieting, I just wasn’t very hungry with a baby that seemed to stand up the whole time leaving no room for food. The same thing happened with my second, and then I was borderline gestational diabetic and had to go on a diabetes meal plan and lost the few pounds I had gained for a net gain of zero pounds. So when I delivered them at 7lb 8oz and 6lbs 13oz respectively, it was a great weightloss program (I ate healthy foods throughout the pregnancies) UNTIL that is, I sat around on my tookus, nursing and eating a lot!So I actually gained weight after the births. Crazy!
I’d say the recommendations for obese women are probably fine but the sad thing is that OB’s and midwives working with OB’s are so short on time with their patients that they don’t have time (or don’t care to) educate their patients. The moms to be are the ones who have to figure it all out and as many women who lose weight to the detriment of their non-pregnant bodies, it scares me to think that disordered eating might happen when pregnant to meet some guideline.
I just lost 27 pounds in the last 4 months by working out (hard, and w/ heavy weights) and by recording my calories and keeping them around 1900 cal/day and on the same day I went below my pre-pregnancy weight, I found out I was expecting my third baby. So I am planning on no weight gain (I’m still at 227 pounds) or possibly a little loss, depending on what my midwife says.
My main problem now isn’t food or weight gain, it’s learning not to overdo it while preggers in the gym, after finally learning to push myself so hard!
I have had normal weight friends gain 80 or so pounds when pregnant, and I just can’t imagine doing that. But 25-35 seems completely reasonable if you’re at a healthy weight.
It does seem that the OB’s are scared of delivering babies of obese, weak, women. They give the whole, “the baby is measuring big, we may have to induce” B.S. all the time. And yet my babies were a bit small.
But this isn’t a pregnancy and labor forum so I’ll stop my rant.
I do want to get a “Baby on Board” T-shirt to wear at the gym, as I was getting all kinds of positive comments about my weight loss and workouts, and now I feel like they’re gonna think I totally slacked off and got fat! Unfortunately I’m still fat enough that the baby bump isn’t quite so recognizable!
I put on a pile of weight when I was pregnant (about 18 kg) however while breastfeeding (especially my first baby), I lost heaps but was still hungry all the time, so I think the weight gain helps you cope with all that comes after the baby is born.
It just seems like another way to pile guilt on Mother’s (even before the baby is born!)
I am a bit late to this party but going to comment anyway. I gained 50 lbs with both my previous pregnancies. Both times afterward I lost 30 lbs really quickly (it helped that they were big babies and I had extra fluid both times) and then struggled to take off the rest. I’m pregnant again (just 15 weeks). This time I’m starting heavier than I did with the other pregnancies and so far I haven’t gained any weight, but I don’t know how I could lose weight at this point or prevent gain later on. If I’m going to have another big baby I’m going to gain that weight if nothing else (and knowing me I’ll pack on more than that).
Thanks for hating on that article. If I’d read it during a hormonal day I would have ended up in tears.
I gained 5 pounds in my first pregnancy and now 19 years later with my second pregnancy I am not gaining much more than that. I am of a normal size so think the government guidelines are actually correct. I know many women who to not gain much weight during pregnancy only some 5-15 pounds. I do not understand what is this all fuss about gaining weight. Your body regulate how much you gain if you eat varied diet and when you are hungry. I do not exercise especially, just go shopping, do housework and light gardening almost every day. I do not eat much sugar although have some honey with my porridge for breakfast and occasionally some chocolate, I do have desserts when I go out. I do not like feeling heavy in my stomach when I do to bed because then I can’t sleep, so I try not to eat too much at dinner, but I often have a big lunch. And I drink lots of water (more than before I was pregnant) because I feel thirsty. I do not think I am doing anything special and presume what I described is more or less what every pregnant woman does, so I do not know why the difference in weight gain. Perhaps it is genetic.
Most obstetricians recommend that women preparing to conceive visit the gynecologist to talk about everything from diet to genetic risk factors. For women with a chronic illness, such as psoriasis, prepregnancy is a perfect time to talk about treatments that will be safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding
5 pounds is stupid. I can gain 5 pounds in a day if I have popcorn (or something else salty). I gained 45 pounds during my first pregnancy, and lost the majority of it by six months. Seriously, mothers and soon-to-be mothers have ENOUGH to worry about – let us eat our friggin’ ice cream!
I am in the “obese” catagory…my BMI is at 35 and to give you an idea, “normal” BMI is 25-29; “heavy” BMI is 30-34. So far in my pregnancy I have LOST 15 pounds…and I am 14 weeks along. I am worried about the weight loss, as I have not had any nausea or morning sickness. I have been trying to eat healthy and it has been working. Anyway, I told them I was worried and they said that I’m doing great and that everything is fine. With my daughter, I gained 45 pounds…took the “eating for two” a little too much to heart. (lol) But she was born AT 40 weeks and 6 pounds on the dot. So, I figure, if this next one is the same weight the between the placenta, blood, baby, etc, it is possible for it to all weight 10 pounds…but then again, I’m not a doctor. I just have them watching my weight, just in case.
No real reason to gain any weight during the first tri: you're either sick and losing weight, sick and not gaining due to ice-cream-replacement therapy, or not sick and not pregnant enough to be gaining. After the sickness fades, no reason to be eating ice cream as much as you want! Those few who are sick the entire 9 months are in a different category than we are: just trying to not die and who cares how much weight they gain or lose. But the rest of us have a mental battle to fight to stay fit, eat right, even though we look "fatter" and "fatter" every day, or a craving battle. But no one said weight control was easy, pregnant or no. Again, it's all what goes in your mouth balancing with what you expend, and pregnant women don't get that much more! For normal weight women, 300 extra calories per day while pregnant, 500 while nursing. That's like 1 small bowl of ice cream or a peanut butter sandwich more. And not unlike other times in life, the scale is not the end-all judge: body type, fat percentage, and other health concerns are right in there with it. Pregnancy is not an excuse to slack off, quite the opposite!
Those guidelines make me so cranky… Me and miillions of other women… Firstly, I totally believe it is probably better for the woman if she gains less rather than more weight (unless she isn't eating properly, then the baby will just be stealing calcium from her bones and nutrients from her body, which could cause serious health problems for the woman later in life)… but if you can keep the weight down then your problems may be fewer… However it is not always a "choice" for women how much weight they put on… different bodies do different things…
I say this having put on nearly 30kgs (around 60pounds) during my pregnancy… I am a small girl- before pregnancy about 105 pounds, and the weight gain nearly killed me… it wasn't put on by choice, (I had a LOT of fluid) and literally lost about 22 pounds in the week I gave birth… and then about 10 more in the weeks after that… but then it stalled… the weight didn't budge while breastfeeding and only started to come off after I had weaned the little one… It didn't matter what I ate or how much I exercised, my body just held onto it while breastfeeding and if I cut the calories too much I made no milk and my baby screamed…
Next time I would definitely try and be as careful as possible about what I put into my mouth while pregnant, but it quite possibly would be exactly the same result?
and just lastly my OB/GYN said he had no interest in how much weight I was putting on as long as I was OK and the baby was doing well… so I don't know about those guidelines at all!
P.S- I should have added, I was incredibly ill the entire pregnancy, throwing up right until a week before I gave birth! AND I had every horrible "side effect" of pregnancy imaginable… it was like torture to me…
I don't know if the weight gain caused the symptoms, or the opposite way around, but I do know I had very little control over it and believe me when you throw up as much as I did you will do ANYTHING to make it stop… For some women that means eating constantly…
let's be kind to pregnant women! I fully expected to only put on 15 pounds given how I've been small my entire life, but you really don't know what your body is going to do!
We have a severe obesity problem in the US and many people are so used to seeing obesity as "normal," that they've lost sight of what truly healthy looks like. Pregnancy shouldn't be a free for all to gain all the weight you want. Most women complain that they never lose it and of course adding pounds of extra fat is rarely healthy for anyone but the thinnest women. I think Japan has it right. The actual baby and necessary weight gain for a baby, (with placenta, added blood flow, etc…) doesn't even add up to 25 lbs so it doesn't seem the least bit healthy to gain significantly more than that. Can you imagine looking at 10-20 lbs of fat and adding that to your body? Yikes!
It’s appropriate time to make some plans for the longer term and it’s time to be happy.
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