Overweight Pregnant Women Should Gain Less Weight

Posted on May 29th 2009 3:00PM by Jacki Donaldson

For the first time since 1990, the weight-gain guidelines for pregnant women have changed. Well, not for all women -- just for those who are overweight.

Pregnant women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 should limit their weight gain to 11 to 20 pounds, according to the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. Previously, these women were advised they could safely gain up to 25 pounds over nine months.

Why the reduction? Because mounting evidence says that excessive weight gain is linked to a number of health problems for both mother and baby. Gestational diabetes and the life-threatening blood-pressure problem called pre-eclampsia are possibilities for mom, and kids born to overweight moms are more likely to be overweight or obese themselves. Therefore, doctors are urged to counsel overweight women to lose weight prior to conceiving. About 55 percent of women of childbearing age are either overweight or obese.

The guidelines for women with a body mass index under 30 do not change. Underweight women, with a BMI of less than 18.5, should gain 28 to 40 pounds during pregnancy; normal-weight women, with a BMI of 24.9 or lower, should gain 25 to 35 pounds; and overweight women, with a BMI of 25 to 29.9, should gain 15 to 25 pounds.

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Tags: jacki-donaldson, obese, overweight, pregnancy, pregnant, weight-gain

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

shelley 5-30-2009 @ 9:10AM

So true, out of three pregnancies I know of recently, the two women that were overweight to start with both had complications due to toxemia or pre eclampsia, the third started at normal weight and breezed through her pregnancy looked great and glowing and had an easy time in child birth

Dr. Charles Martin 6-03-2009 @ 1:40PM

Great article about an important finding. Thank you for pointing out the risks to the baby, which are difficult to overstate. One study by Kaiser Permanente researchers found that mothers who had gestational diabetes but who weren't treated for it delivered babies who were 82 percent more likely to be obese by a very young age. We write extensively about related issues at http://dentistryfordiabetics.com/blog, especially the links between elevated blood sugar and gum disease that can interfere with diabetes control and significantly increase risk of serious health events such as heart attack, stroke and blindness.

- Charles Martin, DDS
Founder, Dentistry For Diabetics

Todd29 7-05-2009 @ 8:28PM

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