Dieting between pregnancies bad for baby
Categories: Pregnancy & birth, Eating & nutrition
Being pregnant means gaining weight - that is just the way it works. I know that when I was pregnant, I took the opportunity to indulge in whatever I craved. I gave birth twenty-five years ago and still remember the food I ate during my pregnancy. My diet consisted of a lot of fresh oranges, McDonald's filet o' fish sandwiches, Frosted Flakes cereal and corned beef hash. With the exception of the oranges, my diet was not all that healthy, but I enjoyed every bite.
I gained about thirty pounds when I was pregnant, but because I was so very young, it came off with very little effort on my part. But for fully-grown, adult women, it usually doesn't work that way. After the baby is born, you find yourself overweight and begin dieting. If you are lucky, the weight comes off eventually. But then you get pregnant again and the cycle starts all over.
According to researchers, this gaining and losing of weight can actually be harmful to your unborn child. They say that dieting between pregnancies can result in an increased risk of premature birth, stillbirth and high blood pressure. Basically, losing too much weight can prevent the body from providing an adequate supply of the nutrients needed during your next pregnancy.
They aren't suggesting you remain overweight until you have completed your family. Rather, they give some very common sense advice - try to maintain your healthy weight before, during and after pregnancy. That is easier said than done, no doubt.
I gained about thirty pounds when I was pregnant, but because I was so very young, it came off with very little effort on my part. But for fully-grown, adult women, it usually doesn't work that way. After the baby is born, you find yourself overweight and begin dieting. If you are lucky, the weight comes off eventually. But then you get pregnant again and the cycle starts all over.
According to researchers, this gaining and losing of weight can actually be harmful to your unborn child. They say that dieting between pregnancies can result in an increased risk of premature birth, stillbirth and high blood pressure. Basically, losing too much weight can prevent the body from providing an adequate supply of the nutrients needed during your next pregnancy.
They aren't suggesting you remain overweight until you have completed your family. Rather, they give some very common sense advice - try to maintain your healthy weight before, during and after pregnancy. That is easier said than done, no doubt.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
miss chris 7-30-2007 @ 12:59PM
What are we supposed to make of this new information in light of the study that was just released last year suggesting that an increase in body weight of as little as 6 or 7 pounds between pregnancies could result in measurably increased risk of pre eclampsia, gestational diabetes, and still birth (you can read an article on that study here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060929094211.htm)
At this point I'm ready to never read another "scientific" study again. As far as I can tell the only possible lesson to be derived from this influx of information is "damned if you do, damned if you don't so we might as well live it up".
I really try to take all this information and make informed choices but it really seems impossible sometimes, and in a case like this the two studies actually seem to directly contradict one another. Unless, of course, you are one of those rare, nearly mythical persons who effortlessly and comfortably return to your pre-pregnancy weight and never have to think about food or diets or nutrition or eating goldfish crackers for dinner.
Miss Chris
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Bee 7-30-2007 @ 1:54PM
Well said, Miss Chris, very well said! You took the words right out of my (goldfish cracker-filled) mouth.
It reminds me of the study that said your baby could have a dangerous drop in their oxygen level in a rear-facing car seat, or something along those lines. But of course, they need to be in a car seat to be safe on the road, so what the heck are you supposed to do?
I think of the things my mom tells me about being pregnant and having me 35 years ago... there was little pre-natal care, little information, people smoked and drank (luckily for me she did neither), no one knew you weren't supposed to eat sushi or soft cheese or honey, mom drove around with me on her lap in the car and I had my first solids at 4 weeks old. Yet we all survived.
I too take these "studies" with a huge grain of salt.
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Kate 7-30-2007 @ 3:30PM
We can all drive ourselves nuts trying to live by the latest study or just go with the one constant - all things in moderation! And some chocolate for good measure ;)
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Uly 8-01-2007 @ 9:01AM
"Yet we all survived."
Except for those children who *didn't*, who got botulism (I know one family who almost lost a child that way), who died from preventable injuries in car accidents, who are otherwise not with us.
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MS 9-21-2007 @ 6:07PM
This, oddly enough, was linked, on this site, to an article which said women shouldn't gain "too much" weight during pregnancy. *sigh*
Of course, ideally, eating healthily ALL the time is the best. Keeping a good, healthy body, and body weight is best.
Once the baby is born, breastfeeding, for many women (although not all) can help them lose at least SOME of the pregnancy weight. But, healthy eating has to be practiced.
Of course, women who are underweight also are at risk for poor pregnancy outcome. Again, healthy eating is the key.
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