re: "Eating for Two" During Pregnancy No Longer Recommended

akmidwife — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:21:02 GMT

As a midwife, I have to disagree on some level with this one. I agree there are problems with severely obese women. But we stress the importance of at least 80 grams of organic sources of protein daily and let women know that if they are eating well (ie. organic, whole foods, high protein) it really doesn't matter how much they gain and we see almost no pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and preterm labor. My average patient gains 30-40 pounds. My underweight patients almost always gain over 50 pounds and my obese patients usually gain around 20 pounds. I myself, am considered obese by "insurance charts". I have had 5 pregnancies. I found that no matter how I ate (2 pregnancies my diet was immaculate, one admitedly not so great) I always gained 40-50 lbs., NEVER had any problems with my pregnancies, babies or deliveries, and had very healthy babies. I think that weight gain is such a fear for women that telling them they can't gain too much weight is more costly and leads to eating disorders in pregancy. Let's focus on a great diet and get our eyes off the scales!!!