Risk of Diabetes During PregnancyĪbout 5% of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes, which means that a woman has high blood sugar while carrying her baby but has never had diabetes before. And , having a healthy weight and balanced nutrition before getting pregnant will make it easier to keep weight gain during pregnancy within the recommended range. Overall, studies support the Institute of Medicine recommendations for healthy weight gain, neither too little or too much. Gaining too little weight can also increase a mother’s chances of giving birth too early, or having a baby that is much smaller than average, which can sometimes lead to other health problems for the baby later in life. For information on avoiding unsafe chemical exposures both before and during pregnancy, check out this article. For more information on pesticides and children’s health, see our article here. Studies have shown that pesticide exposures in the womb can cause problems with brain, reproductive and immune system development. While we don’t know exactly which pesticides, or how much exposure to those pesticides is harmful to a growing baby, many experts recommend avoiding pesticide and toxin exposures during this sensitive time of growth and development. Women who don’t gain enough weight during pregnancy may use more of their body fat to nourish their growing baby, which means that the pesticides stored there will enter the blood of both the mom and the baby. The reason may be because many pesticides get stored in body fat. A study published in 2014 found that babies from mothers who gained less than the recommended amount of weight tended to have higher levels of pesticides in the fluid in their umbilical cords than those from mothers who gained the recommended amount of weight. While these studies make it clear that gaining an unhealthy amount of weight during pregnancy isn’t beneficial for the mother or the baby, research also suggests that gaining too little weight during pregnancy isn’t a good thing either. Pregnancy Weight Gain: Too Much Isn’t Good But Neither Is Too Little! Ī study of pregnant women in the Netherlands found that women who had excessive weight gain during pregnancy were eating more, were not physically active, and also were not getting enough sleep. The relationship between too little sleep and obesity has been known for several years: people who do not get enough sleep tend to eat more, and people who are obese tend to have sleep apnea, resulting in less sleep. When a pregnant woman’s body is in a constant state of inflammation due to excess fat (as opposed to weight gain from the developing fetus), it affects the lung development of the baby in the womb and may lead to a higher risk of asthma symptoms in childhood. Obesity increases the amount of cytokines (which are small proteins) circulating in the body that cause inflammation, which is a type of immune response. There is also evidence that children may have a higher risk of developing asthma if their mothers are overweight when they get pregnant. This finding is significant because it shows that a child’s healthy eating habits can’t necessarily make up for a mother’s poor eating habits during pregnancy. The adult offspring had signs of hyperglycemia (high levels of sugar in the blood), insulin resistance, obesity, and hypertension, despite being fed healthy rodent food. Obese children tend to remain obese during their teenage years and as adults.Ī study conducted by researchers at Virginia Tech College of Veterinary Medicine showed that a diet high in saturated fat among pregnant mice was associated with the offspring developing chronic disease in adulthood. When a baby’s birth weight is greater than 10 pounds, known as macrosomia (which merely means heavy birth weight), the baby is likely to grow up to be an obese child. Obesity during pregnancy also increases the risk of several birth defects, such as cleft palate, intestinal tract abnormalities, and heart defects. What Are the Risks Associated With Being Overweight or Obese During Pregnancy?Īn obese woman is less likely to go into labor naturally (or even to have it induced successfully), which means she is much more likely to have a Caesarean section. This can harm the health of both the mother and the baby. The report concludes that women today are heavier when they become pregnant than women used to be, and they gain more weight during their pregnancy than before. The National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) offers guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy. Several studies have examined ways to reverse the current trend. Being overweight or obese during pregnancy causes health problems for the mother and her baby. is affecting newborns and pregnant women.
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