A new study says that overeating while pregnant could put your unborn child at risk of obesity. For some expectant mothers being pregnant allows for a little overeating and divulging in those guilty pleasures but revelations from a new study will have pregnant ladies thinking twice before going after that second helping.
According to the Daily Mail, researcher Dr. Margie Davenport said that "eating for two" could be bad for unborn children. According to her study, infants were almost three times more likely to be heavier, larger and have more body fat if their mothers put on too much weight at the beginning of the pregnancy. Dr. Davenport said that the risk is lowered for women who avoided putting on excesses weight or did so at the end of the pregnancy.
"Infants who are larger at birth tend to become larger children, and that creates a risk for developing into obese and overweight children and adults," she told the Daily Mail.
Her study, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, looked at 172 expectant women in Ontario, Canada between 1995 and 2011. She said that despite an exercise regime and health advice more than half the women gained too much weight. Women who gained weight during the first half of the pregnancy are 2.7 times more likely to give birth to babies who are bigger, heavier and have 14 percent more body fat.
"Expectant mothers and health professionals need to be aware of pregnancy weight-gain guidelines and follow them to build a foundation for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby," Davenport said.
Sarah O'Hara, a pregnancy and diet expert agreed with Davenport's study that eating for two is unhealthy.
"For so many mothers, eating for two is taken too literally," she said. "People feel like they've been given an allowance to eat whatever they want, and that can lead to weight gain."
So how much weight is a pregnant woman supposed to gain? According to babycenter.com, if your weight before getting pregnant was considered to be in a "healthy range" than a woman should only gain 25 to 35 pounds during her pregnancy, with 1 to 5 pounds in the first trimester and 1 pound per week after that.
If you were considered underweight you should gain 28 to 40 pounds and if you were considered overweight you should only gain 11 to 20 pounds. For twins a woman is expected to gain between 37 and 54 pounds.
