Recovery and Risk

Coping With an Eating Disorder During Pregnancy

By Kate Riener Boyd

The reality of weight gain has to be accepted, and it has to be monitored by a health care provider. But doctors might only address the issue if a problem arises, as it did for Jenson. "At one point I was losing weight, and my doctor joked about it, telling me to go home and eat ice cream with every meal," she says. "It's like I got a hall pass to eat."

Gone are the days of our mothers when they weren't allowed to gain more than the actual baby weight. The more common protocol these days is a reassuring, relaxed attitude toward weight gain. Fallon says the midwives she sees "do not make a big deal about how much weight I've gained, which I appreciate." Collins discovered her doctor was a source of support. "I told her and she really understood and mostly was happy for me that I found some relief from it," she says.

The final days of pregnancy may be easier as anticipation mounts and success is imminent. For example, as time progressed, Collins grew to enjoy her body. "Most of the time I was really accepting of it. I felt healthy and thought I looked good," she says. "I was proud of my big belly."

Jenson recalls that later in pregnancy her eating habits and outlook improved. "I didn't binge then because I was so happy," she says. "It was the first time in my life I saw eating with nutritional value. I was feeding the baby."

"Toward the end I really felt positive and more accepting of my body," Collins says. "Especially that it was doing such a good job for the baby (and me) after everything I put it through." She delivered a healthy baby girl who weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces.

Want to see more?

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• Expecting To Move: Relocation During Pregnancy
• Yours, Mine and Ours: The Stepmoms Guide to Pregnancy and Family
• Talk about it!