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Home › Articles › Eating For Two › A Weighty Issue

A Weighty Issue

Pregnancy Weight Gain Guidelines

By Jennifer Lacey

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Barbara Hackley, assistant director of women's health services at Montefiore South Bronx Health Center for Children and Families in New York, and assistant professor at Yale University School of Nursing, agrees, adding these guidelines have liberalized weight gain recommendations, allowing most women to gain significantly more than the previously recommended standard of 18 to 20 pounds in pregnancy.

"Raising the weight that women were allowed to gain in pregnancy was anticipated to lower the incidence of low birth weight, which was, and continues to be, one of the most significant neonatal health problems in this country," says Hackley. "Numerous studies have documented that this approach, allowing women to gain more weight in pregnancy, is an effective strategy and lowers the incidence of low birth weight."

Ideally, the distribution of weight gain during pregnancy can be broken down into several categories:

Baby: between 5 to 9 pounds
Placenta: 1 to 2 pounds
Amniotic fluid: 2 pounds
Maternal blood volume: 3 to 4 pounds
Body fluids: 2 to 3 pounds
Uterus: 2 pounds
Breast tissue: 1 to 3 pounds
Fat and protein: 5 to 8 pounds

Too Much or Too Little Weight Gain
There are serious risks and complications associated with too much or too little weight gain during the course of pregnancy. "Excessive weight gain during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of Cesarean or instrumental delivery, and the risk of gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are also increased," says Dr. Margaret E. Pfeifer, a consultant in obstetrics and gynecology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Other complications of excessive weight gain may include leg pain, varicose veins and the strain of overworked muscles having to suppot the extra weight.


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