The baby weight you fail to lose or the weight you gain as a new mother is very important to lose prior to becoming pregnant again. A new study shows that even a very small weight gain of a few pounds can radically change the risks in a subsequent pregnancy. The bad news is that the more weight you gain, the more at risk you and your baby are at in that pregnancy.
Physicians at the Harvard School of Public Health looked at more than 150,000 women in Sweden. They measured the weight gain between their first and second pregnancies and then the outcomes of each of the subsequent pregnancies.
The complications that were associated with this interpregnancy weight gain include:
In using the body mass index (BMI) to calculate risk, a unit of BMI is 6.6 pounds or 3 kg, the study showed that the more units of BMI increase, the more complications. Even increasing by about 12 pounds, or about two BMI units, increased the risks of developing potentially life threatening complications like pregnancy induced hypertension or diabetes by 20 to 40 percent. If that rate of increase was more than three BMI units, the risks of stillbirth went up an astounding 63 percent compared to women who gained less than one unit of BMI or 6.6 pounds between pregnancies.
With this scary information, it really puts a great deal of pressure on the preconceptional health period between pregnancies. To lose weight after you have a baby and before you consider another pregnancy here are some suggestions:
- Breast feed to help shed some of the fat stores of pregnancy.
- Continue exercising to burn calories and feel better.
- Eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and fiber.
- Avoid fatty foods and empty calories.
Source:
Interpregnancy weight change and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The Lancet, 368, 9542, 30 September 2006.
