To Your Health
October, 2018 (Vol. 12, Issue 10) |
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How Pregnancy Weight Gain Can Affect Your Child
By Editorial Staff
Your weight during pregnancy can affect the health of your child as a youngster, and we're not just talking about excess weight. Too little weight gain during pregnancy is linked to poor health outcomes at age 7, including high blood pressure and insulin resistance. Children whose mothers gained too much weight during pregnancy were also more likely to be overweight, in addition to suffering from high BP and insulin resistance.
Researchers evaluated more than 900 mother-child pairs for the study, published in
Diabetologia. Women were classified as gaining too much or too little weight based on Institute of Medicine (IOM) gestational weight gain guidelines, and child health risks were based on a comparison of health risks in children whose mothers gained weight within the recommended IOM range. Findings were independent of pre-pregnancy body-mass index (BMI).
The moral to the story: Pregnancy health doesn't just impact the mother! If you're pregnant or trying to become pregnant, talk to your health care team about the best way to optimize the health of both mother and child. We also suggest you read "Preparing for Pregnancy," which offers great tips in this regard.
