Weight gain during pregnancy
The most common questions pregnant women asked either by their doctor, friends or kinsfolk are: Have you had a weight gain? What is the duration of your pregnancy? Do you feel your baby move?
Comparison of the answers may instigate worry in most women. Women who have started eating with enthusiasm from the very start of the pregnancy gain about 5 kg during the first trimester of pregnancy and start to concern whether they have put on too much weight. Others, whose appetite has reduced due to nausea caused by intoxication, do not gain enough weight, and they start getting worried about too little weight. Moms who gain less than 10 kg weight during pregnancy have more chances of giving birth to low-birth-weight babies and feeling uterine action too early. Pregnant women are not recommended to eat much and gain too much weight. Excessive weight of a mother makes it difficult to define the size of the fetus, causes pain in the sacral bone (sacralgia), increases fatigue and may lead to varication. The fetus may grow to a size that delivery in a natural way without cesarean section would be impossible. In overweight women cesarean section may cause complications and it would be even more difficult to lose weight. The body weight of the mother and baby are not necessarily to correlate. You can gain 20 kg and give birth to a baby weighing 3 kg, or gain just 10 kg and give birth to a baby weighing 4 kg. The nutritive value of the food you consume during pregnancy is more important than its volume. The norm of weight gain during pregnancy may vary from 12-17 kg. The norm for delicate women is 12 kg, and 17kg for large women.
Women with low body weight who got pregnant should gain enough weight during the first trimester so that they could start the second trimester with the norm. Women, whose body weight exceeds the norm by 10- 20 % should start consuming food low in calories but rich in nutrients and be regularly supervised by a doctor. Pregnancy is not a proper period for weight loss or supporting weight in the same rate since the fetus would be unable to keep at the expense of mother`s fat deposits only. Consult your doctor if you do not put on any weight within two weeks. If your actual weight gain considerably differs from the planned (7kg instead of 1,5-2 kg in the first trimester or 10 kg instead of 6 kg in the second trimester) even if you keep to all recommendations, do not worry, it will soon get normalized by itself. Ask your doctor to make up a diet plan for you in accordance with the needs of your baby. Remember that the health of your baby depends on your dietary habits during the whole pregnancy period. Control your weight from the very beginning of your pregnancy so that to protect you against excessive weight gain at the end.
Pregnancy is not a proper period for weight loss or supporting weight in the same rate since the fetus would be unable to keep at the expense of mother`s fat deposits only. Consult your doctor if you do not put on any weight within two weeks.