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Back to Gynecology Articles
Thursday 18th May, 2006
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Advice for overweight moms: Lose weight before
getting pregnant a second time, SLU study finds.
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ST. LOUIS -- Doctors should advise overweight moms
considering another pregnancy to take off extra weight first
because they are at greater risk of having big babies, a new
Saint Louis University study finds.
Researchers found that moms who don't lose the weight they
gained during the first pregnancy and continue to gain after
their first child is born are at risk of having bigger babies
than mothers who do not gain weight between pregnancies. A
patient's prepregnancy weight remained the strongest predictor
for the birth of a large infant in the next pregnancy.
"Our advice to moms is to take off the weight they gained
during one pregnancy and not to gain weight between
pregnancies," said Robert Blaskiewicz, M.D., professor of
obstetrics, gynecology and women's health at Saint Louis
University.
Large babies can be more difficult and take longer to deliver
than normal weight babies because they are too big to fit easily
through the birth canal. Large birth weight also might lead to a
cesarean delivery.
"The ideal is to have their weight as close to normal as
possible. Weight gain between pregnancies doubles the risk of
having a 'large for gestational age' baby."
Dr. Blaskiewicz presented the research, which was conducted
in conjunction with the Saint Louis University School of Public
Health, at the May meeting of the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
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Dr. Blaskiewicz compared 38,086 women who were of normal weight
at their first and second pregnancies with 10,585 women who were
of normal weight for their first pregnancy but overweight for
their second.
A baby who is "large for gestational age" typically weighs
about eight pounds, 13 ounces. Most babies weight about seven
pounds.
Sources:
- Saint Louis University School of Medicine
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