Strength for Her

 Doctors are considering changing the recommendations for healthy weight gain during pregnancy. The changes come after many doctors feel that too many women are gaining too much weight during their pregnancies. The current guidelines suggest gaining 25-35 pounds, 15 pounds for the most obese women and 40 pounds for women with below normal BMIs. Doctors complain that these guidelines don’t take the nation’s obesity epidemic into consideration.

Carrying too much weight while pregnant increases the risk of complications for mother and baby, including birth defects, labor and delivery problems, fetal death and delivery of large babies, according to the March of Dimes.

A revision is long overdue, said Dr. Raul Artal of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

“The reality is for too long we are telling pregnant women to take it easy during pregnancy, be confined and to eat for two,” he said. “This has been one factor in causing the epidemic of overweight and obesity that we see in our country.” 

What do you think? Are the guidelines too lax? Do women these days let pregnancy eliminate healthy eating habits and exercise? Do the guidelines have a big effect on women’s weight gain, or does the body do what it feels best? How hard is it to control weight gain while pregnant?

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