I’ve been meaning to write this post for over three weeks now, ever since I spoke to a pregnant mom about it.  ‘It’ being appropriate weight gain during pregnancy, a topic that seems to be a hot one for a lot of women.  I started writing about this last night but couldn’t finish because my baby woke up and needed to be held for hours due to a horribly croupy cough.  Not fun at all, but he’s getting better now, and that’s what mothers are for, right?

The woman I spoke to wanted to know what I thought a healthy diet for a pregnant woman looked like, but before giving her my answer, I asked her what she was eating.  She told me she had a good diet, and then mentioned that she hadn’t gained any weight at all in her seventh month.  I asked her where she got her food guidelines from, and she told me from someone she knew and trusted.  Someone who, she mentioned in an offhand way, wasn’t able to get pregnant when eating in that identical way (because it was a weight loss plan and didn’t provide enough fat for her to be able to conceive).  But the person who she turned to as an advisor felt that same plan that kept her body undernourished to the point she couldn’t conceive, was suitable for a woman growing a baby inside her!!  So, she wanted to know, what did I think?

After hearing the specifics of her diet, I told her my thoughts – that she was eating too little protein and too little fat, both of which are crucial at all times but especially during pregnancy, and the fact that she hadn’t gained anything at a point in pregnancy where it was appropriate was a sign that validated that she wasn’t eating enough. 

So how much should a pregnant woman gain?  I don’t think there’s a one size fits all answer.  Obviously the overweight mother won’t need to put on as much weight as the underweight mother.   I think what’s a lot more important than how much you gain is what your diet looks like, as well as quantities that you eat.  So instead of asking, ‘how much did you gain?’, I think better questions are, ‘Are you eating good quality food’, ‘Are you eating enough protein and good fats?’  Weight is sometimes a helpful monitoring device, but not used on its own. 

My current midwife has never asked me about my weight. She knows I have a good diet, and isn’t overly concerned about the numbers on the scale as long as everything else is looking good.  So far I’ve gained about ten or eleven pounds, and am six months along, which I think is reasonable for me (especially since I hadn’t lost all of my extra weight from my last pregnancy).  But every person is different, and I have a friend who’s my height but very, very slim, who gains 40 – 50 pounds each pregnancy, and that’s right for her.   I have another friend who gains a huge amount of weight but also loses 20 or more pounds within three days after the birth (not including the birth).  I don’t – whatever I lose is pure baby/placenta/fluids (with baby no. 6 and 7 I gained thirteen pounds, and that was exactly what I ‘lost’ giving birth), and the rest stays with me. 🙂

 In any case, pregnancy isn’t the time to diet.  It’s not the time to eat whatever you want and hide behind maternity clothes either – the day of reckoning will eventually come if you do!  But there’s a lot of room to wiggle around in between pigging out and dieting.

Since my strong belief is that fats and protein is crucial, I’ll post some links soon regarding those things that I hope will be helpful to pregnant readers.

Avivah