PREGNANCY-WEIGHT GAIN

According to Swedish researchers a gain of even one pound weight in between pregnancies for women, can significantly increase their chances of stillbirths or infant deaths.

The researchers also said that losing weight after first child goes a long way in mother not losing the next baby due to her own overweight.

The data comes from around 450,000 women registered with Swedish Medical Birth Register. The researchers specifically looked at the risk of stillbirth or infant death for women who gained weight between their first and second babies.

In all, mothers whose Body Mass Index or BMI went up by about 4 units or more, were 50% more likely to give birth to stillborn babies and faced 29% higher infant deaths when compared to their normal weight counterparts.

BMI is a measure which is widely used across the world when weight of an individual is the issue.

Reducing weight for overweight women helps

Professor Sven Cnattingius, the lead researcher of the study from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said: ”The public health implications are profound.”

”Around a fifth of women in our study gained enough weight between pregnancies to increase their risk of stillbirth by 30-50%, and their likelihood of giving birth to babies who die in infancy increased by 27-60%, if they had a healthy weight during their first pregnancy,” he said.

It was also found that overweight women who managed to reduce their weight in this period also reduced their chances of facing the tragedy.

The women who lost at least 6 kg before their second pregnancy improved their chances of giving birth to healthy and live baby by 50%.

”The prevalence of overweight and obesity in pregnant women has reached epidemic levels. More than half of women in the USA and one in three women in Sweden are either overweight or obese at the start of their pregnancy’” said the study’s co-author Professor Eduardo Villamor, from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in the US.

He added that it has now become very important to educate women on maintain a healthy weight and lose excess weight before they plan to get pregnant to help in reducing infant deaths and stillbirths.

Other experts from the field say that every woman who wishes to plan a pregnancy – whether first or second – should plan to reach a healthy weight by structured weight-loss program.