NYT: Pregnancy Weight Gain Predicts Child's Obesity

[meshaliuknits]

It's nice to see that my kids have SOMETHING going for them.

[Kattey]

This makes me feel better about having gained so little with DD. I'm obese, and my whole pregnancy I was so very worried about gaining too much and the complications my obesity would have. I lived healthier while pregnant than any other time in my life. I gained about 12-15 pounds, and asked my doctor on more than one occasion if I should be gaining more. She said I was healthy and not to worry. So far this pregnancy I've gained 2 pounds.

Since DH and I are both obese I really worry about our daughter. I don't want her to struggle with weight her whole life like I have. I want her to have a healthy relationship with eating. I feel better knowing I managed to give her a healthier start.

[msmerymac]

Is this based on your doctor's recommendations? What if your doctor recommends 0?

[IIOY]

Apr 17, 2014 9:53:18 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

i stayed within the range for obese women but i would think having two fatass parents is a better indicator for having a fatass kid than how much i gained in 9 months

This is what I would think, too.

[msmerymac]

Apr 17, 2014 10:05:37 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

Apr 17, 2014 10:04:07 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Is this based on your doctor's recommendations? What if your doctor recommends 0?

i dont think a doc would recommend 0. my doc was a weight nazi and even she said 10lbs. but NO MORE THAN 15!!!! ZOMG!!

I seriously think I have a friend who was told to try not to gain any weight. And I'm pretty sure she weighs less than I do (although she's short). She really did gain less than 10 pounds, but her doc made her cry on at least one occasion! I might be remembering this wrong.

[ringstrue]

Apr 17, 2014 9:49:12 GMT -5 @dontcallmeshirley1 said:

The effect was even more marked for women who were not overweight: in that group, gaining more than the guidelines indicate increased the risk of having an obese child by 79 percent, and gaining less than the recommended amount increased it by 63 percent.

Wut? So if you were no overweight and gained less than recommended your kid still had a 63% increase of being overweight? 


"Increased risk" just means its relative to the situation, right? So if your individual risk was 1%, then the mother's weight would up that to 1.63%?


I gained 50lbs in pg, not overweight before, and I don't think I've ever been told DD was "overweight". 

[Deleted]

I dont know how much I gained when pregnant. I stopped looking at the scale after I hit 50 lbs (in weight gain). I think that was at 36 weeks lol. My doctor made comment to me about it (mainly bc I gained nothing at all, actually lost weight, until 20 weeks, so I gained a LOT of weight in a pretty short period of time) and I was just like NOTHING HELPS! One time I had gone for an hour walk every day, ate healthy, cut out ice cream (my weakness), no chipotle (other weakness), and I gained the most in that 4 week period out of the whole pregnancy. so I was like eff this.

I'll let you all know how DS is doing in a few years.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Apr 17, 2014 10:04:07 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Is this based on your doctor's recommendations? What if your doctor recommends 0?

I don't think a doctor could recommend 0. You have to gain some weight to support a pregnancy. Plus, there's the weight of the baby itself.

[hopecounts]

Apr 17, 2014 9:53:18 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

i stayed within the range for obese women but i would think having two fatass parents is a better indicator for having a fatass kid than how much i gained in 9 months

I think it's a did the chicken or the egg come first issue.
in utero babies get the flavor/tastes of the food the mom is eating through the amniotic fluid so if a pregnant mom gains less weight she is likely (though certainly not absolutely) eating a more balanced diet of healthier foods for the most part, so kid gets used to that type of diet and naturally eats better because those are the flavors/foods they are used to and therefore has a healthy weight. 
So flip side is if a pregnant woman gains a lot of weight the diet is likely less healthy so the kid as it gets older is more likely to go towards less healthy food and be heavier. 

[Deleted]

Seriously though, I don't mean to make light of this article but there are so many factors in play here. the biggest one of course is the missing link. Is there something physiological that happens to a child in utero if their mother gains 70 lbs, that makes them more likely to be obese? Like, my mom does not have an off switch. She does not stop eating. She can eat a whole pie because it is in front of her. Is that habit, or is that something that was hardwired into her when she was still in the womb? so now we know that there is this effect but the cause is still not clear, and this is a situation where anecdotes abound.

[statlerwaldorf]

I was told to try not to gain any weight with this pregnancy and it would be okay if I lost a little, but I'm obese. I gained 5 lbs with my first pregnancy, but that ob wanted me to gain 10-15. I'm 29 weeks now and haven't gained any yet.

Although it is a little interesting since my mom gained a lot of weight with me, but didn't gain as much with my two brothers. I was obese as a preschooler, but they were not.

[pt716]

DH's mother was not overweight and did not gain a lot of weight during pregnancy with him. He and both his parents are now obese. Anecdote!

[Velar Fricative]

Well that's just swell.

DD is 15th percentile for weight though and I know she eats a ton, so maybe my shitty metabolism plus DH's shitty metabolism combined to give her an unshitty metabolism?

Anecdotes!

[eponinepontmercy]

ANECDOTE: My mom lost weight when she was pregnant with my sister, and she's the only one of the three of us that doesn't have a weight problem. I don't know if she gained weight with my brother or me.

[josieposy]

Twins. Bite me.

[anastasia517]

Well, my mom gained 22lbs with me and the people doing this study would have thought I was a chunk if they only looked until I was 4. But by my 5th birthday I was skinny and have since been considered underweight. I'm sure there are others who follow the pattern, which they wouldn't know if they cut the study off between the ages of 2 & 5.

[decemberwedding07]

Apr 17, 2014 9:53:18 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

i stayed within the range for obese women but i would think having two fatass parents is a better indicator for having a fatass kid than how much i gained in 9 months

My parents are both bigger people and I've always been skinny, while my sisters have always had weights within the normal/healthy range. We were all fed the same things that my parents ate growing up.  I think it's just the luck of the draw.  I drew my maternal grandmother's weight, so I'll just likely never have a weight problem, regardless of whether or not the rest of my lifestyle is healthy (it currently is).  My sisters both have to be careful of what they eat and exercise regularly or they will gain weight.  I really hate that there's so much parent blaming that goes on when it comes to weight, because there's so much we don't know about all the factors that influence weight. 

[thatgirl2478]

With DD I gained 70 lbs. I was at the top end of my weight recommended range when I got pregnant. DD is 3 and just broke 30lbs... My mom didn't gain more than 20 lbs the whole time she was pregnant with me and I am overweight. Though, legitimately I own it and know it was caused by MY LIFESTYLE CHOICES and not genetics. Now, the fact that my fat seems to enjoy hanging out on my thighs, that's genetic.

[Deleted]

Apr 17, 2014 10:24:14 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

Apr 17, 2014 10:04:07 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Is this based on your doctor's recommendations? What if your doctor recommends 0?

I don't think a doctor could recommend 0. You have to gain some weight to support a pregnancy. Plus, there's the weight of the baby itself.

Anecdote alert: My SIL just had a baby last month and she was at her pre-pregnancy weight when she went into labour. She had been overweight (not obese, though) to start and her body just shifted weight rather than gaining. The baby was healthy and normal sized.

[kimibrighteyes]

Apr 17, 2014 10:37:35 GMT -5 josieposy said:

Twins. Bite me.

Different ranges are used for women with twins.  There are less data on the optimal weight gain for multifetal pregnancies or for women who are severely obese.

This is from the Institute of Medicine (2009) :
Women who are pregnant with twins are given provisional guidelines. Those in

the normal BMI category should aim to gain 37-54 pounds; overweight women, 31-50

pounds; and obese women, 25-42 pounds.

[Deleted]

Apr 17, 2014 13:04:56 GMT -5 @dontcallmeshirley1 said:

Apr 17, 2014 13:02:02 GMT -5 @canadiandrone said:

Anecdote alert: My SIL just had a baby last month and she was at her pre-pregnancy weight when she went into labour. She had been overweight (not obese, though) to start and her body just shifted weight rather than gaining. The baby was healthy and normal sized.

Wow. Did she lose 20 lbs after birth? 

Didn't ask, so not sure. She did gain weight in the second trimester, but then lost weight in the third. 

[hopecounts]

Apr 17, 2014 13:07:32 GMT -5 @dyermaker said:

What about the psychological aspect of learning unhealthy food behaviors from a mom that gained too much while pregnant and probably doesn't want to stay that way? I think there are biological and social influencers at play here.

This would also fit women who gained less then the recommended weight having overweight preschoolers.
They likely do not have a healthy relationship with food or had something like HG which can make it hard for them to get back to eating normally after months of constant throwing up again leading to poor modeling of healthy eating habits. 

[Deleted]

Apr 17, 2014 10:04:07 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Is this based on your doctor's recommendations? What if your doctor recommends 0?

I know I barely have any experience but no guidelines that I've ever read or heard discussed by doctors recommend gaining 0. So I can't think of a situation where this would be the recommendation.

[epphd]

This is very confusing. I totally own that I gained too much - probably 60ish pounds. I had a normal BMI to begin with and lost all the weight (plus some, thanks cancer!) after Sam was born. But I also had pre-E and HELLP, so I'm fairly certain that had something to due with the weight gain. Sam has always been super slender, so I guess we dodged some really weird statistical findings.

[josieposy]

Apr 17, 2014 13:15:55 GMT -5 kimibrighteyes said:

Apr 17, 2014 10:37:35 GMT -5 josieposy said:

Twins. Bite me.

Different ranges are used for women with twins.  There are less data on the optimal weight gain for multifetal pregnancies or for women who are severely obese.

This is from the Institute of Medicine (2009) :
Women who are pregnant with twins are given provisional guidelines. Those in

the normal BMI category should aim to gain 37-54 pounds; overweight women, 31-50

pounds; and obese women, 25-42 pounds.

I was just being a PITA, but this actually makes me feel better.

[epphd]

Apr 17, 2014 10:18:17 GMT -5 ringstrue said:

Apr 17, 2014 9:49:12 GMT -5 @dontcallmeshirley1 said:

The effect was even more marked for women who were not overweight: in that group, gaining more than the guidelines indicate increased the risk of having an obese child by 79 percent, and gaining less than the recommended amount increased it by 63 percent.

Wut? So if you were no overweight and gained less than recommended your kid still had a 63% increase of being overweight? 


"Increased risk" just means its relative to the situation, right? So if your individual risk was 1%, then the mother's weight would up that to 1.63%?


I gained 50lbs in pg, not overweight before, and I don't think I've ever been told DD was "overweight". 

Yeah, there is no way that I can make sense of this. If you gain more, your kid is more likely to be obese. If you gain less, your kid is more likely to be obese (but just a little less likely than if you gain more).

Any stat wizards because.... I don't follow :/

[epphd]

And another thing: the title of this article is completely misleading:

Pregnancy Weight Gain Predicts Child’s Obesity

No, no it doesn't. Pregnancy weight gain might be correlated with risk of obesity but IN NO WAY does it PREDICT obesity.

[barcelonagirl]

I guess i was underweight to start and gained 50lbs + with my son and 40 something with my daughter. My chart said obese. I didn't eat junk and let my body do what it needed to. I was back to prepreg weight 9 months after my son and 5 months after my daughter.

Different bodies need different things. As long as you're not eating crap of course.

[hopecounts]

Apr 17, 2014 14:04:54 GMT -5 epphd said:

Apr 17, 2014 10:18:17 GMT -5 ringstrue said:

Wut? So if you were no overweight and gained less than recommended your kid still had a 63% increase of being overweight? 


"Increased risk" just means its relative to the situation, right? So if your individual risk was 1%, then the mother's weight would up that to 1.63%?


I gained 50lbs in pg, not overweight before, and I don't think I've ever been told DD was "overweight". 

Yeah, there is no way that I can make sense of this. If you gain more, your kid is more likely to be obese. If you gain less, your kid is more likely to be obese (but just a little less likely than if you gain more).

Any stat wizards because.... I don't follow :/

What the stats are saying is that if you gain more or less then the recommended amounts your child has a higher incidence of obesity. Which means if you gain within the recommended limits your child does not have an increased risk.
So for example if an avg BMI woman gains under 37 lbs or more than 54 lbs according to this study her child is at an increased risk of obesity as a preschooler. But if she gained 37-54 lbs they have no increased risk.
Again I think this points to an issue with her relationship to food more than any real effect from the pregnancy. 
Anecdotally my Aunt-in-Law who has some food issues gained less then the recommended amount with each of her pregnancies and all 3 of her children were pudgier as toddlers and preschoolers, once they were in school and in greater control of their own food intake they all slimmed down. It's an anecdote but fits the study.

[ttt]

So between this and the antidepressants article, EVERYTHING YOU DO IS WRONG, MOTHERS!!