How Mom's Post-Baby Weight Affects Your Baby

Mom should be extra cautious on their weight during and after pregnancy, not just for looks but for the welfare of their children. A new study revealed that moms who gain too much weight during pregnancy or after giving birth are more likely to have overweight children.

According to Action News, doctors are already aware that moms who gain a lot of weight during pregnancy are more likely to have overweight children. But surprisingly, even new moms who gain weight after delivery are also likely to raise overweight kids.

"We already know that women who gain a lot of weight during pregnancy are more likely to have overweight children, but it is surprising that women who gain relatively much weight after pregnancy are more likely to have overweight children, as well," said Lenie van Rossem of University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, according to The Globe and Mail.

The report claims that excess weight during pregnancy is also associated to an increased risk of Cesarean sections, spontaneous early delivery, and babies who are larger than healthy at birth.

Although the ideal gain weight during pregnancy varies across women, based on the Institute of Medicines guidelines, most women at a healthy weight prior to pregnancy should gain weight between 11 kilograms to 16 kilograms during pregnancy.

The researchers studied a group of 3,367 children born in or after 1996 in Netherlands. They found out that those with mothers who gained too much weight during pregnancy are likely to be overweight themselves.

At age 14, children with mothers who gain an excessive weight both during and after pregnancy had the highest risk of being overweight, according to the researchers on their report to the Pediatrics.

The report suggests that mothers gained an average of 13.7 kilograms during pregnancy and almost one-third of them gained "excessive" weight.

Among the reasons pregnancy weight gain is associated with childhood weight are genes , lifestyle, and intrauterine programming, Rossem said.

"As the prevalence of childhood overweight increased very fast over the last decades, genetics can hardly be the only explanation," she said. "If (the mother) eats a lot of sugar, for example, this passes through the placenta and the fetus' metabolism responds to this diet. After birth, the child is programmed with a certain metabolism."

Jihong Liu of the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia is encouraging women to manage their weight, citing that physical activities are feasible for most women until delivery. There is no need for a marathon, but a short walk or swimming should do.

"Weight management is very important for women before, during and after pregnancy," said Liu. "It has the potential to break the vicious cycle of weight-related health issues in women and their offspring."