Word: mothering
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Times have changed. Today, nearly two-thirds of American women of childbearing age are overweight, and one-third qualify as obese. An abundance of research suggests that weight gain before and during pregnancy increases the risk of several serious health complications for both mother and child, including diabetes, hypertension and birth defects...
...National Academy of Sciences, could have gone even further in its recommendations for overweight women. Dr. Raul Artal, a professor of obstetrics at St. Louis University's School of Medicine, believes that more attention needs to be paid to the long-term health risks of maternal obesity for both mother and child, and that these concerns are far more important than any gestational weight-gain chart. Artal runs a clinic specializing in obese and overweight pregnancies and has found that, under the close guidance of dietitians and physicians, about half of his oversize patients put on little to no weight...
Failing to adhere to the IOM's recommendations could increase health risks for both mother and child, Rasmussen says. Women who do not gain enough weight during pregnancy face an increased risk of stunted fetal growth and preterm delivery. But more commonly, women put on too many extra pounds: approximately 40% of normal-weight and 60% of overweight women gained excessive weight during pregnancy, according to a study published in March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; one-fourth of obese women gained more than 35 pounds, the recommended limit for women of healthy weight. (Watch TIME...
Studies have linked obesity and rapid weight gain during pregnancy to a higher risk of gestational diabetes and hypertension in the mother. And because most women fail to shed all their pregnancy fat, the additional weight can lead to an increased risk of postpartum obesity, along with elevated risks of heart disease and stroke. Babies delivered by obese women tend to be born bigger, earlier and by Cesarean section. And many studies suggest that a mother's gestational obesity predicts later weight problems in her offspring. One recent study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School found that among nearly...
Rasmussen emphasizes that physicians must do more to counsel individual patients about diet and exercise both before and after conception. "Traditionally, these guidelines concentrated on what was healthiest for the baby," Rasmussen says. "Here, we've spent much more time looking at both the mother's and the baby's well-being...