To decline weighing

[diiidum]

I’ve just had my booking appt for my first pregnancy and I declined to be weighed and measured height wise. I am a healthy weight and size 10 and have an active lifestyle but don’t believe BMI is particularly useful. My sister was weighed and developed a bit of an obsession with the number on the scale and still has it to this day.

I came to this conclusion after research. Sara Wickham did a post about it recently on instagram, saying even if you had a ‘high BMI’ risk doesn’t usually change. At my appointment they were remarking on how low risk I was until that point but they said they will have to ask the consultant if they are happy for me not to be weighed, otherwise I’ll be high risk and might not get to birth where I would like.

WIBU here? If it’s a big deal I can always get weighed at the next appointment, that’s what I thought to myself. In the end they asked me to let them know what I was when I last weighed myself and then said I looked about that now, but they will note all that down and that I declined being weighed today.

I don’t want to be misinformed so doing lots of research on everything relating to pregnancy really, and reading all the books and internet sources I can.

Was I wrong to decline? Is there benefit to them working out BMI?

OP, the first indication of pre eclampsia for me, was a rapid increase in weight.

The only way the medical professionals could know this was due to being weighed at a previous routine check up.

Why set yourself up to potentially have a lesser standard of care, or even have a serious medical issue than can, and does lead to fatalities (both mum and baby)?

YABU.

OP, the first indication of pre eclampsia for me, was a rapid increase in weight.

The only way the medical professionals could know this was due to being weighed at a previous routine check up.

Why set yourself up to potentially have a lesser standard of care, or even have a serious medical issue than can, and does lead to fatalities (both mum and baby)?

YABU.

OP, the first indication of pre eclampsia for me, was a rapid increase in weight.

The only way the medical professionals could know this was due to being weighed at a previous routine check up.

Why set yourself up to potentially have a lesser standard of care, or even have a serious medical issue than can, and does lead to fatalities (both mum and baby)?

YABU.

It affects the interpretation of blood results so they will want your weight for that aspect

Thank you, you make a really good point. I think I am definitely going to re evaluate.

Be weighed but ask them not to tell you the number? They're usually happy to do that

BMI isn't outdated. It does the job. Clothes sizes are the iffy part here.

Just get weighed. They don't do it every appointment as far as I know anyway. I was under consultant care as I was slightly underweight and all was fine.

I wasn’t weighed for either pregnancy until a few days before the C-sections for anaesthesia purposes, midwife just asked me the stats at booking and other appointments 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m a healthy weight so I suppose she just visually appraised ‘not over/under’ and left it at that. It seems a bit OTT to flat out refuse it if it is requested but if you’re a healthy weight it’s unlikely to add anything significant to your care.

As a pp has suggested - get weighed and just tell them not to give you any of the information!

I’m going to! I realise I have been silly. I’m glad I posted

I think you were wrong to decline. It seems foolish to me to refuse to comply with non intrusive medical requests that even MAY help you to have a healthy pregnancy with a positive outcome for you and your child. Even if you believe it to be unnecessary nonsense, you aren't qualified to be certain, so why risk it? You can simply ask not to be told your weight if you would find that difficult to hear.

Not wanting to be a dick but OP said nothing about anyone developing MH issues around weight, but that her Dsis got a bit obsessed about numbers on the scale. Which millions of people do and it isn't the same as a MH issue or mental illness.

One of the reasons MH services have been SO screwed over in the last 15 years is that MH was promoted so hugely but with little context so 'mental health' was conflated with mental wellbeing, emotional wellbeing and very normal, common feelings or experiences were incorrectly pathologised.

Women being unhappy about their weight being concerned about numbers on a scale, obsessing over it and dieting is very (sadly?) normal in our society and not indicative of a MH issue or problem unless accompanied with several other symptoms that would suggest a mental illness.

It sounds like you were trying to be that patient, and you're the one who has made something really insignificant into something significant.

I believe unusual changes in weight during pregnancy can indicate problems, I got weighed at several different MW appointments - maybe all of them, IDK.

Just a thought: if your sister developed issues, what about allowing them to weigh you, but not telling you the number?

Just ask not to be told your weight. That's what I do and HP's accept this without comment.

You haven't been silly, it is entirely up to you whether to accept any of the care offered in pregnancy. Your midwife should explain the reasons for weighing and potential uses of the measurement so you could make an informed decision to accept or decline, not tell you nonsense about what the consultant might "let" you do.

My advice is to agree to be weighed but ask not to be told the figure. I stood on the scales backwards/didn’t look.

Thst way you don’t get fixated with it and they have the info they need.

My advice is to agree to be weighed but ask not to be told the figure. I stood on the scales backwards/didn’t look.

Thst way you don’t get fixated with it and they have the info they need.

My advice is to agree to be weighed but ask not to be told the figure. I stood on the scales backwards/didn’t look.

Thst way you don’t get fixated with it and they have the info they need.

That's exactly what I did.

I'm pleased you're choosing to reevaluate. There may be lots of things in pregnancy/life in relation to your health you feel are unnecessary or don't understand but they are done for a reason and not usually just because HCPs have time to waste.
FWIW though, I think I was only actually weighed once in each of my pregnancies, at the booking appts (all in uk within past 4 years).

It’s not nonsense though. When you arrive in labour the team look at your notes and examine you and make a decision about where you can birth. If they decide for whatever reason there’s a risk - even because there’s not enough info or something missing from the notes - then your choices reduce and there’s very little you can do in the moments (or will feel able to do) when in active labour. Depending on the personality and level of exhaustion of the consultant on the day you absolutely can get ‘computer says no’ and often there’s a really good reason (i.e. to walk out with a healthy baby!)

When I was pregnant standard practice in my area was not to weigh people at all because some women would skip appointments to avoid being weighed

OP, if you have some reason to feel you'll be negatively affected by being weighed then it's fine to refuse. I have a friend who used to be anorexic, never weighs herself or agrees to be weighed for this reason and for her it's a sensible decision. You're probably best placed to decide whether it's a sensible decision for you but I wouldn't assume it's likely to cause you problems just because it did for your sister.