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?

This is what I was thinking. I knew I was asked my weight for this.

YABU. I know one woman who has had an ED in the past and she weighed and asked her midwife to never tell her.

That doesn’t explain why not all hospital trusts have the same policy, nor indeed all countries. You can’t assume all procedures are actually beneficial. It’s important to use critical thinking skills in life and particularly in navigating pregnancy and birth. When I was pregnant with my first in the mid 90s one of my midwives said the bump was ‘measuring large’. She suggested I went in for an extra scan. I discussed it with my GP who said baby was a ‘nice size’ and reassured me. Weight isn’t really a useful indicator.

Yabu, glad you've changed your mind. BMI I'd very important for pregnancy, also knowing roughly how much weight you've gained each time you see the midwife is important if you're deemed to be in a high risk group. Just let them weigh you but don't look at the number yourself if you're worried about obsessing.

I feel like this is a classic example of dramatising. Surely medical professionals need your BMI during pregnancy for a host of reasons

As an older woman, I’m with the OP. With every interaction with the NHS, the scales come out. It gets annoying, gaslighty. Got a niggle? Let’s weigh you. Perimenopause symptoms? Step on that scale over there. Men aren’t subjected to the waggy NHS finger this way. Except, well, literally, when they hit 50 and have to undergo a finger-up-the-bum check.

I was lucky a couple of decades ago that I had a family doctor who asked me whether I wanted to be weighed. I put on about 4 stone in a pregnancy and it all came off slowly with breastfeeding. The reason for the weight gain was the increased insulin resistance that comes with pregnancy and the reason for the weight loss was because breastfeeding speeds the metabolism. Both normal and healthy processes. All mammals put on significant weight during pregnancy. I didn’t want the NHS telling me ‘oh you’ve exceeding the half pound a month maximum weight gain’. My doctor just used the old fashioned ‘Yes you look OK’. He was very experienced. I was also lucky that he had a policy if allowing new mothers of children under 1 to simply ring him up if they had a worry. He’s step out of whatever consultation he had to take a call. Those days are gone.

A couple of other facts - also normal to gain weight steadily over time. Older people are healthiest and protected from certain conditions at a BMI of around 27.

I put on about 4 stone in a pregnancy and it all came off slowly with breastfeeding. The reason for the weight gain was the increased insulin resistance that comes with pregnancy and the reason for the weight loss was because breastfeeding speeds the metabolism. Both normal and healthy processes. All mammals put on significant weight during pregnancy

Not 4 stone it isn’t. And yes but that weight should be the baby, sack and placenta, not actual fat. Obesity is extremely problematic, pervades every part of the body and is causing bad maternal outcomes for both mums and babies. Trying to brush it away with some flimsy explanations because it’s a bit embarrassing isn’t the answer.

Why would you be the same as your sister? You’re being awkward and this is not about you but the health of the baby. We all know BMI is outdated and doesn’t even take into consideration some ethnicities but yabu, imo.

I didn't think it was anything to do with working out your BMI anyway. Surely they weigh you to monitor that you are putting on weight healthily during pregnancy?

So much drama about nothing. Do you always operate like that? You are going to go barmy once the baby is here. Chill!

I've not rtft, so pardon of this has been said already.

I think it's shameful that weight during pregnancy is not monitored here. Bmi is an indicator of potential weight relayed pregnancy issues. But, also your weight gain can say a tonne about how your pregnancy was progressing.

Sudden or rapid weight gain to be a warning sign for pre eclampsia for example. Or gesrional diabetes. Plus many more I'm sure.

I was the one who kept on top on my weight throughout my pregnancy and from the second trimester was querying why on a second pregnancy I had only gain 3 kgs by 25wks. (I am average weight for a short ass. ) I was also classed as high risk due to previous pregnancy and delivery.

Low and behold, have my bump measurements done and I'm being booked in for growth scans. Baby was 5th centile and was dropping. Fluids, everything else was normal.

I firmly believe that if I was having my weight monitored properly this may have been averted or caught earlier. The amount of anxiety that it caused was unreal. On top of it all. I delivered early.

Just have your weight taken and realise that it's one of first things you'll be sacrificing for your baby. Those compromises and sacrifices will be on going throughout their lives.

Sudden or rapid weight loss is also an issue. It's not just about the amount gained overall.

Really good to see you’ve changed your opinion, and I agree with the poster that said you said you had researched it, but didn’t know the common things they look for with BMI and you don’t want to start being combative and you can pick bigger battles later on.

Midwife here, we use booking weight to calculate many things including medications and your risk of developing a blood clot (VTE) as well as to calculate your personalised grow chart so we can accurately plot the growth of your baby at your antenatal appointments. Women with high BMI will need growth scans as the SFH measurements are potentially less accurate, and may need further discussion around place of birth as intermittent auscultation is not always possible due to clients weight, this is not supposed to discriminate but it supposed to keep babies safe so we can monitor properly during labour. Women with high BMI are also at greater risk of developing things like gestational diabetes and would be offered additional tests for this, as well as potentially needing aspirin to help with placental function and fetal growth, reduce the risk of hypertension etc.

TLDR we use booking weight for lots of important things and whilst it is not compulsory to be weighed declining to do so makes it harder for us to safely care for you and your baby.