Do you or your midwife make a big deal on the weight you put on while you are pregnant ?

[Summerfruit]

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I was weighed once at my booking appointment and then never weighed since. I don't weigh myself either. Now I have had the baby I just measure my weight by each week seeing if I can get into the larger of my pre pregnancy trousers. (The answer is not yet but I'll keep trying. It's only been 6 weeks.)

Sorry to divert the conversation a bit.
I realise that the original question, from Summerfruit, was re the midwifes view on weightgain....

but I don't think it is just midwifes who are pre-occupiued with this.

It seems to be across the board, a 'general trend'.

Yesterday, I was with 3 of my friends who I met at Post-Natal-Group. All three are pregnant witht their 2nd child.

All three were moaning that they hated being "fat".

I felty like screaming : "You are not fat, you are pregnant".

I didn't say anything. But inside, I HATE hearing that. I don't know why. Not that I care whether anyone is fat, anyway.

But I particularly hate it when normally skinny people complain about being fat, when infact they are actually pregnant.

I don't know why I hate this so much.

Sorry for my irrational rant.

It just grates me so much.

Why can't people just enjoy pregnancy and accept that their bodies are changing for a reason?

Unless you put on a serious amount of weight , that could jepodise your health, I don't think any doctor, any midwife , or anyone should make any comment about weight gain during preganancy.

Why exactly is it, that we are so obsessed about it ?

I don't get it.

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i agree Oblamov- i loved being all round and pregnant, and i'm looking forward to it again. when else can you get away with eating pie and chips at your desk in the office, with your feet up, at 37weeks?

Seems to me it is not only women themselves who are obsessed with pregnant women's weight 'gain' but the public at large (there's another thread called 'why does everyone think it's alright to tell me how big I am?' I think it's under Pregnancy).

I am 33 weeks now and can't go out without someone commenting on how MASSIVE I am and asking 'how long? REALLY? OMG!' etc etc.

The implication surely is that I or the baby are just TOO BIG.

I am thinking of telling everyone that I am in fact bigger than any pregnant woman surely has a right to be, and am going on a diet as of now. Might that shut them up??

I am terrified of gaining as much as I did with my first pregnancy. I ganined almost 5 stone!! It was awful, I didn't realise I was getting so big.

I am now only 6 weeks pregnant with my second and I have already gained 4 pounds. I am really watching what I am eating this time but the weight is piling on again.

It took me 2 years to lose all my baby weight and I just don't want to have to do that again.

any advice is so appreciated...

My GP is obssessed with weight - weighs me every appt and panicked massively when i didnt put any on between about 12-18 weeks (put on tons in the first 12 tho ) and suggested baby was not thriving.
However scan showed it's fine and my midwife said this was total rubbish, weight tells you nothing useful at all so m/ws have stopped weighing anyone.
Now 28 wks with bump so huge everyone keeps asking if its twins - so have concluded weight gain varies massively at different stages and isnt worth worrying about!

Oh. God. I could rant for hours about this. I am british but live in Spain. My midwife was pleased enough with me up until my 20 week check. Until to my 16 week check I had put on about 2kgs but in that month my weight shot up by 5 kgs! It was quite a growth spurt but it was clearly all in my stomach as I hadn´t had a bump before and suddenly - BANG!

Anyway, she has told me off on every subsequent appt, to date at 31 weeks I have put on about 11kgs which i am perfectly happy with. Apparently I am only supposed to put on 12kgs in the whole pregnancy but I say bollocks to that. And I know from MN and RL friends that in UK you are rarely weighed. Last time I went she and I almost came to blows over it... not so great if you want an easy time with your MW.

I think it´s absolutely ridiculous to make such a fuss over something when there is no other indication of a problem i.e. blood pressure, swelling, blood sugar level etc etc.. all of which are fine in me so far. She has tried twice to put me on a diet until I more or less told her to shove it.

What´s more, after the last visit I went to see my (british) GP and he told me I was fine and had nothing to worry about. I hate my midwife

Had v 'neat' bump.

Was very fit thru pregnancy -- still runnin to 22 weeks and walked 5k 2 days before giving birth to a 6lb9oz dd ... which took just 7h and without pain relief.

i ate healthily the whole time -- with muffins as treats!

Still gained 49lb. Although i was about 14lb underweight for my height before getting pregnant.

Lost 28lb within 3 weeks of that (inc baby of course).

So now I have I guess 14lb to go to return to a healthy weight ... plan to do that by end of May when dd is 9 mo.

I think exercise is key to gain and loss.

It is about respect for your body -- in both directions.

I put on at least 2.5 stone with DD1 (gave up weighing myself after 8 months!) M/W and GP didn't mention my weight, or weigh me, once. DD1 was 7lb 12. I put on only 1.5 stone with DD2 (having lost the original 2.5 stone in between DDs) and DD2 was nearly 10lb. I don't think weight gain matters, unless it is so excessive as to put your health at risk. Tell the French MW/GP we are more advanced than them in the UK and don't weigh pregnant women any more, that will really piss them off.

I made a big deal of it, but I put on FOUR STONE!!!

I thought that was rather a lot

happy to say however that 5 months later it's almost all gone and I'm comfident that by the time i stop BFing (not in a hurry) it'll all be gone.

So I'd not worry about it...

lol colditz, i too was a lost cause!!!! i was careful with my food during pg but certainly didnt obsess about it. but then i never had done perhaps its time that i did!!!! x size zero here i come........

My BMI was within normal limits from the beginning to the end of the pregnancy and I was weighed every week by my GP and every meeting with my obstetrician and repeatedly told I had to stop gaining so quickly.

Was told at scan how rise in weight in general is making ultrasound difficult ... especially in younger mums (cos I was ickle for a while).

It isn't the weight gain per se that bothers me ... but the can't-win media sensationalisation of women back to size daft within weeks ... just NOT healthy for body ...

Moderation, exercise, realism, respect.

I put on 3 stone (from 9.5 to 12.5 stone at 5'5''), over a stone of that was in the last 6-8 weeks of pg. Two stone melted away in the first few weeks after giving birth, I retained so much fluid I could barely move my fingers by the end of pg so a lot of it just sweated out. I think about 7 lbs was extra fat, and I am gradually loosing the last of that now. On a slightly related subject, did any one see that Dr Alice Roberts programme last night? - apparently poor sleep contributes to obesity. So I blame DS's terrible sleep habits on the way my body is hanging on to the last 5lbs!

Regarding the weight and size of baby question. I lost, yes lost, almost a stone of weight during my pregnancy and my baby was very big when she was born. She was six weeks premature and almost 6 lbs, the midwife reckoned she'd have been 10 lbs had she gone full term. Scary prospect considering I am only 5'5'' and now weigh seven and a half stone. I was down to under seven stone when baby was born, not very nice. lol I guess she ran out of space.

I should add that I ate normally during my pregnancy and still lost all that weight. I don't know why but I think it was stress as I was suffering badly from SPD.

The only comment I got was at my six week check after delivery and the doctor said it was a good idea to lose baby weight before I got pregnant with the next one, but not to think about it while breastfeeding. I thought that was sensible advice.

A few months of skipping booze, sensible eating and a bit of jogging and its gone now - god what we have to go through to have babies!

I was weighed at first booking-in appointment only. Never again after that. I wonder if the health care professionals visually assess and don't weigh you if you look to be regaining pre-form naturally?

All 7 of the mums in my NCT group are practically within 10lb of healthy pre-preg weight with babies at 20--23 weeks and most of us still breastfeeding.

We should applaud sensible weight loss.

I wish we could learn to value our bodies as WOMEN rather than feel pressurised into an androgenous shape that is really only suitable, attainable and healthy for pre-pubescent girls!

Physically we are built to grow, nurture and be able to look after children. That requires strength, muscles, fitness hips, boobs, some extra fat should illness challenge the stores! Not bones and no-buffer zone!

Aesthetically -- over and over we learn of about the atavistic attraction of the waist-to-hip ratio and that men prefer 'summat to grab'.

[sigh] ... we hear, but we don't listen!

I'm in France too, and during all 3 of my pregnancies I was weighed monthly and told that recommended gain for a normal weight woman was 12kg. There was a chart on page 1 of my pg medical notes file to plot weight gain with the instruction to consult your doctor if you deviate from the given range...

The French are indeed obsessed with it.

Donnylass you are a wise woman, what you say is true however I have not and never will grow to love my overhang belly

i know!!!!!!!!!!!!

i can talk the talk

but ooooooooooh why sis my ass get so big!!!

I think it's b*ks, I lost a kilo in the 1st trimester(from pg test to 1st scan) with DD and was roundly told off by moody obsterician doing scan eg; you are endangering your child etc! Then went away duely ate scones,ice cream etc, next scan had gained 7 kilos was told oh thats a bit much isn't it. BTW DD was (and is) a lovely average weight 7lbs15. Next time i am refusing to be weighed as i say it's bks.Each woman has her own perfect pattern of weight gain for her and her baby.