Has anyone lost 12% of their body weight in the first 10 weeks?

[kerinadeen]

I'm currently 10+2 with my first child and have eaten barely a thing since week 6 which I understand can be pretty normal. However, I'm also struggling with fluids. I've never been a huge drinker and drinking enough is really hard, due to nausea, although I'm trying for the health of me and our baby. The sickness and nausea has been bad, but I know I'm not alone here.

I started out at 130lbs at week 4 and stepped on the scales today and was 114lbs which is 16lbs lost in 6 weeks.

I spoke to my midwife a couple of weeks ago and she didn't seem concerned about my rapid weight loss, but I'm just so weak and exhausted, I wondered if anyone else had experienced such extreme weight loss too? I'm over the moon to be expecting, but being pregnant is so not fun right now!

Close - I'm 12+4 and have also lost 16lb so far (10% of my body weight) and am struggling with fluids too. I was getting concerned about it but had my 12 week scan on Friday and everything's fine with the baby - in fact I was measuring 3 days ahead of where I was supposed to be by my LMP date.

I'm still waiting for my sickness and desire for liquids to improve, but my appetite has picked up a little over the past week and a half, meaning that while I am still losing weight, it's coming off less quickly now.

Phew! It's nice to hear the same from someone else. It does make you worry when you're not sure you're getting enough nutrition and water for little one.

Glad to hear that everything was ok with baby and also that your appetite is improving.... I was a real foodie before pregnancy... I can't to sit down and enjoy a proper roast dinner!

Yes, definitely - like you, I'm a first-time mum so it's hard to know what's normal / what to worry about. I loved food before getting pregnant too - I'm trying to keep in mind that I used to eat a lot of junk, so some of the weight I've lost would probably have come off anyway (i.e. if I wasn't being sick and was eating normal amounts, just more healthily). Are you taking a pre-natal multivitamin? That helps put my mind at ease a bit. Also the fact that soup is one of the foods I can manage - hopefully that helps somewhat with keeping my hydrated.

What kind of drinks do you have? I find it hard to consume large amounts of water, but everything else seems to contain either lots of sugar or sweeteners that haven't been proven safe in pregnancy. I think that's half my problem - I could drink more if I could find something more appealing!

If you're still struggling with sickness and nausea I'd talk to your doc about cyclizine.

I haven't lost as much as you but being underweight I went straight to my GP when I hit 5% loss of my bodyweight as I'd lost that in more or less 3 days. In my case they put me on anti-sickness medication as they were going to have to admit me if I didn't stop the weight loss. For me sickness peaked at around the stage you are at now so give it a couple of weeks and it might start to ease up. I'm almost 15 weeks now and I stopped being sick every day (but still 3-4 times a week) since 12 weeks but the nausea has almost completely gone.

Just eat what you can, I know how it feels to no longer be able to tuck into a full meal - I'm now eating child sized portions and snacking lots to make up for the smaller meals all in the name of preventing retching at the dinner table. It's important to stay hydrated though, I found when water just wasn't doing it for me lemon juice drinks (they were good as a rare treat for me on the really bad days) and fizzy water were quite good at reducing the nausea.