If I eat a lot- will baby grow ?!

[Yelsgirl]

So I’ve tried to watch my weight more this pregnancy
Gained 4 stone in my first!! Gained 9lb upto now but had a growth scan yesterday that showed baby under 5th percentile
Is it likely if I let go abit more and indulge she’ll grow ?! Mainly cause I want to see growth before my scan next Monday I just feel useless !

The baby's weight may be affected by a severe restriction of calories, but if you're getting enough calories, I don't think eating extra will have a significant impact. What was said at the hospital?

I spewed throughout most of my pregnancy. Was 2 stone lighter on day son was born. He was 9lb x

I’m eating a normal diet I’ve just made sure I havnt binged like I did last time but now I just feel awful like I’ve done something wrong!

I have a scan on Monday to check fluid etc and then another growth scan the following Monday and then they will see how she’s grown. Apparently if she grows along the line they’re happy im just terrified incase she doesn’t !

You eating more will have no bearing over what weight your baby will be! Surely the hospital explained that ?!

Exactly what previous poster said.
Baby will take what it needs from you whether you eat 100calories or 100,000 calories. But babies don't come overweight from mama eating!

As the hospital said as long as she follows the same line then all is fine. Someone has to be on the 5th percentile. After all it just means out of 100 babies she would be the 5th smallest 😊

'your baby is not a parasite'that explains that mom gets all of the nutrition she needs and then baby gets the rest ..."If the supply is low, mom gets first dibs. In order to ensure the survival of the species, mother nature swings in favor of the mother- not in favor of the baby.... in fact babies can be born with vitamin deficiencies to moms who show no signs of deficiency."- WTE eating well.

As above from what to expect when you're expecting. I calorie restricted myself during my first pregnancy as the midwives kept being judgemental about my weight. At my 28 week growth scan DS was showing below the 10th percentile and the midwives were extremely worried. I went home and ate pizza, crisps, big bowls of cereal. But probably tripled my calories from around 1200 to 3000. At the 34 week scan they were no longer worried and DS was born 9lbs.
I deeply regret trying to "eat healthier" while pregnant. I swapped 1000 calorie pizza to 300 calorie salad, and while doing it for every meal it was a massive daily deficiency for me.
I don't know how many calories you are consuming now. But you take the calories you need, then baby has what's left.
Why would their be advice to up your calories in the third trimester if babies were happily fed first?

Yer I had HG in my pregnancy, admitted to hospital for very low blood sugar... baby born 91st centile! I don't think it's to do with what you're eating.

You're absolutely not useless!! Some babies are big and some are small... As long as they're happy on the scans I wouldn't worry :-)

Sorry MrsHopey but whoever wrote that that quote is completely wrong. Mums don’t get ‘first dibs’. The baby gets all the nutrition they need from maternal blood supply, it bears no relevance from how much you eat, as a pp said, they were sick so much that they lost two stone and still had a 9lb baby.
You can be really ill through pregnancy and the baby absolutely thriving. We don’t advise to increase your calorie intake in the third trimester, we may have many years ago, but now we don’t even reweigh women during pregnancy as a routine check after booking, as we no that it has no relevance.
Babies can have growth restriction due to problems with blood supply from the placenta, or placental deficiency, amongst other things.
OP you’ve eaten a normal, healthy diet, and that is what we as midwives want you to do. None of this is from anything that you’ve done or not done, it just sometimes happens, even if there’s no pre existing risk factors.
They’ll probably want to scan you for growth every couple of weeks to ensure that there is progress, and check the blood supply through the cord on the other weeks, and review you after each one.
Keep an eye on movements, and if you have any concerns at all , ring straight away to be checked, even if it’s 1am. You’re in safe hands, as they’ve identified an issue and can keep a close eye in everything now.

whoever wrote that that quote is completely wrong

interesting to see that the What to Expect books are just as rubbish as they were 20 years ago when I had my babies

and what pull said ^

I was going to say - that makes no sense at all!
Babies definitely take what they need.

Try not to worry about it. Try to get a good healthy diet with plenty of protein, whole meal carb and fruit and veg. Fats too, especially olive oil based fats and nuts. I don't think pizza and crisps is the way to go- it won't offer additional nutrients to you or the baby.

If you've eaten a normal healthy diet that's exactly what's recommended. The midwifes post above has hopefully reassured you that you've done nothing wrong at all, and the growth scans will let the health professionals see what's going on.

@MsHopey Whilst I'd agree that pregnancy isnt the time to go on a massively restrictive diet, there are healthy ways of eating that aren't crash diets so I'm not sure why you felt your only choice was to go on massive crisps and pizza binges? I mean we're all adults, we make our own food choices but don't perpetuate the myth that you need to absolutely gorge yourself and eat for 2. I never got told to eat any more during pregnancy. The extra calories in the 3rd trimester are about 200/300 which is a couple of bananas, not an entire pizza 😂😂

@Girlwiththearabstrap
I'm just talking about my experiences, I have an unhealthy BMI and my TDEE states i need to eat more calories than the average person to keep my weight stable, if I ate less it would mean I lost weight. Not everyone has to eat pizza, but i don't think advice like Baby will take what it needs from you whether you eat 100calories is something we need to tell expectant mothers, but I notice you didn't feel the need to point that out.
I am an adult, I made my choices, there's no doubting that.
I know it's only 200 calories in your 3rd trimester, that doesn't change the fact if they are advising you to up your calories than it is advisable to do so.
The pizza I have is a thin and crispy sweet chilli which is 800 calories, not a completely unreasonable amount for a full meal imo. And again, you're right, I'm an adult, so maybe think twice before talking to me like a child about my eating habits.

A baby WILL take what it needs even if you only eat 100 calories, it’s the mum that then suffers from lack of calories, not the baby. The advise isn’t to reassure anyone with any eating disorders, but women who have been ill with HG all through pregnancy can feel reassured that their baby will be ok.
Obviously women with low BMI’s, or a need to control a constant level of blood sugars etc, need to have a more prescriptive diet in respect of calories, but the vast majority of women only need to eat a healthy, normal diet.