Healthy Living in Pregnancy
Healthy Living- Nutrition
Eating well and maintaining a healthy body weight are among those healthy goals we must have to live well - whether we are pregnant, lactating, or at any time in our life.
A new food pyramid was released in January 2005! It sits on a foundation of daily exercise and weight control. There is a heightened awareness that these are key factors to ensuring your chances of staying healthy.
From EAT, DRINK AND BE HEALTHY by Walter C. Willett, M.D. Copyright c 2001 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., NY.
Check out this link below to view the new pyramid:
Harvard School of Public Health Food Pyramid
Your nurse-midwife can also help review a three day diet history with you to help identify any areas for improvement. She can also refer you to a nutritionist if you need more assistance. Please bring your recorded diet for three days, including snacks, meals, and beverages, to your next appointment for her to help you evaluate what you are eating, if you wish.
Healthy eating helps ensure that the baby will have a healthy birth weight and will not be born with infections or other problems, reduces the risk for premature birth, builds up fats and fluids for use during breastfeeding, and reduces the risk for complications during pregnancy. It is also important that women continue to eat well after the birth, especially if the baby is breastfeeding.
Exercise regularly and consistently. You should exercise at least three times per week. If you exercise more frequently, alternate hard and easy workouts.
Exercise is now a part of the food pyramid! If you are essentially healthy at the start of your pregnancy, we encourage you to exercise. Your midwife and you will determine if there is any health factor that may affect your ability to exercise. At your first prenatal visit, we will determine with you whether what you are doing is safe and healthy during pregnancy.
3-5 days/week of aerobic exercise for 30-45 minutes/day is ideal. Some of the best exercises during pregnancy include yoga, swimming, walking, and water aerobics. Many women do these and other forms of exercise such as running, land aerobics, pilates, weight lifting, and elliptical training. Sports where the pregnant woman may fall are contraindicated while she is pregnant - alpine skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, water skiing, and horse-back riding are some examples.
STOP exercising and consult your Nurse-Midwife if you experience any of the following symptoms during exercise:
Pregnant women should NOT exercise to exhaustion - STOP when you are fatigued. |
An excellent source for determining your ideal body weight:
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm
Knowing your BMI helps you establish the range of weight gain that would be recommended while you are pregnant. Consult this chart after determining your BMI. This will help you have an understanding about how much weight gain would be the healthiest for you during this pregnancy.
Weight Gain
Pregnancy is no time to diet. Every woman is different, depending on body type and weight before conception, but most women who deliver healthy babies gain about 25 to 35 pounds or more during pregnancy. Women who are underweight prior to pregnancy should gain a little more, and overweight women, a little less.
Every woman’s body is different, and determining how much weight a woman should gain is an estimate. The following table provides recommended weight gain based on a woman’s body mass index (BMI) at the beginning of the pregnancy. Body mass index measures the weight-to-height ratio and is calculated by dividing weight (measured in kilograms) by the square of height (in meters). A normal BMI ranges from 19.8 to 26. For example, a healthy weight for a woman who is 5’5” is between 119 and 156 lbs.
For women whose BMI is normal, the recommended weight gain over the course of the pregnancy is 25 to 35 pounds. Women who are underweight, or have a low BMI, should gain more weight, and women who are overweight, or have a high BMI, should gain less.
|
BMI (kg/m2) |
Recommended Weight Gain |
|
Low (BMI <19.8) |
28-40 lb |
|
Normal (BMI 19.8-26) |
25-35 lb |
|
High (BMI 26-29) |
15-25 lb |
|
Obese (BMI >29) |
15+ lb |
Pregnant women should consult a physician or midwife if they have questions about how much weight they can expect to gain on a week-to-week basis during pregnancy. Generally, little weight is gained during the first trimester (3 or 4 lbs.). The most weight (about 12 to 14 lbs.) is gained during the second trimester. In the third trimester, a woman should expect to gain about 8 to 10 lbs.
Weight Gain Guidelines
Why Gain Weight
Some women dread the thought of gaining weight. It's important to realize that normal weight gain during a pregnancy is not laying down as much maternal fat stores as one may think. The following table points out how those important extra pounds are distributed.
|
Breakdown of Your Weight Gain | ||
|
Baby |
7.5 lbs |
3.4 kg |
|
Placenta |
1.5 lbs |
0.7 kg |
|
Amniotic Fluid |
1.75 lbs |
0.8 kg |
|
Uterus |
2.0 lbs |
0.9 kg |
|
Breast Tissue |
1.0 lb |
0.40 kg |
|
Increase in Maternal Blood Volume |
2.75 lbs |
1.25 kg |
|
Fluids in Maternal Tissues |
3.0 lbs |
1.35 kg |
|
Maternal Fat Stores |
7.0 lbs |
3.2 kg |
|
Total Average |
26.5 lbs |
12.0 kg |
Gaining too much weight can be a problem as well. It can make pregnancy an unpleasant experience, causing backache, leg pain, varicose veins, and fatigue. It may lead to hypertension and diabetes. Excess weight may also be difficult to lose after delivery.
Excessive weight gain may also cause problems for the baby. Technically, an overweight baby is one who weighs more than 4500 gm, or 9.9 lbs. Large babies may make vaginal deliveries difficult, increasing the risk for cesarean section. Overweight babies may have an increased risk for health problems later in life (e.g., obesity, adult rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes).
Women who are gaining too much weight during pregnancy should follow the guidelines for healthy eating: avoid foods that do not have nutritional value and consult your midwife or dietician.
Vitamins
We recommend all women take one prenatal vitamin or multi-vitamin per day throughout their lifetime. During pregnancy, a prenatal vitamin provides essential vitamins and minerals that may not be present in her diet, especially supplementing folic acid and iron. If pills are hard to swallow for you, chewing two children’s chewable vitamins with iron may be substituted. With vitamins more is not better! Stick to one per day.
