pregnancy weight gain

[Mrs Mungo]

So, a friend of mine commented on another woman's facebook page. The other woman was upset because she is pregnant and her doctor said because she gained 8 lbs v. 3 in a week that she was a "fatty" and couldn't eat any more sugar *or carbs* for the rest of her pregnancy. Obviously, this doctor is completely stupid. But it led me to wonder-did you gain weight at a completely steady rate during pregnancy or what is considered a normal rate?

 

I'm 5'1" or so and weighed 95 lbs when I got pregnant with my eldest. I gained 25 lbs in the first five months. However, I only gained 5 lbs in the last four months. This is pretty much how all of my pregnancies went. I think I was so small that baby started to take up too much room for me to eat much.

[newbie]

I would be changing docs if he called me a fatty and but me on a diet.

 

I, like you was small for both, but I didnt have full on cravings or immense hunger, other than Carls Jr chicken sandwich.

[Mrs Mungo]

I would be changing docs if he called me a fatty and but me on a diet.

 

She was told by numerous people to switch doctors and report him. Hopefully, she'll listen. Lucky for him it wasn't someone like me because he would have been going DOWN.

[MyBlueLobsters]

I gained exactly 42 lbs with each pregnancy. Weird.

[myfatherslily]

That's terrible!!! Overall, I gained a very normal amount of weight, probably too little, considering I always started slightly underweight. But I recall having a weight jump somewhere around the middle. It's not always going to be exactly the same. That ridiculous.

[Lilymax]

I was overweight before each of my pregnancies, but only in the last one did any doctor say much about my weight. I'm thinking that must've been because I had gestational diabetes last time. In that pregnancy, I ended up gaining nothing until the very end, when I put on a ton of water weight. After the birth, I was 20 pounds lighter than when I got pregnant. I'm still right around that weight nearly 5 mos. postpartum. It's the first time I ended up with a net loss after a pregnancy!

 

With my first, I gained about 25 pounds. With my second, I'd lost 40 pounds before conceiving, then gained 65! That time, I gained 10 pounds just between the positive HPT and the first doctor's appointment! LOL

 

If I'm blessed enough to have a fourth, it'll be interesting to see how the weight issue plays out again. Hopefully GD won't be a concern, though I know if I've had it once I'm more likely to have it again.

[Karen in CO]

I voted other. :)

I'm 5.7. I was terribly underweight when I became pregnant with my first, my doc told me every time he saw me to gain more weight if I wanted a healthy baby. I ended at 160. With my other two, I was in my healthy-normal range at the beginning and ended both right on 160. So I gained 60+ with the first and between 30-35 with the other two and always weighed the same in the end.

[ereks mom]

My doctor told me I should gain 25-35 lbs. during pregnancy. ER was 5-6 weeks early, and I gained 17 lbs. with him. EK was 2-3 weeks early, and I gained 26 lbs. with her.

[Joker]

I was the opposite. I was so sick in the beginning that I lost weight. The dr. with my second dd told me I needed to gain x lbs by the next appt. or he would take action (whatever that meant) ~ so I switched dr.'s. I had two healthy babies and so did my bf who gained 50+ lbs. w/ all of her dc's. I think every woman is different and as long as they're eating as healthy as they can they shouldn't worry too much about the numbers.

[Heather in WI]

I gained 60 with my first, 25 with my second, and 35 with my third. I'm 26 weeks and have gained 17 so far this time around. Each time has been very different for me.

 

I hope she switches doctors.

[Truscifi]

I gained no weight at all for the first 5 months because of terrible morning (all day and night) sickness, then a few pounds in month 6, but then I developed gestational diabetes and gained almost 40 lbs in the last trimester. I had to go on a diabetic diet but was lucky enough not to have to take meds. And of course, ds was almost 9 lbs with apparently an abnormally large amount of amniotic fluid (the nurse's opinion). So I lost 19 lbs upon delivery.

[MariannNOVA]

I voted 'other'

 

DD 1979: gained 24 lbs (she weighed 7'15")

DD 1980: gained 18 lbs (she weighed 7'15")

DD 1999: gained 40 lbs (she weighed 7'15") (I know - weird, huh?)

Twins 2000: gained 52 lbs.....lost all of it by the time I left the hospital 5 days later; dd 5'9", ds 6'7" born at 36 weeks.

[Rosie_0801]

Well your friend's doctor is a nutjob. No carbs for the rest of her pregnancy? Is she going to knit the baby out of oxygen?

 

I wouldn't have a clue how much I gained with dd because no one ever weighed me. I lost weight while pregnant with ds, thanks to my horrible gestational diabetic diet. He grew of course, and came out at 8lb 11 and a bit oz, but I shrank.

 

Rosie

[HappyCrazyMama]

I did not start out small and always gained 40-50 pounds starting right away in the first trimester. I would be livid at that doc!

[hsmom3tn]

I checked the one that said "my pregancies were different", but my second pregnancy was more than one baby.

 

Oddly, though, I gained way too much with my first child (so much, I probably shouldn't say :blush:); and only 30 pounds with the twins. :confused:

[MelanieM]

I'm about 5'2" and somewhere around 125lbs when not pregnant/losing pregnancy weight. With each baby I gained 10 lbs almost as soon as the test showed positive. (It's like I get an extra layer of padding right away!) After that, it was steady gain of about 1-1.5 lbs a week, so I gained about 55-60lbs each time. After my first I went back to pre-pregnancy weight in 9mos, 4mos after my second (he was high needs so I danced around *a lot*) and I have about 5 lbs to go now after my third, who will be 8 mos this week. It naturally comes off, just as it naturally went on; I don't do anything special to lose it.

 

My very first OB gave me heck at one of my second trimester appointments, saying I should have gained half as much weight as I had put on that month, so therefore I needed to start eating half as much food. She never even bothered to ask me what I had been eating, so for all she knew she could have been suggesting I starve myself! (I wasn't over-eating -- I just happen to really get big when pregnant.) Thankfully she retired and I had a really lovely OB for the last of my pregnancy who didn't even think weighing in was necessary.

[WeeBeaks]

I can't honestly recall for my 3, somewhere around 25-40 pounds I think for each of them, and it was definitely in spurts not consistent smooth gain. And each one of them I was prepregnancy weight by 6 weeks postpartum, though honestly that is nothing spectacular as I run overweight to begin with.

 

Only this pregnancy has anyone commented. I have a brand new out of school midwife who states I have gained too much already and should only gain 4 more pounds the entire pregnancy ... um yeah I'm only 18 weeks along and she really expects me to only gain 4 pounds more? She wanted me to only gain 10-15 pounds this pregnancy. :glare: [i started at 165, heavy for me.] Thank goodness the other midwives in the practice are realistic people who actually have children. I'm not particularly concerned honestly because by my scale I have only gained 5 pounds so far, not the 11 they state (they weigh with shoes/clothing so what I'm wearing has a big impact).

 

Unless you gain like 100 pounds or something, I'm doubtful about the importance personally, especially if this is not her first pregnancy and she knows her own normals. Our bodies are different. As long as mama eats a reasonable healthy diet and was reasonably healthy beforehand I'm convinced baby will be fine most of the time.

[peachskittles]

I gained 50-60lbs each and every time I've been pregnant. That put my last pregnancy with me ending at 195lbs. :svengo: I'm only 5'3!! I lost all the weight the first 3 times though except for 5lbs. This pushed me into a healthy weight of 125. The last two times (and concidentally the only 2 times I breastfeed) I kept weight on. Started my 4th pregnancy at 125, ended at 180 and went to 145 when I got pregnant again. This time around I have only made it to 160. It still isn't budging. :glare: It needs to get away or I'm risking getting past 200lbs if I get pregnant again.

 

I have bigger babies though. Let's see, my boys were 10lbs 5oz., 8lbs 12oz., 11lbs 1oz, 10lbs 4oz. and 8lbs 6oz.

[Truscifi]

Well your friend's doctor is a nutjob. No carbs for the rest of her pregnancy? Is she going to knit the baby out of oxygen?

 

I wouldn't have a clue how much I gained with dd because no one ever weighed me. I lost weight while pregnant with ds, thanks to my horrible gestational diabetic diet. He grew of course, and came out at 8lb 11 and a bit oz, but I shrank.

 

Rosie

 

I agree she should switch doctors, but my OB gave me a choice when I was diagnosed with the gestational diabetes - no starches AT ALL (which is sometimes misstated as no carbs) or counting everything and doing the exchanges. I went for the exchanges but if I had to make the same choice again I would just cut out all starches. Much simpler. And I can't tell you how much it p***ed me off to know that 17 red seedless grapes equals one serving and that was my limit. I was a bit hormonal at the time too. :tongue_smilie:

[Kalypso]

I am 5'4" and weigh about 120. I gained 40-50 pounds with all 6 of my pregnancies. I seem to retain a lot of water. My doctor never said anything to me about it because I always lost it. If I was told that I was a "fatty" and needed to go on a diet, I would have found a new doctor.

 

I would not feel comfortable seeing a doctor who said that to me. WOW :glare:

[sassenach]

I don't know what a normal rate is. With all 4 pregnancies, I gained pretty rapidly in the last 10 weeks. I ranged between 25 and 40 pounds of weight gain. My lowest gain was also my 3 weeks early baby, so if you couple that with my rapid late weight gain, that pregnancy could have easily gone up to 35lb.

[Desert Rat]

I voted for gaining normal weight. I want to put a disclaimer on that though because I gained 35 lbs with my first pregnancy and he was born at 36 weeks. Had I gone to term, I probably would have gained more. With my second pregnancy, I started out at a healthier weight, went to 40 weeks and gained 32 lbs. The only time the doctor said anything with my youngest was at Christmas time when I put on 6 lbs in 2 weeks. He just said, "Well, we don't want many more weeks like that!" I agreed. I had the baby 7 weeks later and had no other rapid gains.

[Rosie_0801]

I agree she should switch doctors, but my OB gave me a choice when I was diagnosed with the gestational diabetes - no starches AT ALL (which is sometimes misstated as no carbs) or counting everything and doing the exchanges. I went for the exchanges but if I had to make the same choice again I would just cut out all starches. Much simpler. And I can't tell you how much it p***ed me off to know that 17 red seedless grapes equals one serving and that was my limit. I was a bit hormonal at the time too. :tongue_smilie:

 

You don't need to tell me how much that p'd you off because I know. And I couldn't even eat 17 in one sitting :) I had to go off grains at 27 weeks and exist on beans *sigh* Still, if the doctor had had his way I would have been on insulin straight away. I preferred to live on beans than do that, and luckily I was able. It probably wasn't hormones, it was probably Food Psychosis. I don't know if that is a scientifically documented syndrome but I know it exists because I suffered from it!!

 

Rosie

[bbsweetpea]

Unless there is a health problem I would switch doctors.

 

I started mine overweight and only gained about 10 lbs with each pregnancy. This means the minute I gave birth I weighed less than when I got pregnant. I LOVED being pregnant. LOL

 

I did have GD with all my pregnancies though and had to be careful what I ate. That had something to do with it (plus my thyroid actually works when I am pregnant).

[lotsofpumpkins]

I've gained between 45 and 50 lb with all 5 of mine. With my first, the doctor tried to put me on a diet once I had gained 35 or 40 lb (I didn't take his advice). After she was born I had dropped all of the weight within 3 months (thank you, breastfeeding!!!). With my next pregnancy, the doctor didn't say a word about my weight! I've always been able to lose the weight, though it has taken a bit longer each time. So, gaining "more than normal" IS normal for me! I tend to have large babies (biggest was 10 lb 13 oz), so that could be part of the reason.

[Jen in PA]

Both times I lost so much weight in the first half of the pregnancy that I spent the rest of it trying to gain that back. I gained 12 lbs. with dd (she weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz., born at 34 weeks), and 18 lbs. with ds (7 lbs. 1 oz. born at 36 weeks). I left the hospital about 20 pounds lighter at the end of the first pregnancy than I started it!

[LivingHope]

I am 34 weeks pregnant with twins. My main goal is to gain as much weight as I can because we are planning a home birth and need big babies. My midwife encourages healthy weight gain in all pregnancies. With my other six pregnancies I gained an average of 35 pounds. I avoid junk food and eat quality food meals, counting protein grams.

 

Janell

[KidsHappen]

My doctors were never happy with me. I was 5'7" and only weighed 100 lbs. when I got pregnant with my first and then I proceeded to lose 10 lbs. and it took me a long time to start gaining. I was also young so they were quite worried. Well, by the time I delivered the boy, I had gained 50 lbs. and then they were freaking out because I had gained so much and he weighed 9 lbs. (they were sure we both had diabetes).

 

That was my general pattern with each prenancy. I would start off by losing 10 lbs. and then not start gaining until about 5 months but then I would pack on the weight. I gained 75 with my second, 95 with my third, 75 with my 4th but only 10 lbs with the last two. Their weights respectively were 9.13, 10.7, 9.9, 10.7 and 8.8. In other words, their weights bore no relationship what-so-ever to how much I gained. But the doctors were never happy with me no matter what happened. I was always told 10 lbs. is too much to lose to begin with and with the earlier ones then I gained too much and with the last two not enough.

 

All of my kids are healthy and I don't think my health was in any way compromised by the pregnancies. The deliveried yes, but the preganancies no. My dd followed the same pattern only she lost a lot more weight (she was overweight to start with) and only ended up 10 lbs above her lowest weight. She delivered at less than she started and her and baby are both perfectly healthy 18 months later. Plus, she is still breastfeeding and I don't think she is back to her starting weight yet.

 

I don't pay doctor no nevermind. My doctor knows that too and yet he deals with me anyhow, amazingly well actually. He knows when to humor me and when to assert himself. I think my hubby has been giving him pointers. :tongue_smilie:

[dsmith]

I started my pregnancy at 165, and after giving birth I was 130. I felt so off balance after I delivered and that feeling lasted for a few weeks. Now if I could only get back to 140ish I'd be a happy mama!

[Dinsfamily]

I am 5'2" and have a small frame, but not underweight. I gained 55+ (refused to get on the scale after that) with my first, 37 with my 2nd (but I don't think I ate enough especially near the end...too worried about weight gain), and 42 (my healthiest pg eating and fitness-wise) with my 3rd.

 

My midwife was pretty nice to me with my first, but was worried about all of the weight on my frame. I refused to see a different midwife at my practice with my 2nd because she was pretty mean about my weight gain and I thought I was doing well. She was nice when I saw her at the end of my pg and great when she delivered my ds. I told my OB with my 3rd that I gain a lot of weight. I've done this before...don't harp on me about it. It comes off after the baby's born. She's (obviously) used to pg cranky pg women and didn't say a word. She was pretty amazed that I had no back pain with my pg considering my weight gain and it being my 3rd.

 

If I had an OB or midwife now that gave me grief about my weight (but knew that I was healthy), I'd smile and nod and not give it another thought.

[Tree House Academy]

I gained more weight than normal with both of my pregnancies. For the 1st pregnancy, I started out too skinny. I am 5'6" and was 105 pounds soaking wet. I weighed 155 at delivery. I gained weight over time and packed on the most pounds toward the end of the pg (which is normal).

 

With my second pregnancy, I started around 145lbs. I weighed 185 at delivery and had a hard time losing the weight afterwards (I did finally, though, but not before a YEAR had passed!). I gained weight a lot quicker with the second baby. I looked very pregnant by about 3-4 mos along. (it sucked!)

[PeterPan]

I gained 50 lb. both times, with babies almost 10 years apart. You needed a higher category on your poll options. :)

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I voted that I gained a 'normal' amount of weight but I might have gone a little over. I have a large frame, so it wasn't too bad, and I lost it fairly quickly each time. I tended to gain weight more quickly at the end, but had 9 1/2 lb babies (and was nauseous at the beginning, or I might have gained more and sooner)... All 3 pregnancies were roughly the same.

[Cera]

I didn't gain any weight in the first 20 weeks with baby #1 and gained 5 lbs in the first 20 weeks with baby 2. With number one I gained 18 lbs. and with number 2 I gained 21 lbs.

[Sandy in Indy]

I started out overweight with all of my babies. With #1, I gained about 40 lbs, with #2 I gained 15 lbs and with #3 I LOST 45 pounds. (I was sooooo sick I could hardly eat.)

 

My first pregnancy I had an OB that was weight-obsessed. I clearly remembered being "yelled" at because I'd gained 4 lbs at one point. Gee, I can gain that amount when I'm NOT pregnant! With #2 and 3, I had midwives. My experience was that they were much more concerned with nutrition than weight gain. That's a much healthier view overall, IMHO.

[dirty ethel rackham]

With each pregnancy, I gained 35 lbs by 8 months. I simply stopped doing the math after wards. I do remember a nurse giving me a big tsk-tsk when I gained 5 lbs in two weeks, but I didn't gain anything the previous 2 weeks. I ate very healthy with all my pregnancies - my midwife said my food diaries were models of how to eat. With my first, I started out at 125 lbs at 5'8". I lost all the weight after my first 2 pregnancies. Unfortunately, I am still working on the baby weight (or should I call it my thyroid/paxil weight) from my 9yod.

 

I think the obsession with pregnancy weight gain is ridiculous. The focus should be on what the moms are eating, not the numbers on the scale.

 

ETA: Oh, and the limiting how much to gain from now on??? that is just ridiculous. The baby's brain and nervous system are growing and maturing during that last trimester. The baby needs good food. Calorie restricted diets at the end of pregnancy are not healthy.

Edited February 19, 2010 by dirty ethel rackham

[Parrothead]

I got pregnant and my metabolism speed up. I gained 6 pounds, ate just about everything in sight, and had a 7.6 pound baby. I could have worn my jeans home.

[babysparkler]

I gained between 40-55lbs with my pregnancies. My OB was never really concerned, though, b/c breastfeeding helped it fall right off (well, most of it, anyway... I'm still working on that last 10lbs two years later:001_huh:).

[Melissa in Australia]

my doctor put me on a diet with my 5th. It was to keep the baby size down. It worked.

I wasn't overweight or anything.

[WiseOwlKnits]

I voted other. I lost 50 lbs. when I was pregnant with my DD. (Then I gained it back.) I lost 35 when I was pregnant with my DS. I had Hyperemesis Gravidum with both of them so I struggled to eat for the entire 9 months and was puking 20-30 times a day.

[m0mmaBuck]

At 5'5" and 130 lbs, spent the first 6 mos of every pregnancy vomitting so I initially lost weight 15-20 lbs and then ended up somewhere near my starting weight at delivery. The docs never said a thing. But if someone called me a "fatty," I'd be out of there!

[Crimson Wife]

My first pregnancy, the first appt. I got this huge lecture from the OB about how I was too skinny (I wasn't at 5'2" and 120) and needed to gain 45 lbs by delivery. He also did a really painful pap so I switched to a family practitioner. That doc said nothing about my 19 lb. weight gain. I lost all that plus an additional 10 lbs. by the time my oldest was 6 months.

 

My second pregnancy, I started at 110 and gained 29 lbs. I lost it all by the time my DS was 6 months.

 

My third pregnancy, I started at 112 and gained 32 lbs. I still haven't lost the last 4-5 lbs. and my youngest is 13 mos. :toetap05:

[Osmosis Mom]

Gained 70 lbs. at first pregnancy which was a whopper coming from someone who was around 118 lbs. Only gained this much with my twins, but otherwise 40-60 lbs. is expected. Gained only 22 lbs. with my third, though, but was feeling like fainting and anemic the frist year after due to breastfeeding. Right now I have gained more than 30 lbs. and I am 25 weeks. I tend to gain a lot initially since I eat when I have nausea to combat it.... Other than that, then I just gain weight by looking at food (not eating excessively at all actually).

[Caribbean Queen]

I gained 15 pounds, 25 pounds and 0 pounds with my three kids. I'll probably gain 15 in this pregnancy.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I lost 16 pounds with dd then 24 pounds with ds.

And then I gained a little back with each.

I ended up with a slight gain with dd and with a 19 pound loss with ds.

So I was WAY under a 20 pound gain.

 

But I heard they wanted NO woman to gain more than 25 and for most women, it would be fine to gain 15-20.

 

btw, I put I gained less but my daughter thought I should have put other.

 

Oh, another btw...my docs FREAKED. I was berated through each pregnancy. When I was in labor with dd, they were all giving me a hard time (no doubt, it didn't help I was so young). They said my poor child would be underweight because of me. She came out at 9 lbs 12 oz! My doc with ds gave me a lot of trouble about diet and such, however, we had a more advanced ultrasound that showed he'd be over 11 pounds if he made it to due date (not expected). So it wasn't about the baby, just that he had in his head that people are supposed to gain weight in pregnancy. Grrrr BTW, ds was 7 lbs 11oz 5.5 weeks early and on his due date was 11 lbs 6 oz :)

Edited February 19, 2010 by 2J5M9K

[kmacnchs]

The only time my Dr. said anything about weight (I gained 40 or so with each pregnancy but lost all of it withing 4 or so mo - big babies + big eaters) was in this last pregnancy when I gained 8lbs in 1 week. She asked me if I knew why - I did - stuff going on at home...but we just talked about what I could eat instead, when I could eat instead, etc. I knew what I was doing wrong but her look (and the look of the nurses) was PRICELESS!:lol::lol::lol:

[kmacnchs]

I tend to gain a lot initially since I eat when I have nausea to combat it....

 

That's me - I eat CARBS galore for those 3-4 mo I am nauseous b/c that is the only thing that will (sometimes) stay down. After that subsides, I gain the normal amount (more or less) but since I get a jump start on gaining, I always gain more (all-in-all) than the recommended amt. for the whole pgncy.

[MotherGoose]

I was a normal weight before both pregnancies, and returned to that weight within 9 months after birth or so. With my first daughter, I gained weight at a normal weight until the 3rd trimester, when the MD lectured me about gaining weight too quickly. I pointed out the indentations I could press in my legs from the swelling, but she didn't seem concerned. I figured that surely that accounted for some of the weight gain. The next appt., I got put on bed rest for preeclampsia because I had protein in my urine to go along with my ever-increasing blood pressure. With the bed rest, I lost weight because I lost fluid. So, if you get lectured about weight gain, make sure it's actual weight gain and not just fluid! Towards the end I just couldn't eat anymore because baby took up too much room. I gained about 30 lbs with both of babies, and I guess about 10 lbs was actual weight, because after things settled out after birth, I had about that to lose. My babies were tiny, 4.15 and 5.9

[Pajama Mama]

I gained over 70 lbs with my first pregnancy:svengo: I was 5' 10" and under 110 lbs. I was extremely skinny although I wasn't doing that on purpose. I think I gained 10 lbs in one month. My OB said to not do that again.

 

Honestly, I think I was underweight and my body needed to gain extra. After the baby I went down to 140 which was healthier than I had been before. I only gained about 20-25 lbs in my 2nd and 3rd pregnancies.

[Pretty in Pink]

I gained 50 lbs with my first, and exactly 28 lbs with my second, third, and fourth.

 

I am 5'4" and 95 lbs.

 

With each pregnancy (even the first) I gained no weight in the first trimester. With all but my first, I gained about a pound a week in the second and third trimesters.