Studies by the US Institute of Medicine recently discovered and updated the pregnancy weight gain limit of women around the world. This was done to ensure healthy mothers and children through mass awareness.

While gaining weight during baby’s fetal growth stage is quite normal, experts now suggest that too much could introduce a number of health risks in mothers. Recent guidelines for prenatal weight management are based on body mass index and body weight before pregnancy.

For women with BMI less than 18.5, the recommended pregnancy weight gain bracket is around 12.5 to 18 kilograms. Women with BMI range between 18.5 and 24.9 can gain 11.5 to 16 kilograms. BMI up to 24.9 is considered normal by experts while anything between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight.

Would-be mothers in that range should only gain between 7 and 11.5 kilograms. However, obese women, who have pre-pregnancy BMI of 30 and above, should limit their weight gain between 5 and 9 kilograms.

Experts like Clare Collins, Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics suggest that most of the weight gain occurs after the first trimester of pregnancy. This analysis has come together with the help of Sian Robinson, Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Southampton and Conjoint lecturer at University of Newcastle, Jenna Holis.

Their article for The Conversation states that would be mothers who suffer from morning sickness and night sickness are less likely to make weight gains. However, some women who had a healthy BMI before getting pregnant also ended up gaining too much weight. In fact, their study on UK women concluded that first time pregnant mothers tend to gain more weight than others.

All of these data were analyzed to ensure would-be mothers’ awareness about the harms of pregnancy weight gain. It might entail chronic diseases like blood pressure and diabetes and even result in complications during the time of birth.

In fact, excessive pregnancy weight gain might be linked to children becoming obese during teenage or adulthood. To avoid all of this, women should keep track of their diet habits, follow a wholesome food plan for their growing baby and avoid excessive weight gain for a healthy birth.