“The teaching now is that pregnant women are to take what is convenient for them. We advise them that they should take much more frequent food rather than sticking to three times a day because the body has a way of adjusting for the needs of the mother and the baby in the womb.
He explained that there is no compulsion that they must eat, say tree bowls of rice, at a sitting, they only need to eat when they feel like eating or when hungry.
Though some women find themselves always eating continuously, Dr. Adekanmbi said that this was their body’s psychological response to increased hormonal levels of pregnancy. “Some will hate eating at this period and at the other end, some will want to eat as much as possible. So, it depends on individuals.
Dr. Adekanmbi explained that irrespective of why a pregnant woman is eating and then become overweight, this would lead to her having a baby that is also overweight. “At delivery of such big babies, the baby might be too bigger for the birth passage, they are prone to having birth asphyxias, as a result of poor oxygen to their brain during the period of child birth,” he declared.
Further, Dr. Adekanmbi said that because of the big size a baby, they could sustain injury in the course of being pulled through the birth canal or such mothers may end up having caesarian surgery.
Since many complications are associated with excess weight gain in pregnancy, Dr. Adekanmbi declared that it is always better to ensure they remain within the normal range. “There is a range we expect for a baby. It should be between 3 and 3.9 kgs at birth, any thing above that is termed overweight,” he stressed.
In the same vein, Dr. Bukola Fawole, a consultant obstetrician and gyneacologist with the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, said weight of a woman, whether in excess or below the expected amount, has a major effect on the outcome of any pregnancy.
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