BMI and AND

On second thoughts i may be putting this in the wrong section, Im sorry, please move if thats the case. :S

This pregnancy Ive had issues. I'll be honest.

But what I have noticed is that the hospitals obsession with the good ol' BMI puts more women at risk of developing ante natal depression. This entire pregnancy the hospital and my ob has focused rather rudely on my weight, how much I weighed before pregnancy, how much weight I put on during pregnancy and of course my weight loss plan once I have given birth. The pressure of this is crazy. I find out a few appts ago that I needed to gain more than 20kgs before I had to be transferred to another hospital. but for most of the time my ob had told me I couldnt put on more than 2kgs.

But the whole focus on weight because of this whole BMI thing cant be good for pregnant women. And the more I think about it, it really can be a trigger for AND. yet one of the signs of AND is that a woman doesnt put on weight, or she loses it. No interest in eating etc...

It sucks how much pressure there can be.

I was weighed at my first OB appointment (I went private) and then never again, so I was pleasantly surprised. Especially as I developed GD, I thought I'd get weighed every appointment to check I was on track.

I tend to ignore the BMI a lot of the time, as my sister is tiny (5 foot 2) and slim, and she told me once that she was 25 on the BMI, close to being 26 and overweight... I looked at her and thought either she'd have to be rake thin or lop off a body part to get any lower on the BMI scale.

My OB refuses to weigh her mamas to be because she knows most of them would freak out at the weight gain especially by the end of the pregnancy. She also believes there are far better ways of monitoring a pregnant woman's health.

Also the BMI is widely considered by many professionals as a very imperfect method.

when i was PG with DS i was told that the hospital i was booking in to wouldn't take me because my BMI was too high. i was in tears in the carpark, feeling like i was a bad mum & had failed my child & i was only 16 weeks PG. luckily i was transferred to a tertiary hospital who weighed me once & then never mentioned it again. i think if there had been pressure or comments on top of the referral, then i would have been at real risk for AND.

My ob weighs every visit :/ I'm lucky I've stayed at pretty much the same weight so far (I'm 26w) it does get me a little anxious though.

I'm really sorry for the pressure you are feeling. All you should have to do is worry about getting through your pregnancy happily and healthily. Yes weight is a factor and no you don't want to be putting on excessive amounts but you should not be made to stress about these things.

2kg is rediculous!!!! In my opinion anyway. I am a relitively small person and i put on 17ish kg each pregnancy. A lot of it was baby and i managed to loose it once i was able to think about myself. Months after baby was born.

And not sure if it'll make you feel any better or not but even before children when i was going to the gym and exercising all i liked my BMI was always high. It's just me.

Just focus on being healthy for yourself and your baby. Try (i know it's hard) to block out those silly Dr's and nurses :)

I totally agree. I missed my last drs appointment because I was worried I had put on weight and the pressure to not put on any weight had caused me so much stress that I would rather avoid the appointments than get myself and my baby checked. How bad is that :(.

I was never weighed at all (I had a private OB) he asked me how much I weighed at my initial consultation (and I am overweight) and never did again. I was surprised but glad!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's so stupid how much pressure revolves around.weight. I am the opposite; im underweight n ppl look at me like I don't eat and they.aren't afraid to ask. Along with that comes the assumption that I cannot birth my baby cuz I'm small or that im weak n easily intimidated. I think they expect my baby to be sickly n undernourished. I'm happy to say I disproved all of those things....n I gained nearly 20kgs with ds n I was still on the low side of ' normal' weight according to bmi. I think if u can stay confident in yourself then they will see u are in charge n capable of being great :)

Sorry it was a vague initial post.

As of last week I was still .5kg below my pre-pregnancy weight. But I had also put on 3kgs in a fortnight. So since the beginning my pregnancy I have lost 8kgs, but then put it back on, but Im still below my pre pregnancy weight.
I was scared to think what would happen if I put on more than 2kgs. Then I find out that was just a scare tatic to get me to lose weight. Problem is that this enitre pregnancy I have focused on my weight, guilted myself for enjoying something I have craved. Last fortnnight I decided to enjoy my pregnancy and I gained weight and got the look of hell from my ob. Mind you I still have 20kgs to gain before they send me to the other hospital. And I have 2 weeks left of this pregnancy.
I have done so much hating of myself through out this pregnancy because of my weight, and its caused issues, I have not let myself enjooy being pregnant.

It worries me that so many drs are focusing on this idea of weight gain, yet one of the big indicators of AND is lack of weight gain, and yet the medical profession's insistence on focusing on weight is creating a situation where more and more women have to be at risk of AND. That scares me.

I have major issues with the BMI including the fact that the chart itself it very antiquated not unlike the charts once babys are born in the health centre books.

Due to the BMI I have had several interesting appointments with the OB and midwife(through the hospital) I have a medical condition it's called Hyperemisis Gravidarum (pardon the spelling) Now as a consiquence I vomit excessivly and have trouble holding food and fluids and ultimatly end up in er on a drip to replace fluids.

Not my last two appointments but the one before I got a lecture from the midwife about starving myself as I had lost weight (common side effect of HG) actully I had lost 10kg. Not because I didn't want to eat just that I couldn't keep anything down. (Really it's not nice and I'm still having some trouble) The lecture was long and unnecessary. She wouldn't listen to me about the HG and didn't even look at my notes. Although handing her the latest note from the hospital that I was addmitted to(different hospital) was pure joy but she never once said sorry for the lecture.

I am doing better than I was and have gained 2 kg back :dance: from the 15kg I have lost over all. This pregnancy I had excess weight to loose so I don't get what all the fuss was about. pre pregnancy I was a size 2o and so out of proportion with my height. What I'm struggling to deal with now as in my other pregnancys is finding what maternity size I am due to the weight loss I am no longer a size 20. Size 16's are too big but 14's too small. Sigh nothing is easy:doh:

Hi luv.

I think most people know of the issues I had during my recently pregnancy in relation to BMI.

In keeping it short let me tell you this. You have rights. You can refuse any treatment they offer even if they disguise it as a must- for instance monthly scans, repeated glucose tests. You can even refused to be weighed!!! (unless they need to know your weight if your having an anesthetic)

My first pregnancy which was in 2010- I wasn't even weighed throughout the whole pregnancy. In fact my BMI wasn't even discussed. 15 months later I was back again with DD2 and the same weight and practically everything was about my BMI. Policy had changed apparently- I commented to my ob that my vagina hadn't changed and therefore neither should the care I receive. I refused to see him, I refused his bulldust 'compulsory" ultrasounds and stupid weekly bloodtests and I refused to let such a crapola attitude ruin something special and beautiful. oops...sorry..abit of a rant there :rofl:

Anyway, do what feels right for YOU. Talk to someone you can trust...any midwifes that you like? Stay focused on Sprout and a big :nahnah: to the rest :hug:

xx