If expectant mums put on the pounds, so do the kids

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

NO WONDER America has a growing weight problem: its children are being condemned to a life of obesity while still in the womb. According to two new studies, overeating by expectant mothers is an important but overlooked factor in the inexorable expansion of the nation's waistlines. More alarming is the conclusion of one of the new studies, from a team at Harvard Medical School, that even women who follow official advice on how much weight they should gain during pregnancy may be priming their children to become obese.

But the Harvard team, led by Matthew Gillman, and another group led by Andrea Sharma of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, decided to investigate the effect of weight gain during pregnancy. Last month in Toronto, Canada, they told the third International Congress on Developmental Origins of Health and Disease that the children of women who put on a lot of weight during pregnancy were particularly prone to obesity.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825284.300

[rpbear]

I have a hard time thinking that it is just the weight that mom gained durring pregnancy that is making these children overweight. These woman that gained excessive amounts of weight durring pregnancy probably don't have the best health habits and are passing these on to thier children and that is why the children could be overweight. I have seen some very obese mom's have 6 lb baby's and some very thin mom's have 9lb baby's and vise versa. I think the obsesity rate in these children from the study has much more to do with lifestyle than pregnancy wt gain IMHO.

Molly

[SmilingBluEyes]

I think it may be true.....the pancreas is being set up in the womb----lots of high sugars and insulin resistance in mom definately produces a child whose pancreas is working OVERTIME in womb, as well as the first day or even several, after birth.

....and many more women are being seen ALL THE TIME with GDM and Type 2 diabetes-----I would not be surprised if there IS a link there. Although I also agree with the above poster, lifestyle has a lot to do with obesity rates in us all, children and adults.

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

This is a very interesting article. I share the same thoughts as Deb.

[krisssy]

I had three children. I gained 50 pounds with each child. But I started out very thin, and lost it all after they were born. When I got pregnant with my second child, I weiged under 100 lbs. I am 5'4''. The dr. said not to come back if I didn't put on weight. I remained thin for their entire lives, and I made healthy meals for them always. I never once had soda in the house-just loads of Tropicana orange juice. To this day my kids, who are adults, are very thin and eat very healthy. They very rarely eat any cake or cookies-never did. So in my case, my weight gain made no difference at all. Funny because they were underweight as children, and the doc said it was me and my husband's thin genes. lol Krisssy