[laangel]

I was wondering if people had any information about the relation between the amount of sugar/ rubbish the mother eats during pregnancy and the size of the baby. I suppose I am a bit worried by my size already. I have a huge bump and have put on over 2 stone already. I don't think I am eating an excessive amount of rubbish by any means. I know I don;t exercise enough, but that's not been easy with m/s and then bad weather.
I guess I am worried as I had 2 relatively small babies, dd1 was 4lb 12 oz (she was 6 weeks prem) and ds who was 10 days late was 7lb 12 oz, and I feel soooo much bigger now than I was on either of them at this stage.
My midwife also mentioned something about this in my last pregnancy.
I wonder am I eating too much and too much junk (although I really didn;t think I was doing so badly). I worry mainly that this will be a big baby because I am haveing another home birth and I really don;t want to be transfered because of tearing or anything.
Sorry, this is a bit garbled, I think I'm feeling bad about my weight as I weighed myself this morning

and am shocked how much I have gained already, and my friend has just had a 10.5 lb baby and ripped her to shreds pretty much.
Any advice greatfully appreciated (apart from eat less junk, I guess I've figured that out)
Laurax

 

[cadejaxellamom]

I honestly don't know, but will stay tuned in because it is a great question. I haven't eaten much different with my past 3 pregnancies and my babies weights varied so much. My first was 1 week early and he was 7 pounds 7 oz, my second , also 1 week early he was only 6 pounds 15 oz, my 3rd was also a week early and she was 8 pounds 4 oz....but i was looking today at my belly pics for when I was pregnant with my daughter (the 8 pounder) and I am as big as now as I was at 25 weeks with her (I'm only 20 weeks right now). Although I am not planning a homebirth, I am also terrified that this little girl will be even bigger than her sister!

 

[Tiffanoodle]

I am not the picture of healthy eating in pregnancy. At all. This time I have eaten pretty much nothing but junk. All of my babies have been very average size. If they'd all been born on their edd's, they would have been about 8 pounds probably. dd was 10 days overdue and 8#14oz. ds was 6#10oz at 16 days early and dd2 was 7#1oz at 14 days early.

I think the only real concern for the size of the baby is if you have GD. As long as your body processes sugar okay, I think you'll be fine. I also think that because our bodies have the "been there, done that" thing, women tend to get bigger earlier in subsequent pregnancies. With #1 I didn't show at all until 6 months and this time I'm HUGE at 19 weeks despite not even gaining any weight.

 

[broodymama]

I ate the worst with DS (I spent weeks on bedrest, with nothing to do but lie there and eat) and gained the most weight with him, he was my smallest babe at 8 lb 3 oz. I ate significantly better with my girls and they were larger, DD1 was 10 lbs the day before her due date, DD2 was 9 lb 9 oz at 38 weeks.

 

[at_the_hip]

Not in my experience...although I assume if you have GD that may be the exception. If I gain weight it seems to go to my butt more than theirs!! LOL!!! I have big babies but it didn't correlate with how much I ate or gained.

 

[cadejaxellamom]

HAHA, the weight goes to my butt as well!!! My belly is probably kinda small compared to some at 20 weeks, but my butt is making up for it and is gigantic

but I have carried all of my pregnancies in my butt and thighs so far, so I don't know why I thought this might be different! I am only 5 feet tall, so i guess the baby has to go somewhere....i just wish someone would give them a map pointing to my stomach, and not my rear!!!

 

[Mamja]

I'm overweight already, because of my sweet tooth. With DD I didn't have the best diet. I was shocked when I didn't have GD. I was also shocked when she came out 6lbs 9oz! I had lost 8 lbs in the first trimester due to morning sickness. I ended up gaining 28lbs total, or 18lbs above where I started. Fairly average weight gain. I don't feel like diet played too much of a role in that pg.

 

[broodymama]

LOL, the weight goes to my rear too! I always say it looks like I'm carrying a "twin" in my butt. Gotta balance out the big belly somehow!

 

[Paige CPM]

Good questions. I think that you should empower yourself by doing a diet recall for a few days. Doing a diet recall means you write down everything you eat and drink...then you will get an idea of how much healthy food vs rubbish you are really eating. Now we all have to keep in mind that it is impossible to be perfect...I always say ice cream does have protein and calcium

. But in general you can get an idea of where you are at and then do some good meal planning to improve, or be proud of what you are doing!

I think also you have answered yourself by pointing out that you are not doing enough exercise. I encourage women try to at least walk 2 miles most days. And I totally recommend yoga for the mind body benefits, especially when preping for labor. Practically speaking I do not walk 2 miles every day but this pregnancy, much more so than my first, I am riding myself hard to make sure I do the elliptical 2 to 3 times a week, 3 miles a pop, and I am loving my yoga class 2x p/w. Hell I am going to have a toddler and a new born, I have to stay on top of keeping up my energy level (I am so amazed at women who have large families, they are amazing mothering goddesses in my eyes!!) But, I also have big motivation because I had pre-eclampsia with number one and am so determined to stay healthy, so that might make it easier to keep motivated. But for me the big challenge is always the eating part.

What I want to say too is about your belly comment...mama you are a multipara, and that means your uterus just pops out more easily because it is used to enlarging for pregnancy, so it is normal for you to show more quickly than some other mamas. You just get to show off your beautiful mamaness more quickly this time. And y'all know we are so genetically different, be fair! Personally, I am totally into it...because I have a belly no matter how fit I am, and the only time I don't is when the baby pops out, and that is beautiful. But I guess that just says so much about how even feminist leaning me buys into the flat tummy societal thing. Humm...

Oh and lets face it, pregnancy is a higher burden on your body and having to process more sugars is harder to do. Your pregnancy hormones can block the efficiency of insulin to uptake the sugar in your blood, which means those higher sugar levels are going to the baby, and can make the baby larger. For us mamas who do not have GD (GESTATIONAL DIABETES), this really, unless you are a big processed sugar eater, has minimal effect on the fetal weight over time. If you do eat a lot of processed sugars your chances of having GD are much higher. But, sugar, especially processed sugars, can also cause other issues in pregnancy...so the extra sugars in your blood supply can also increase your risk of a bladder infection(UTI) because the more sugar you pee out, the faster the bacteria can grow in your urinary system. Also, if you have any other infections, bacterial vaginosis, yeast infection, gbs, the increase in sugar in your blood can also feed them...so we all know the problems that these types of bacteria can cause...including tissue integrity which can effect the health of your vaginal tissue...and if it is poor, can sometimes cause more tearing at birth.

Exercise and sugars can effect health in so many ways. But remember mental health is equally important, be good to yourself, don't beat yourself up for not being perfect!

 

[neldabean]

I am so much bigger this time around I am 20 weeks today and have put on about 26 lbs a lot goes to my booty and thighs too!

I got so big so fast I thought I could be carrying twins, now I don't think that is the case. Just got big fast.

I also wanted to say that one of my midwives clients had a 13lb 4oz baby with not a scratch. With my smallest baby at 6lb 15oz I tore a little. I pushed hard and fast. With my last one I didn't tear at all and he was my biggest. I really think that it helps to push slow or not push and let your body do the work. Sometimes we over think things in labor not letting our primal instincts take over completely. Trust in your body.

 

[slsurface]

With my first DS I was extremely fit and exercised. I ate extremely well too...lots of high quality protein and fruits/veg. He turned out to be a pretty big baby, weighing 9lb9oz at birth and I ended up gaining a whopping 50lbs total. Thankfully, I lost half of that when DS was born and the other half by his first birthday.

This time I started at the same weight as with DS#1 in the beginning. I'm gaining rapidly - already put on 20lbs. However, my activity level has been much lower due to pregnancy complications (subchrionic hemorrhage & uterine prlapse) this time. In addition, I suffered from terrible morning sickness for three months...and oddly enough the only thing I could stomach was McD's bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches (I normally hate these). So I've been eating pretty terribly with this kiddo

. According to the U/s last week, the baby is in the 90th percentile for size. So It looks like another big boy! But I am inclined to think that this is due to genetics (everyone in my family has big babies) rather than what I'm eating.

FWIW, tearing is not all that bad. I had second degree tears from DS#1. I was stitched up and really, it did not take long at all to heal. HTH!

 

[laangel]

Thanks all, you have really set my mind at rest. I have a sneaking suspicion the weight gain may be down to this one being another little girl (we're team green), I put on masses of weight with dd and very little with ds, so we will see. My skin and hair are also a mess (so feeling great about how I look NOT!

) which was also the same with dd and not with ds.
Anyway, great comment about letting body do what it naturally wants to in labour and this helping not to tear!
Thanks again, L x