Maternal perspectives on gestational weight gain: Critical information on developing weight control interventions

Abstract

Background:Our aim was to demonstrate what women reported being counselled about weight gain in pregnancy, their perceptions of inappropriate gestational weight gain (GWG), and plans for weight gain in pregnancy.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional survey of perceptions of prenatal attendees about inappropriate GWG was conducted at the prenatal clinic of a referral tertiary health facility in south western, Nigeria, between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013. Primary outcomes were the perceptions of women about risks involved with inappropriate weight gain and the proportion of women who self-reported being counselled at all on GWG, and had the right knowledge of risk(s) involved with inappropriate weight gain during pregnancy.Results:Of the 348 women who completed the survey, approximately four-fifths (82.8%) reported GWG being discussed at all by health care provider. Fewer women (29.3%) believed there were maternal risks with excess weight gain compared to inadequate weight gain (34.8%). With respect to perception of risks of inappropriate weight gain to infants, 23.65 and 18.4%, respectively, believed there were infant risks with excess and inadequate GWG. Overweight women [OR 0.39 (95% CI 0.16-0.98)] and those who received GWG information from more than one type of health care provider [OR 4.71 (95% CI 1.64-13.78)] had significant increased rate of correct knowledge of risks involved with inappropriate GWG.Conclusion:The lack of awareness of risks involved with inappropriate GWG by over half of respondents underscores the need for improvement in educational intervention on GWG in our environment.

Are women in Uganda gaining adequate gestational weight? A prospective study in low income urban Kampala

“…Furthermore, less than 50% of the Ugandan women attend four quality antenatal visits [5]. Besides in other developing countries it has been observed that more than 50% of the women who come for antenatal care are not counseled on specific weight gain for their pre-pregnancy BMI [16]. This means that the majority of pregnant women in Uganda do have minimal access to interventions that address maternal malnutrition since this is part of the antenatal care package [4].…”

“…In developing countries, a bigger proportion of pregnant women do not receive advice from health professionals about appropriate GWG [15]. Health professionals’ advice about specific or range of weight gain may be limited by their lack of awareness of the well-documented guidelines [16]. There is little information is available regarding GWG in Uganda and our study aimed at determining the proportion of women in low income urban Uganda who gain the needed, less needed or more of the needed weigh in pregnancy.…”

Programming maternal and child overweight and obesity in the context of undernutrition: current evidence and key considerations for low- and middle-income countries

“…However, none of the obese mothers perceived themselves as obese ( 13 ) . In contrast, 32·0 % of the overweight mothers perceived themselves as overweight, and those who perceived themselves as overweight were more likely to gain the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy ( 13 ) . A qualitative study in Egypt found that women were not aware of and had no concept of appropriate gestational weight gain due to a lack of counselling by health-care providers ( 14 ) .…”

“…One study, conducted in Nigeria, found that 40·1 and 35·4 % of mothers were classified as overweight and obese, respectively, according to pre-pregnancy BMI ( 13 ) . However, none of the obese mothers perceived themselves as obese ( 13 ) . In contrast, 32·0 % of the overweight mothers perceived themselves as overweight, and those who perceived themselves as overweight were more likely to gain the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy ( 13 ) .…”

“…In Nigeria, receiving information on gestational weight gain from multiple health-care providers was significantly associated with increased levels of maternal knowledge on risks of inappropriate weight gain ( 13 ) . However, although 57 % of Nigerian mothers were counselled on the risks associated with excess weight gain, many mothers were not aware of the recommended amount of weight gain during pregnancy ( 13 ) . In Egypt, women were also not counselled on weight gain during pregnancy and had little understanding of the appropriate amount of weight gain ( 14 ) .…”