New Mothers' Views of Weight and Exercise

Abstract

Purpose-To describe the attitudes and preferences of ethnically diverse new mothers on weight and exercise of women like them.Study Design and Methods-Exploratory, qualitative study. Forty-nine ethnically diverse women were interviewed during the first year following childbirth regarding beliefs about weight, choices of exercise, walking for exercise, perceived benefits, barriers, and facilitators of exercise. Content analysis techniques were used to analyze the data.Results-Weight was a significant concern for women, although the importance varied by race. New mothers reported that they would like to weigh less, and they endorsed walking for exercise. Common barriers to exercise were children and time constraints; health problems were also seen as a barrier to walking as a form of exercise. Scheduling the walk, and having a walking partner were factors which women said would facilitate walking for physical activity during the first year post childbirth.Clinical Implications-Since new mothers perceive walking a good form of exercise, nurses can use this information to help them plan a daily walking schedule to aid in weight loss and control postpartum. Nurses should also encourage new mothers to look for a walking partner, especially another new mother or a friend, to help them continue their physical activity during the first year after childbirth.

Maternal Stress, Physical Activity, and Body Mass Index During New Mothers' First Year Postpartum

“…However, neither of these studies focused on new firsttime mothers. As the most common inflection point for women becoming overweight has been their first live birth (Davis et al, 2009), weight management interventions need to be focused on new first-time mothers (Groth & David, 2008). Our findings support the idea that reducing maternal stress is key to facilitating maternal PA and further suggest that an intervention to facilitate weight loss should directly address parenting stress in new mothers, in addition to nutrition and PA.…”

Physical Activity Beliefs, Barriers, and Enablers among Postpartum Women

“…Fatigue is a reasonable concern, given sleep issues, 46 and physical activity may help return feelings of energy. 12,43 Health issues were reported less often than expected. At 3 months postpartum, only 5% of women reported being physically ill or unable (including medical limitations or depression), and 3% reported nursing issues.…”

“…Several studies have noted lack of time as a barrier to physical activity postpartum. [41][42][43] Child care issues have also been reported, 43 and in one study, those who reported child care as a barrier were more likely to be insufficiently active at 6 months postpartum. 15 Encouraging walking, with the baby in the stroller, may be one way to overcome this barrier and may be a promising transitional activity.…”

Stages of Change in the Trajectory of Postpartum Weight Self‐Management

“…Cultural and social value placed on ideal weight also influences 38 body image perceptions. White and Hispanic women place a higher value on being at a healthy 39 weight than do Black women (Groth & David, 2008), and postpartum women of high 40 socioeconomic status selected a thinner figure as their desired figure than did women of medium 41 and low socioeconomic status (Shrewsbury et al, 2008). 42…”