When You Can’t Gain Weight During Pregnancy

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I came across a show on TLC recently that was documenting one woman’s pregnancy experience. I happened to turn it on just as she was complaining about how her 5”4 frame and 112-pound body could not seem to gain weight during her pregnancy.

At first I sarcastically thought, “Boy, that is a tough problem to have. She can’t gain weight.” But soon realized that this could be a big issue for some women as they carry their babies. Babies need to get the nutrition to grow and develop. I then sympathized with her concern and recognized the need to write about it.

Here is the problem: some women have a very hard time with morning sickness. This can limit the kind of foods that they can eat. Luckily, with my morning sickness, what pacified my nausea were foods like pancakes, bagels, and most bread items. As long as I could keep foods down, I had no trouble gaining a healthy amount of weight. (When you are eating bread items all day, that is no surprise.) Once the morning sickness months had passed, I was careful to limit those foods that had saved me in the beginning.

Sometimes the other issue is the position of the baby. As the woman on TV complained, she could eat very little due to the position of her baby in relation to her stomach. Meals and snacks couldn’t be anything heavy if she hoped to keep them down. As a result, she needed to be sure that she was packing as many nutrients, protein and vitamins as she could in light amounts of food. She explained that she made a lot of foods like her own applesauce and other things that really made her feel like she was preparing for the job of making baby food. I thought it was a brilliant suggestion for other women suffering from the same issue. Smoothies and pureed foods seemed to be the answers to her prayers and by making them herself, she could control what they consisted of. She followed her doctor’s instruction and had a healthy baby boy.

Sometimes just getting through the morning sickness phase is a big accomplishment. My doctor always told me that in the first trimester, he just wanted me to gain a healthy amount of weight and was not concerned that carbs were ruling my diet. When I was pregnant I tried to remember that I was eating for my baby and not for myself.

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.