Average weight gain during pregnancy
Doctors generally recommend that a woman of average weight, who's having an average pregnancy, should gain no more than 10-12kg over the 40 weeks as shown in the chart.
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About 3-4kg of this is for the baby and the rest for the baby-support system (placenta, amniotic fluid, increased blood, fluid, fat and breast tissue).
Most women put on very little, if any, weight, during the first trimester, abouth 450g-1kg a week between months four and eight, then very little, or none at all, in the last month. A slow steady gain like this means that your body can adapt more easily to your increasing size, and your baby is provided with a continuous flow of nourishment.
Empty calories
- Any form of sweetener - and this includes white and brown sugar, golden syrup, treacle, and artificial sweeteners such as saccharine and aspartame.
- Sweets and chocolate bars.
- Soft drinks, such as cola and sweetened fruit juices.
- Commercially produced biscuits, cakes, pastries, and pies, as well as jam and marmalade.
- Tinned fruit in syrup.
- Artificial cream.
- Sweetened breakfast cereal.
- Ice cream and sorbets that contain added sugar. Freeze fruit juice or puréed fruit instead.
- Savouries that contain sugar, such as relishes, pickles, salad dressings, spaghetti sauces, mayonnaise, peanut butter, and many others - read the labels.
- Pregnant women used to be advised not to eat peanuts or peanut butter, but the latest research has shown no link between a mother eating peanuts and her baby developing allergies. However, if you're worried about any particular food in pregnancy, don't eat it - have something else.
Posted 16.11.2010
See more in the dossier: Healthy eating in pregnancy
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