Was there a correlation between your weight gain and size of baby?

[okinawama]

I know that sometimes that one really seems to have nothing to do with the other, so I'm curious, did your weight gain throughout your pregnancy coincide with having a large or small baby?

Due to some shoulder issues with my last birth (who really wasn't all that big) I am hoping to have a little one that isn't a whole lot bigger than his brother. I've been watching my diet as well as exercising 5 days a week and just trying to have a healthy overall pregnancy. So, I've gained about 23lbs (at 33 weeks) as opposed to the 30+ I had gained at this point with my first. I am wondering if you gained more weight did that translate to a large baby or vice versa?

[KLD313]

No. I gained 45 lbs mostly at the end due to fluid retention. I was convinced the baby would be huge but she was 6lbs 14oz, I had her at 38 wks and 3 days.

[SnuggleBuggles]

For me, only slightly (gained 27lbs with ds1 and he weighed 8lb 5oz; I gained 40lbs with ds2 and he weighed 9lb 9oz- both came around 42w). But, for many of my friends it made no difference.

Beth

[brittone2]

I gained 38 lbs with each pregnancy. My two older kids were both 8lbs 4 oz and DS2 was 9 lbs on the nose.

DS1 was born 6 days before his EDD, DD was born 2 days after my EDD, and DS2 was born on his EDD.

[eh613c]

You should check out this article:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/04/news/la-heb-pregnancy-20100804

[lowrioh]

I gained nearly 40 pounds with DD1 and she was 7 pounds 10 ounces.
I gained about 30 pounds with DD2 and she was 9 pounds 10 ounces.
So for me it was an inverse correlation.

[luckytwenty]

I ended up at the exact same weight at delivery all three times, but gained more with each pregnancy because I started out thinner with #2 and #3. And my babies were progressively bigger.

36 lbs with 1: 6 lbs 7 oz
41 lbs with 2: 7 lbs 3 oz
47 lbs with 3 8 lbs 9 oz

I also lost all the pregnancy weight by exactly 4 months PP, all three times. Very weird how the body works!

[ohsara430]

I gained 30 lbs DD was 9 lb 3 oz & she was born at 40wks 6 days

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

[daisymommy]

Due to some shoulder issues with my last birth (who really wasn't all that big)

Shoulder issues are due to mal-positioning of the baby, which can be changed or at least helped by a good midwife or doula, or at home with techniques found on spinningbabies.com It's not about the size of the baby (unless he was huge--like 13 lbs.), so I wouldn't go purposely trying to have a small baby to remedy delivery issues.

[maiaann]

I gained the least amount of weight with my biggest baby (30 lb weight gain & 8.5 lb baby), and the most amt of weight with my smallest baby (70 lb weight gain (yes, 70 lbs!) & 7.6 lb baby). I ate exactly the same in both pregnancies and was back to my pre-pregnancy weight at about a year PP. My middle size baby was also my middle weight gain (50 lb weight gain & 7.11 lb baby).

My theory - the baby's metabolism has something to do with how much weight you gain. I came to that conclusion after watching these two eat. My "small baby" hardly eats a thing, whereas my "big baby" eats and eats and eats. At 19 months - she can eat nearly as much as my 9 year old. Crazier yet - she's on the petite side! Yup - I think that even in utero, the baby's metabolism is in full swing and if he/she doesn't need all the calories mom ingests - mom gains.

[kedss]

I gained a lot of weight with my first, not as much with my second and they both weighed 7lbs 14 oz.

[AnnieW625]

No not at all. With DD1 I gained 40lbs, and she was 6lbs., 6 oz. . I was 25lbs over my PP DD1 weight when I got pregnant with 2, and I gained 30lbs and DD2 was 6lbs., 4 oz. .

[momm]

I gained a normal amount - ob was happy with it (don't remember exactly how much). Baby was on the smaller side. 6 pounds 1 ounce

[sewarsh]

NO!

I gained 30 lbs w/ DD who was 6lb 10oz.
I gained 32 lbs w/ DS who was 8lb 10oz!!!

She was 3 days early, he 1 day left - 4 day swing.

NO idea why he was so big. i'm only 5'0'' so that's a lot of baby for me!

[wendibird22]

I gained about 45lb with DD1 and she was 7lb 12oz and 9 days late.
I gained about 30lbs with DD2 and she was 6lb 12oz and 7 days early.

[kdeunc]

I gained the least (24lbs) with my biggest baby (9.9lbs). With my other two I gained about 30lbs each and they were 7.11 and 8.8.

[Tinkerbell313]

I gained 19 pounds with DS...he was 9 lbs. 2 oz.
I gained 24 pounds with DD... she was 8 lbs. 4 oz.

Unfortunately, when I am pregnant, I loose all desire to eat. I do crave lemons...specifically lemonade (Simply Lemonade....mmmm).

Ironically, I have no problem with weight gain when I am not pregnant.

[pb&j]

None. I gained 10 more pounds w/DD and she was 1/2 lb smaller than DS.

[scrooks]

I ended at the same weight with both but started heavier with DS. I gained 40 with DD and she was 8 lb 7 oz at 40 weeks. I gained 35 with DS and he was 8 lb 3 oz at 39 weeks. I expect if given another week DS would have been similar in size to DD.

[Tammy]

No, I gained more weight with DD1 than DD2, and my second DD weighed almost 2 lbs more than her sister.

[Melaine]

I do not know how much I gained...I honestly have no idea. Am I the only one?

[okinawama]

Shoulder issues are due to mal-positioning of the baby, which can be changed or at least helped by a good midwife or doula, or at home with techniques found on spinningbabies.com It's not about the size of the baby (unless he was huge--like 13 lbs.), so I wouldn't go purposely trying to have a small baby to remedy delivery issues.

I totally agree, and its definitely not the only thing I'm doing to try and have a different delivery than my first. I've scoured every article, website and book in hopes of avoiding another tough delivery. My midwife has been great, and she just mentioned to me that focusing on being active as well as paying attention to nutrition can only help in the delivery. I wasn't as active as I would have like to have been in the first pregnancy and I ate everything in sight, I knew that was something I didn't want to do with this one, and as a result my weight gain has been less. So, just seeing if there's a correlation.

Thanks so much for the article, it was informative!!

[essnce629]

I think that second babies, on average, are usually bigger than your first. Everyone I know has followed this pattern.

I gained 36lbs with DS1 and he was 7lbs 15oz at 38 weeks.
I gained 40lbs with DS2 and he was 8lbs 10oz at 38 weeks.

[3blackcats]

I've lost weight with this pregnancy and this baby is huge! She is already bigger then DD1 when she was born. They are going to induce early b/c of her size.

[daisymommy]

Just wanted to share my story:

With baby #3 I had an awesome midwife and doula team that were very up on alternative methods of labor and delivery techniques. When they arrived at my house (for a home delivery) my midwife very carefully palpitated all over my belly to determine the position that my baby was in (not just head down--we knew that), but how were his arms, legs, shoulders, and back aligned inside? She determined that he was at a crooked angle and it was not optimal for an easy and quick delivery. They had me doing all kinds of funny maneuvers and I looked like I was doing yoga :)

I have had two other babies before this--one in a large hospital with a midwife, an OB, a doula, several nurses at at my disposal, and they never did or mentioned anything like this. Same goes for my second, a birth center birth. It was just considered--he's head down, great. End of story.

So, with this 3rd baby, I was at 10cm. and no urgency to push. I didn't even feel like "it was time yet". I am positive if I were with someone else, I would have been told "you're fully dilated, it's time to push!" period. And it would have been a long, long, time pushing, possibly with shoulder distocia. But with this group of great women they had me doing more positioning techniques, then all of a sudden I knew it was *time*--over an hour after I had reached 10cm. With 2 quick pushes baby was out, no tearing.

Positioning of baby can determine alot.

[carolinamama]

Not really. With DS1 I gained almost 50 lbs and had a 7 lb 14 oz baby. With DS2, I gained 43lbs and delivered at 41 weeks. He was a whopping 11lb 3oz. I seriously didn't do anything differently. There were no signs of gd and so far this time there haven't been any signs either. It will be interesting to see how this one ends up.

[mom2khj]

I gained practically the same amount with all three, I think maybe 5 pounds more with DS.

DD1 - 6lbs 10oz at 37 weeks
DD2 - 6lbs 3oz at 36 weeks
DS - 10lbs 9.5oz at 39 weeks

[alirebco]

I gained 50 lbs with DS and he came out at 39 weeks, 6 days weighing 7 lbs even.

I have gained less this pregnancy and started out weighing less, so we'll see if this baby is smaller but she's also a girl.

[Indianamom2]

For me, there definitely was not.

DD - gained about 25 lbs. She was 7 lbs. 12 oz. at 41.5 weeks.

Ds - "gained" 6 lbs, but technically lost at least 25. He was 7 lbs. 14 oz. at 41.5 weeks.

[kara97210]

I do not know how much I gained...I honestly have no idea. Am I the only one?

:yeahthat:

I'm 38 weeks and am thinking I should check with the dr, since I have no idea how much I have gained. With my first I didn't gain much (17 lbs), which wasn't a concern for my doctor since I was healthy, active and the baby always measured well. DS was 8+ lbs at 39 weeks. With this one, I think I've gained more, but I have no idea and the doctor never comments during my appointments.