Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Mar:60:77-82.
doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.12.018. Epub 2013 Dec 24.

Pregnancy and post-delivery maternal weight changes and overweight in preschool children

Camille A Robinson  1 , Alison K Cohen  2 , David H Rehkopf  3 , Julianna Deardorff  4 , Lorrene Ritchie  5 , Ruvani T Jayaweera  2 , Jeremy R Coyle  6 , Barbara Abrams  7
Affiliations

Pregnancy and post-delivery maternal weight changes and overweight in preschool children

Camille A Robinson et al. Prev Med. 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: High maternal weight before and during pregnancy contributes to child obesity. To assess the additional role of weight change after delivery, we examined associations between pre- and post-pregnancy weight changes and preschooler overweight.

Sample: 4359 children from the Children and Young Adults of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) born to 2816 NLSY mothers between 1979 and 2006 and followed to age 4-5years old.

Exposures: gestational weight gain (GWG) and post-delivery maternal weight change (PDWC).

Outcome: child overweight (body mass index (BMI) ≥85th percentile).

Results: Adjusted models suggested that both increased GWG (OR: 1.08 per 5kg GWG, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.16) and excessive GWG (OR: 1.29 versus adequate GWG, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.56) were associated with preschooler overweight. Maternal weight change after delivery was also independently associated with child overweight (OR: 1.12 per 5kg PDWC, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.21). Associations were stronger among children with overweight or obese mothers.

Conclusions: Increased maternal weight gain both during and after pregnancy predicted overweight in preschool children. Our results suggest that healthy post-pregnancy weight may join normal pre-pregnancy BMI and adequate GWG as a potentially modifiable risk factor for child overweight.

Keywords: Body mass index; Child; Longitudinal studies; Mothers; Obesity; Overweight; Postpartum period; Pregnancy; Weight gain; Weight loss.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Timing and definitions of different pregnancy-related maternal weight change measures.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Recommended health care visits before, during, and after pregnancy. Note: * is time point for both a pediatric visit and a postpartum obstetric/gynecology visit
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alexander GR, Himes JH, Kaufman RB, Mor J, Kogan M. A United States national reference for fetal growth. Obstet Gynecol. 1996;87:163–168. - PubMed
    1. Armitage JA, Poston L, Taylor PD. Developmental origins of obesity and the metabolic syndrome: the role of maternal obesity. Front Horm Res. 2008;36:73–84. - PubMed
    1. Baker JL, Gamborg M, Heitmann BL, Lissner L, Sorensen TI, Rasmussen KM. Breastfeeding reduces postpartum weight retention. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;88(6):1543–1551. http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2008.26379. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Biro FM, Wien M. Childhood obesity and adult morbidities. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010;91(5):1499S–1505S. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bodnar LM, Siega-Riz AM, Simhan HN, et al. Severe obesity, gestational weight gain, and adverse birth outcomes. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010;91:1642–1648. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms