Effect of maternal weight gain on infant birth weight

Objective: To ascertain whether increased weight gain during pregnancy resu lted in higher birth weight infants. Methods: A database was constructed from valid data of a sample of 159 heal thy women between 19 to 37 years of age. The inclusion criteria were: mater nal age of 19-37 years, term gestations (37-42 weeks), a baseline weight ob tained at 0-15 weeks gestation, and a final weight obtained within 2 weeks of delivery. Weight gain was calculated by subtracting baseline weight from the final weight. A documented height enabled calculation of BMI. A negati ve screen for gestational diabetes was required. Results: Women with lower first trimester BMI (< 25) had infants of lower b irth weight than women of higher BMT (> 25). Women with lower gain (< 35 Ib s) delivered smaller infants than women with higher gain (> 35 Ibs). Women of higher BMI and higher gain delivered the largest infants (F = 5.37; p = 0.0015). Underweight women (BMI < 19) gained less weight than women of norm al weight (BMI 19-25), who gained the most weight. Obese women (BMI > 29) g ained the least weight (F = 6.26; p = 0.0005). Conclusion: The results confirmed that excessive maternal weight gain in pr egnancy (> 35 Ibs), does result in higher birth weight infants.