There was a recent article in the New York Post on “mommyrexia,” a phenomenon garnering a lot of public attention recently. Mommyrexia describes pregnant women obsessed with staying skinny during pregnancy and then doing whatever they can to get back, as soon as possible, to their pregnancy weight after delivery.
According to the article, these women count calories, exercise excessively while pregnant, and sometimes even forgo breastfeeding to free their schedules for tons of personal training and exercise.
Victoria Beckham, Rachel Zoe, and Bethenny Frankel maintained their slim physique during pregnancy and were bikini-ready three weeks after giving birth. As if there isn’t enough pressure on the general population to be ridiculously skinny, this pressure now extends to the sacred time of pregnancy?
Yikes, this takes “striving to be skinny” to a whole new unhealthy level. The health risks include premature birth for the baby and can be unhealthy for the mother as well. These facts are not stopping this new breed of women who are desperate to stay thin. New York magazine reported that some New York women are going as far as scheduling C-sections in the eighth month to squash the last month of weight gain. How can a doctor even allow this?
According to Mayo Clinic, the amount of recommended weight gain for an underweight woman is 28-40 pounds, for a normal weight woman is 25-35 pounds, for an overweight woman is 15-25 pounds, and for an obese woman is 11-20 pounds. I gained the appropriate amount of weight during each of my pregnancies, a little more my second pregnancy, but that’s ok, I was happy to knowing that I was providing the nutrients my boys needed.
A growing and developing baby is the most important reason to gain the appropriate amount of weight and stay active in a healthy way. Skinny can wait when it comes to your baby’s health.
Moms In Heels was started in late 2010 as a single blog written about the joys, trials, and tribulations of motherhood.
E-mail Lisa at momsinheels@aol.com
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