Weight gain in pregnancy: this is how the kg gained are distributed

How is weight gain distributed during pregnancy? In addition to the child’s weight, what increases physiologically?

Parents and grandparents will surely have told you that, now that you are waiting, you will have to eat for two. Nothing could be more wrong: you really don’t have to eat for two but you definitely have to introduce extra calories thanks to healthy and nutritious foods to help your child grow.

To do this, you need 100 to 300 more calories a day than what you ate before pregnancy .

This is enough to meet your child’s growth needs.

Starting from a normal weight situation, the recommended average growth goes from about 11 to 15 kg. Let’s see how this increase is distributed:

• Child → 3.4 kg
• Placenta → 0.9 -1,4 Kg
• Amniotic fluid → 0.9 -1.4 Kg
• Breast tissue → 0.9 -1.4 Kg
• Blood supply → 1.8 Kg
• Fat reserves for childbirth and lactation → 2.3-4.1 kg
• Increased uterus → 0.9-2.3 kg
• Total → 11.3-15.9 kg

In this way, after a couple of weeks after giving birth, we should find ourselves with those 4-6 kg more between breasts and accumulated fat. Fat which in any case is needed to face breastfeeding and which will run out as the months go by (provided we maintain a correct diet).

A healthy, regular and nutritious diet is in fact the best way to avoid exaggerated increases which are then difficult to dispose of.

It is also important not to make it an obsession or a problem. The serenity of a mother is priceless and therefore even if there is an extra kilo, don’t worry!