Researchers at the Children’s Hospital in Boston and Columbia University in New York have found that mothers who put on more than normal amounts of weight during pregnancy are more likely to have a baby that is overweight. Not only does it increase the odds of having a baby that is heavier than normal, but it also increases the odds that the child will be overweight as a teenager and adult.

Among these findings which were reported in an of The Lancet, we the following:

- For every kilogram (kg) a mother gained (1 kg = 2.2 lbs), the baby’s birth weight increased by 7.35 grams (0.25 oz).
- Compared with infants born to women who gained between 8 kg and 10 kg (17.5 and 22 lbs), infants born to mothers who gained more than 24 kg (52.5 lbs) during pregnancy were about 150 g (5.3 oz) heavier at birth.
- Mothers who gained more than 24 kg during pregnancy were more than twice as likely to deliver a baby weighing 4,000 grams (8 lbs 13 oz) or more, compared with women who gained only 8 kg to 10 kg.

Childhood obesity has been increasing on a steady rate this past decade. Perhaps, parents should begin to prevent childhood obesity while their baby is still in the mother’s womb.