Abstract
BackgroundPromoting healthy gestational weight gain (GWG) is important for preventing obstetric and perinatal morbidity, along with obesity in both mother and child. Provision of GWG guidelines by health professionals predicts women meeting GWG guidelines. Research concerning women’s GWG information sources is limited. This study assessed pregnant women’s sources of GWG information and how, where and which women seek GWG information.MethodsConsecutive women (n = 1032) received a mailed questionnaire after their first antenatal visit to a public maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Recalled provision of GWG guidelines by doctors and midwives, recalled provided GWG goals, and the obtaining of GWG information and information sources were assessed.ResultsParticipants (n = 368; 35.7 % response) averaged 32.5 years of age and 20.8 weeks gestation, with 33.7 % speaking a language other than English. One in ten women recalled receiving GWG guidelines from doctors or midwives, of which half were consistent with Institute of Medicine guidelines. More than half the women (55.4 %) had actively sought GWG information. Nulliparous (OR 7.07, 95 % CI = 3.91–12.81) and obese (OR 1.96, 95 % CI = 1.05–3.65) women were more likely to seek information. Underweight (OR 0.29, 95 % CI = 0.09–0.97) women and those working part time (OR 0.52, 95 % CI = 0.28–0.97) were less likely to seek information. Most frequently reported GWG sources included the internet (82.7 %), books (55.4 %) and friends (51.5 %). The single most important sources were identified as the internet (32.8 %), general practitioners (16.9 %) and books (14.9 %).ConclusionMore than half of women were seeking GWG guidance and were more likely to consult non-clinician sources. The small numbers given GWG targets, and the dominance of non-clinical information sources, reinforces that an important opportunity to provide evidence based advice and guidance in the antenatal care setting is currently being missed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12884-015-0600-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Promoting healthy gestational weight gain (GWG) is important for preventing obstetric and perinatal morbidity, along with obesity in both mother and child
This study showed that in this sample of women attending a public maternity hospital, more women were likely to seek GWG information than be offered GWG guidelines by health professionals
While it must be acknowledged that reported provision of GWG guidelines from health professionals was unavailable, the small numbers of women recalling guidelines in the present study is concerning given evidence suggesting that provision of guidelines increases the likelihood of women setting a concordant GWG goal and gaining weight consistent with the guidelines [14]
Summary
Promoting healthy gestational weight gain (GWG) is important for preventing obstetric and perinatal morbidity, along with obesity in both mother and child. Achieving healthy gestational weight gain (GWG) is acknowledged as important in promoting positive maternal and fetal health outcomes in both the short and long term [1]. Weight gained in excess of GWG guidelines, termed ‘excess GWG’, is associated with increased prevalence of gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders, delivery complications, large for gestational age, and the long term risk of obesity for both mother and Consistent with the increased prevalence of overweight and obesity in women in their childbearing years in developed countries [7], there is an increasing prevalence of excess GWG [1, 8]. Women view pregnancy as a time when weight is gained and may be retained or lost post-partum [11, 12]
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