MATERNAL NUTRITION AND WEIGHT GAIN AFFECTING OUTCOME OF PREGNANCY

Abstract

Poor nutritional status and inadequate food intake during and prior to pregnancy not only affect Women’s health but also have negative impact on growth and development of fetus. The birth weight of an infant is a powerful predictor of growth and survival of infant and is dependent on maternal health and nutritional status, pre-pregnancy weight and general weight gain are all strongly associated with fetal growth and development. So, improving maternal nutrition prior to conception and during pregnancy are potential strategies to improve birth weight. The Present study has been carried out to discuss the circumstances under which the effect of maternal nutrition on birth weight can be observed, and to determine the specific contributors of calories and protein to birth weight.
 Materials and methods: The present study has been carried out at Teaching Medical College and hospital to find out correlation between various factors responsible for maternal weight gain and nutrition with birth weight of baby and to standardize diet chart for pregnant mothers in rural area. The study included 100 women who were followed up from 8 to 10 week of pregnancy till delivery. Anthropometric measurements including maternal weight, height and total weight gain in pregnancy and infant’s birth weight were recorded and all mothers were interviewed for their bio-social variables. Results: The mean birth weight is below 2.4 kg in age <19 years and in 30 years and above, it is >2.5 kg. The mean birth weight in primipara is 2.4 kg and then it gradually increased maximum up to 2.6 kg in multipara. The mean birth weight in 2.4 kg in mothers below 145cm.Above that till 160 cm there is steady increase in birth weight up to 3.08 kg. The mean birth weight was lowest in cases where maternal weight is below 40 kg and it reached maximum 3 kg in weight group 60-69 kg. The mean birth weight is 2.4 kg in weight gain between 5-9 kg and maximum up to 3 kg in weight gain between 15-19 kg. The mean birth weight is 3.2 kg in high socioeconomic group and 2.2 kg in low socioeconomic group.
 Conclusion: There is definite relation between maternal age, parity, height, pre-pregnancy weight, weight gain during pregnancy, socioeconomic status and daily dietary intake per day and birth weight of baby. So health policies should be aimed at early detection and effective management of under nutrition to reduce the burden of low birth weight babies and there is a need to focus attention on better maternal nutrition and education on birth spacing, early pregnancy and family planning.