How you weigh during first pregnancy can affect your second offspring

A new research has found that how a woman weighs while expecting her first child may impact her second baby.

Saint Louis University research showed that those complications can surface during a second pregnancy even if they didn't occur during a first pregnancy or if the mother is at a healthy weight when she becomes pregnant a second time.

Senior author on the paper Jen Chang, Ph.D., said that while moms who weigh too much or too little might have uncomplicated pregnancies and deliver healthy babies the first time around, their research showed they were still at increased risk of adverse outcomes during their second pregnancies. That risk may not go away even if they were at a normal weight when they get pregnant again.

The bottom line for physicians and second-time moms was not to let down their guard even if things went well for moms with unhealthy weight during the first pregnancy or if those moms reach a normal weight when they become pregnant again, she added.

Chang said their finding that obese women faced increased risk of neonatal death in a subsequent pregnant, even if their first pregnancy was uncomplicated, has significant public health repercussions and warrants further research.

The researchers recommended health professionals counsel women who are in their child-bearing years on the potential problems an unhealthy weight could pose for pregnant mothers and babies.

The study is published electronically in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.