Brief Answer: Do not worry, eat well and you will be all right Detailed Answer: Hi, Thanks for the query. The average weight gain during pregnancy is about 20 lbs. This is distributed over the three trimesters. Maximum weight gain occurs during the last 2 months of pregnancy when the babies weight increases the most. There is no rule about how much a women will gain during pregnancy. If the baby is growing well, the amount of fluid surrounding the baby is allright, the mother does not have any signs of nutritional deficiency like easy fatigability, weakness, hair loss, infections etc, then weight gain is not a worry. However, poor weight gain by the mother may be an early sign of intrauterine growth restriction. In the modern era with ultrasound facility, it is possible to directly assess the babies growth, so poor weight gain is not of much significance if the fetal weight gain is OK. Weight increases only if the calorie intake is more than calories burnt. The baby will extract its needs from the mother. If you will not eat well, it will take nutrients from your system as long as they are available depriving you of nutrition. This will go on for the time until your body is not able to provide for even the baby. Then its growth will be affected. So check your diet and exercise schedule. If you are working out too much, slow it down a bit. Take small snacks between three major meals. These snacks must be quality food like legumes, sprouts, smoothies, pasta, meat preparations, boiled egg whites, milk and sandwich etc. Eat at least one fruit everyday. If you have only two big meals, snack every 2-3 hours. It helps to maintain the necessary nutrient supply to the baby. Eat what you like [ except fried and sweet food] and also when you like as long as you are able to digest it. Milk shakes with protein supplement are also good way to gain weight and stay healthy. Variations in machines may also give different results. Try to check weight on the same machine and see if it is calibrated properly. Check to see if you had any infections during this period. If yes, they may cause poor weight gain. Also get your thyroid levels [ TSH] checked. Get an ultrasound done to see if the babies growth is corresponding to the expected duration of pregnancy and if needed serial scans to see if it is gaining weight properly. Increase in abdominal girth measured at the level of umbilicus every week gives a crude idea of fetal growth and can be used as a home monitoring method. If your doctor says that the baby is perfect, the only thing that you need to do now is eat properly and frequently. Do not worry, this is an easy to tackle issue. Try the above measures and you will be all right. Hope this satisfies your query. Thanks for using HCM. Feel free to ask any more questions that you may have. Dr Madhuri Bagde Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist

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