having a baby after 35 vs. obesity

In My Humble Opinion
1

Went to see my doctor last week for my yearly physical. He looked at my chart, noted that I was 36 and asked if I was planning on getting pregnant again ( I have a 4 year old). He basically said that if I was planning on it, now is the time because the risks go up with age.

I am 100 lbs overweight. I weighed about the same for my last pregnancy. For the past 2 years, I’ve been saying that I want to get some weight off before having another baby but it’s just not happening. It’s pure lazyness on my part admittedly. I’ve been obese for 10+ years.

Anyhow, the doctor got me thinking about my fertility. For sure my husband and I would love to have another one. I’m starting to think that if I delay it too much I’m just setting myself up for problems. Sure, there can be complications due to my weight but the same goes for age.

I guess I’m just looking for some opinions on this. Which do you think is the bigger risk?

2

baileygrrrl - If you haven’t been motivated enough to lose the weigh in the last two years you’ve been thinking about it, why do you think that will change? If your doctor didn’t mention that she thought it was dangerous for you to become prregnant, I’d say go for it now. That way just as one graduates from college you can have another entering. :wink:

StG

3

From everything I’ve heard, pregnancy while you’re obese (my current situation) causes more risks for you. However, the older you get, the more the risks increase for the child. Right now, my only concerns are high blood pressure and gestational diabetes. There’s not really any risk to the baby outside of possibly having a larger than normal baby.

4

Can I just say… it might not be an either/or situation?

Fertility decreases as you get heavier, so even if it takes you 2 years to lose the weight, it could take you half as long to get pregnant as it would have done if you still had the extra pounds.

You don’t have to eat more when you’re pregnant if you are overweight, as the baby can use the energy stores you’ve already laid down. If you stick to a 2000 calorie/day diet during and after pregnancy, take regular exercise and breastfeed for 6 months, you might find you even weigh less after you’ve had your next baby than you do now.

So…perhaps a good compromise would be 12 months of daily exercise and a low-fat, high fibre diet, then try to get pregnant once you’ve lost a little weight and got some good exercise habits laid down.

5

Obligate Carnivore- may I just say that gestational diabetes is linked to other things than just a “larger than normal” baby?

Gestational diabetes increases the maternal risk of developing diabetes in later life, and may be linked to an increased rate of pancreatic cancer.

Gestational diabetes is thought to increase the baby’s risk of childhood obesity, and developing diabetes in later life.

Big babies increase the risk of c-section, which increase maternal risk of severe blood loss and thrombo-embolic disease. Bigger babies are also at higher risk of shoulder dystocia, birth injuries, intrapartum hypoxic brain damage and asphyxia, and requiring an instrumental (i.e. forceps or ventouse) delivery.

Vaginal delivery of a bigger baby greatly increases the risk of a maternal third or fourth degree tear, with long-term consequences for both faecal and urinary continence.

The babies of diabetic mothers can have problems with low blood sugars and high insulin in the period after birth, and if this is not picked up and treated promptly the baby can become seriously unwell.

Because of the hypoglycaemia and birth trauma, the babies of diabetic mothers are at higher risk of learning disability than the babies of non-diabetic peers.

6

I should point out that I had gestational diabetes during my first pregnancy so it’s pretty much a given that I will have it again this time. I managed it very well and only became insulin dependant in the last month of my pregnancy.

7

**irishgirl ** knows of what she speaks! I suppose being an MD will do that for you.

I work for a company that supports some of the best Fertility MD practices in the U.S. From what I have witnessed from our MD’s, there is no right answer - everyone’s weight management and fertility issues are unique. When an obese patient sees one of our reproductive endocrinologists (i.e., infertility MD’s) their weight is considered along with all the other risk factors as part of an overall plan.

I recommend that if you are seriously considering having a baby AND losing weight, it would be best to talk with doctor about a plan that takes both into consideration, with appropriate goals, etc…

Best of luck!

8

If you managed your diabetes without insulin, you might be a good candidate for the Weight Watchers Core plan. It is basically a “good carb” diet that doesn’t require you to journal your eating or count calories. I used it to lose my post-baby weight.

However, Weight Watchers won’t allow you to attend meetings when you are actually pregnant, although they do have provisions in the program for nursing mothers.

FTR, I know one woman who had all three of her kids when she weighed at least 300 pounds. The first kid was perfectly fine, the second has had some ( very mild) learning issues, and the third became quite obese herself at an early age, although she is looking better now (at about age 5).

ETA: The woman in question was also had her first at 35.

9

I work with high risk antepartum (pregnant) patients. I say if you want more children go for it!

10

Hello, soulmate! You are where I was about six months ago. I have a four year old, too, and I recently officially crossed the line into “morbidly obese” (Yay!), so had been pondering when to have our next child, whether I could lose some weight first, and whether gambling on that (not a great bet, given my history) was worth pushing the Advanced Maternal Age barrier (I will turn 35 next June).

I finally decided to go for it, and have not regretted it. Would I prefer to have been slimmer before getting knocked up? Of course, but I think I made the right decision. I was 237 lbs before I got pregnant. They want me to limit my gain to about 15 lbs if possible, but without “dieting.” So I try to stop eating when I’m not hungry anymore, eat mainly nutritious food, and get some exercise. So far so good.

As for GD, while weight is a risk factor, there is no guarantee being skinny will protect you. IIRC, GD in a previous pregnancy far outstrips weight as a risk factor.

Something to keep in mind if you go for it: doctors are scared of macrosomia, and often tend to push induction because an ultrasound “showed the baby is big,” but ultrasounds actually are very very poor at estimating birth weight of a child, and inductions tend to lead to c-sections (a/k/a the insurance company’s best friend).

Anyway, let me climb off my hobby horse now, and just reassure you that at 21 weeks now, I’ve only gained about 8 pounds, I’m disgustingly healthy, passed my early GD screen, and am having the baby at a birthing center. So being a fatass doesn’t necessarily mean all kinds of worry and complications.

Oh, and my plan is to really harness that early nursing period and see if I can’t drop some pounds after the baby comes!