Eating disorders and pregnancy
June 10, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Women's Health
Eating disorders, which most often hit younger women, can be brought into pregnancy – and what happens then? Obviously, someone with an eating disorder that is not treated is – at that point – not only affecting her own health but that of her baby. The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has begun to address this issue by publishing a comprehensive review of eating disorders in pregnancy.
The review has offered the following guidelines to manage pregnant women with eating disorders if the disorder could not be addressed before the pregnancy:
- Education – about how nutrition affects the baby’s growth
- Refer the woman to an eating disorder clinic, particularly if the disorder is active
- Monitor after pregnancy – postpartum depression is a strong possibility
- Monitor and support efforts in breast feeding
- Monitor baby’s growth
The children of mothers with eating disorders should also be watched for eating issues. According to the review, mothers with eating disorders have children who weight less than average and they are influenced by their mothers’ eating disorder because of controlling behavior around food.
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If you want to learn more about eating disorders, b5Media has a blog called Breaking the Mirror, that Angelique writes. It’s full of good information and discussion about the issues involved with eating disorders.
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Don’t forget the Prevent drownings (plus a DVD give-away). The give-away ends June 15 at 11:59 PM.
Pregnancy turned my anorexia around. This was in the days (1960s) before doctors really knew what anorexia was or how to treat it. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. After many tests, one doctor said, “Have a baby. That will help.” (Nowadays he might be criticized for saying that, someone told me.)
However, when I finally became pregnant (it’s not often easy when anorexia throws your hormones out of whack), I was fearful that I would harm the baby if I didn’t eat better. Even though I’d tried before to get my eating on back on track, I couldn’t seem to do it. Now I was responsible for another life. So I began to eat better and had a healthy baby. I still worried about my weight and didn’t gain much beyond the baby’s weight. Also, I’ve had to watch myself all my life that I don’t get caught up in the anorexia spiral again. I only had the one pregnancy, but that did help turn me around.
i was appalled at pregnancy weight gain and tried to limit food consumption. couldn’t. how you can have an eating disorder whilst prego is beyond me.