Abstract
CONTEXT:
Childbearing women are the second victims for significant gestational weight retention and weight gain during reproductive years. There may be unique reasons to weight management in this period.
AIM:
To explore what women perceive as reasons for their excessive gestational weight retention and weight gain in the postpartum period.
METHODS:
By purposive sampling,
n
= 200 low-risk postnatal women less than a year of postpartum were recruited and their perceived reasons for excessive gestational weight retention and weight gain in the postpartum period were assessed.
RESULTS:
Participants perceived lowered physical activity, sedentary lifestyle behavior, lack of knowledge, misconceptions that breastfeeding automatically leads to weight loss, and high caloric intake as the reasons for gestational weight retention and gain in the postpartum period. Misconceptions that weight gain is predetermined by genetic factors, lack of support, and use of eating for physical and psychological comfort were also claimed as reasons for weight gain in the postpartum period.
CONCLUSION:
Reproductive health professionals should devise preventive measures to raise awareness on risks associated with unhealthy gestational weight retention and weight gain among average, overweight, and obese women in the postpartum period.
Recommended Citation
Ganapathy, Thilagavathy
(2019)
"Excessive gestational weight retention and weight gain in postpartum Perception of women,"
Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU: Vol. 12:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/kleuhsj.kleuhsj_150_18
Available at:
https://kleijhsbr.researchcommons.org/journal/vol12/iss1/6
Pages
28
Last Page
34
Copyright
© 2019 Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research KLEU | Published by Wolters Kluwer – Medknow