BBC News, Jane Hughes, July 27, 2010
Mothers often say they get confusing advice about exercise during and after pregnancy
Obesity levels among pregnant women have reached epidemic levels, putting the health of their babies at risk, experts say.
The health watchdog NICE has issued new guidelines encouraging women in England to attain a healthy weight before they get pregnant.
It also advises them against eating for two once they conceive.
It says almost half of women of childbearing age are overweight or obese, which could harm their child.
Many women feel they are offered confusing …

The Guardian, Dennis Campbell, July 21, 2010
Overweight women should slim down and have counselling before they get pregnant because being fat poses such a serious risk of them having a premature baby, doctors warn today.
Women carrying excess weight have up to a 30% greater chance of having a baby before it reaches 37 weeks gestation, medical researchers in Canada write in todays British Medical Journal. Premature babies are at much higher risk of dying or suffering a range of illnesses and impairments.
Those who are overweight or obese have an extra 30% …

Reuters, Rachael Myers Lowe,  May 14, 2010
Children whose mothers developed diabetes while pregnant are at increased risk of being overweight by age 11, a new study shows.
The study also found that children born to obese mothers are more likely to have a weight problem than children born to lean mothers.
“The best advice is to get lean and fit before you get pregnant,” Dr. Lois Jovanovic of the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute in Santa Barbara, California, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters Health.
Earlier this week, First Lady Michelle Obama …

The more obese a woman is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the likelihood that her baby will be born with a heart defect, a U.S. government study finds.
Using a database of births in New York State over a decade, researchers found that obese women were 11 percent more likely than normal-weight women to have a baby with a congenital heart defect.
Meanwhile, women who were morbidly obese — or about 100 pounds over their ideal weight — had a 33 percent higher risk than normal-weight women did.
Congenital heart defects are …

CNN, April 15, 2010
Obese or morbidly obese women are more likely to give birth to a baby who has a congenital heart defect than overweight or healthy women. That’s the conclusion of a new study conducted by researchers at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Using data collected from all the women who gave birth in New York state (excluding New York City) from January 1, 1993, to December 31, 2003, the researchers found that mothers who were obese before becoming pregnant had a 15 …

TIME, Alice Park, April 7 2010

For most pregnant women, exercise is the last thing on their minds. After all, keeping slim while you’re expecting isn’t exactly the top priority — rather, it’s making sure your baby gets enough nutrients to grow. But in a small new study, researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand report that a mother’s regular aerobic exercise may be good for a growing fetus’ health — and may even help a baby get a healthier start in life.

The finding is a bit surprising, because …