Discussion Board

I am currently 31 weeks pregnant and eat McDougall style- fat free vegan with a few treats now and again! I have had a healthy pregnancy to date and have felt great- still at the gym, walking and as active as I was pre- pregnancy.
The only issue is that my community midwife and the hospital have some concerns that my baby is on the small side and have increased my appointments at the hospital- any thoughts about link between my diet and the baby 's low weight?
I am only 5 feet 1 myself and wonder if its completely normal that I will have small baby and the medical professionals are just erring on the side of caution?!

This is probably the healthiest way to eat while you're pregnant! Congratulations!

I can't speak to your medical professionals' concerns. They may be valid or they may just expect everyone to fall into the expected range and are raising unnecessary alarms. Were you or your husband considered small at birth (or in utero)?

When my son was young, I knew a woman in LLL with a very petite daughter. Her doctor was always trying to get her to feed her toddler junk food (butter, ice cream, etc) to help her to gain weight. She and her husband were both petite. I happened to run into them 10 years later and the little girl is a perfect size! Did I mention the mother refused the junk food regimen that had been prescribed?

Thanks for that Jamie. Family have suggested I need to eat more fat as a solution but I have difficulty accepting this as the likely outcome will be that I gain the fat rather than the baby! I was 6 lb at birth - not massive! My sister was 5 lb so maybe just going to be a small person! My husband was 9lb so he was 'normal'. I just want to ensure the best for the baby so any advice on particular foods that will help the baby to grow would be so welcome!

It may be a valid concern, but I have heard of many times where the drs were all worked up about a baby in utero being "too big" or "too small" that turned out to be perfectly fine.

I"m 5'0, my children have all been between 6&7lbs at birth. For some reason they are all petite and I quit taking them to well baby checks somewhere around DS2 because all the Drs did was hassle me about how small they were. Duh. I'm small, my husband is small and we eat a healthy diet.

I have a sneaking suspicion that babies in the past were smaller than babies made on the SAD diet, acording to SAD charts.

Just my 2 cents

Just by way of update I had an extra scan to check baby due to concerns re low weight and whilst the baby is small the doctor very satisfied that the baby is healthy and well and likely small like its mummy. Still convinced that my good health throughout this pregnancy has been the result of such a healthy diet and very much looking foward to meeting my healthy baby!