(not) gaining weight?

I am about 14 weeks pregnant now, and have been feeling rather horrible all through those 14 weeks... including nausea and a complete lack of appetite (although I only threw up a few times). Am getting a little better but still can only eat small portions and many foods still cause nausea.

I am worrying that I am not gaining any weight, I have put on only about 1,5-2 lbs and I can notice that my own body is loosing some weight, although the belly is growing. Had an US a week ago and the babies are a normal size for their gestational age... still, every book I read emphasizes the importance of putting on weight early, or the babies may suffer later in the pregnancy, and this has me worried. Like according to the "When you're expecting twins, triplets etc." book you should ideally have put on 14-21 lbs by 14 weeks!

Do you have any suggestions on how to put on weight when you really do not feel like eating, and when did you put on most of your pregnancy weight?

 

Hi,

Congratulations for your twins and welcome to twinstuff. I was the same way and I was sick all the time and I didn't gain any weight until 12-14 weeks. I was nauseous at any time of the day or night and I wasn't able to have a whole meal, I was just grazing here and there. I felt sick like that the whole pregnancy, I hope it's not the same way for you. Just so you can imagine, I was SO SICK that whenever I talk about it I feel sick to my stomach - including right now. I just learned to live with it and I made sure I drank enough water to stay hydrated. At least I wasn't throwing up all the time. Also, I think working out and staying active helped me so I recommend working out as long as your OB allows it.

In the end I gained 37 pounds and I gave birth at 37 weeks and 5 days - I had a scheduled C-Section because both babies were breech. Each of my babies weighed 6 pounds 5 oz and they came home with us 3 days later. They are big for their age and they have been like that since 3 months old, and they are very healthy.

And about that book - there are people who like it, but I didn't read it. I read about it here and I discussed the book and the concept it promotes with my OB and my RE and my MFM specialist and all 3 said it doesn't matter how much weight you gain, it's important to stay hydrated and eat healthy. I read that with twins you need 500 extra calories a day - so you eat 2 extra yogurts or some extra fruit and there you are . It's more important to eat healthy food than to just eat sweets and bread hoping to gain weight.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and I hope you feel better.

Monica

ETA: I also ate icecream since it helped me feel better and I love it, and I I was VERY pregnant during summertime. I just don't want to seem like I only ate healthy foods, but I couldn't eat too much just like you, and everything was fine in the end.

 

I'm 14 weeks too. I've only gained 6 lbs total, but I'm overweight too.

It's been hell, I've puked everything up for about 7 weeks. Reglan has made all the difference for me, after Zofran did nothing. Any chance of you taking to your dr and getting something to help? I can finally eat. I eat pretty much whatever I want now, but I pay particular attention to protein and dairy. Eat what you can. Eat what you crave. Eat more smaller meals throughout the day if those work for you. Drink Ensure or Boost. Protein bars. Homemade milkshakes or smoothies. Whatever works.

I read that book, and while I see the point I think it's unreasonable to expect someone who is sick ALL the time to gain that much. Don't beat yourself up. You are doing great!! Babies really aren't putting on fat until the third trimester, right? You've got some time, especially if they are measuring right on.

 

Babies starting putting on fat around 17 weeks. But if you're super sick there's only so much you can do. Try to stay hydrated and when you start feeling better add more foods to your diet. I have read the Dr. Luke book and do like it and have been gaining weight but a lot of that is because I eat a ton when I'm nauseated and throwing up because I feel even sicker without eating.

 

I also did not gain much weight at first. No matter the pregnancy, I seem to have bad nausea for at least 3 - 4 months. It makes it impossible for me to eat a ton. I already get enough guilt from family for not eating more so when I looked at Dr. Luke's book in a bookstore, the immediate guilt trip it gave me was enough for me to never consider buying it. I was on Zofran for the first 3 to 4 months of both pregnancies and gained small amounts but no where near the amounts advocated in that book. Basically, the Zofran made it so that I could function but it didn't really improve my appetite. I ended up gaining about 35 lbs total (give or take) and my babies were 6 lbs 8 oz and 6 lbs 3 oz. I delivered at 39 weeks 1 day so I'm sure that played a role in their size. I basically tried to eat as much as I could and as healthy as I could and did not worry about following any particular guidelines other than what my OB said.

When the nausea ended I had a few weeks where I could really eat well (before the reflux and stomach compression started) and I gained enough that my doctor actually told me to slow down. That was after 20 weeks and before 30 (it was really only a 4 to 6 week time frame, I just can't remember the exact weeks). I guess my point is that you aren't necessarily going to gain weight on a flat line, like some guidelines assume. I always end up with a bit of a bell curve.

 

I have tried to keep up with the weight guidelines in the book, but it is hard. I feel like having one (sometimes 2) protein shakes a day helps. Often, I find I have trouble getting much down at dinner time. This may mean I wake up in the night, and I think that is a great time for a protein shake and a banana. I also recommend Special K and Slim-Fast protein shakes as less expensive at my grocery store than Boost or Ensure, but I like all of them. ALMONDS are a good high calorie healthy item that don't take up much space and didn't make me sick. Basically, I totally agree with protein and dairy. Ovaltine with milk. Fage Greek yogurt. For protein, I had a lot of cheeseburgers when I could eat. And when I couldn't, saltines with peanut butter, occasional power bar. The other good thing about the protein shakes is that they offset the tendency to get constipated if you're on iron pills. I have to take two a day, so yay! No constipation.

 

Just as a word of warning, slim fast shakes are very hard on your gallbladder to digest. I did Kroger brand Boost drinks as my mid morning snack. Eating that much takes getting used to but you can do it!

 

Thanks for all the good replies... I am much better now than I have been for the last two months, can finally eat something (if not everything and not all the time) and usually only feel sick if I'm really hungry and just after I've eaten. So I don't think I should need any drugs, anyway, they are usually not prescribed here unless you throw up constantly and are risking dehydration.

I agree with the point on eating healthy rather than just eating low nutrient calories... thought I must admit I let myself go a little more, knowing that I have some weight to "catch up on".

My main problem is that I can only eat little at the time and after every meal I usually feel a bit sick and can't stomach anything for another 2-3 hrs... so I suppose I really must try and put as many kcal - AND nutrients - into every small meal, and since I can't stand most dairy products, or anything fatty, this is a bit challenging!

I have been drinking some ready made protein shakes (not the kind that's supposed to help you loose weight, but the kind that is ment as supplement for athletes) and I think this helps a bit, but making my own shakes/boost with protein and fruit sounds like a good idea and probably something that can help my up the intake a bit. I have also been refraining from eating at night, since I don't sleep too well and if I wake up hungry I just try and ignore it and go back to sleep... maybe I should reconsider that. And nuts/almonds are also a good idea

Am also relieved to hear that some others have managed to put on "decent" weight despite a bad start... gaining 35-40 lbs in the next 20-25 weeks just sounds a little crazy! :mellow: I really hope my appetite retuns soon, and hope it's true that you'll get "used to" eating more than you really feel like

 

For what it's worth I drink protein shakes made from Bluebonnet protein powder, skim milk, and frozen fruit every morning. Decently tasty and high in protein. I admit that when I had morning sickness I ate a whole lot of Kraft mac & cheese and other not-so-healthy foods because they were the only thing I could stomach! For me at least, to keep from getting to nauseous I had to eat sugary food pretty much constantly all day long (went through many packages of sour gummy life savers and a lot of fruit juice), and I kept tic tacs and crackers next to my bed at night. Once it passed it became way easier to eat as much food as recommended because I'm basically starving all the time. I did gain quite a bit of weight even while I was sick though, probably because the food I did manage to eat was pretty calorie-dense and even though I felt nauseated all the time I didn't actually throw up more than once every couple days.

 

I ended up having to see a nutritionist because I was not gaining weight. In total I gained just 18 pounds for my twin pregnancy and about 21 for my triplet pregnancy. They had me drinking milk shakes with my meals if I could hold it down. My babies were all born healthy. They were not huge and my lowest birthweight baby was 3.12 but that was because her placenta stopped working at 32 weeks.
Weights at birth, days in hospital
Twins 36+ weeks 3.12 (10 days) and 5.3 (8 days)
Triplets 35+ weeks 4.12, 5.1 (9 days) and 4.3 (11 days)

Only issues for any of them as infants was reflux which was helped with a special formula and meds and asthma that they have mostly grown out of.

 

I wouldn't worry about putting on too much weight early on in pregnancy. I'm really surprised your book recommends that much weight at that point. I gained like 3 pounds by the time I was 14 weeks, I am now 35 weeks and have gained 40 pounds! It just came on really fast starting about 22 weeks or so. Just eat what you can, take your prenatals, and you should be fine

 

Put down the Dr. Luke book. I swear that book just stresses out twin moms.

I gained very little weight during the first half of a my pregnancy. I didn't even know I was having twins until 22 weeks, so I was blissfully naive about the stress of carrying twins. In the end, I gained less than 40 pounds and had healthy babies who went home with me. Babies are in a sense parasites. They will take from you what they need. Eat what your stomach can tolerate and opt for the healthy choice when possible. Unless you are losing significant weight or the babies stop growing, don't stress.

 

I don't have much to add since most of you explained very well the best way to handle this. But you are so not alone in this. I didn't gain any weight the first and second trimester now in my 3rd I have finally started to put on a little weight (only about 9lbs so far). Food is such a hard thing for me to think about, thinking about it made me sick! So I just started using the shakes and ate what I could since even a small amount of food was better then none at all. Keep eating what you can every little bit helps. On all of my other pregnancies I had the same problem and all of my babies were born at a healthy weight. Hang in there its just the joys of pregnancy.