Background: Perinatal health is influenced by maternal weight gain. Increase in obesity in population and excess weight during pregnancy may be different complications including large for gestational age fetus. As a result cesarean delivery has increased in prevalence. Maternal weight gain during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters is an important determinant of fetal growth Objective: To determine the relationship between maternal weight gain and birth weight of baby at term. Methodology : A cross sectional study was carried among 50 pregnant women at term in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital and Anwer Khan Modern Medical College Hospital during the period of January 2013 to July 2013. Data were collected in pre-designed data collection sheet. Results: This study found maximum (36%) were age group 21-25 years followed by 28% were ≤20 years, 24% were between 26-30 years, 8% were between 31-35 years and only 4% were of 36-40 years. The average age was 25 years. Among these 50 pregnant women, 2 cases (4%) had BMI < 18.5, 15 cases (30%) had a BMI 18.5-24.9, 19 cases (38%) had a BMI 25-29.9 and 14 cases (28%) had a BMI ≥30. The mean birth weight was 2.77±0.33. kg. Mean weight gain was 10.72±3.72 Kg. Conclusion: This study showed that reasonable maternal weight gain significantly increased birth weight of the baby at term. Bangladesh J Obstet Gynaecol, 2017; Vol. 32(2) : 79-83

Background: Maternal weight gain is influenced by several trends in perinatal health that are of great public health concern. Maternal weight gain during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters is an important determinant of fetal growth Objective: To determine the relationship between maternal weight gain and birth weight of baby at term. Methodology :A cross sectional observational study was carried among 50 pregnant women at term were admitted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital and Anwer Khan Modern Medical College hospital during the period of January 2014 to July 2014. Data were collected pre-designed data collection sheet.Results: This study found maximum (36%) were age group 21-25 years followed by 28% were 20 years, 24% were 26-30 years, 8% were 31-35 years and only 4% were 36-40 years. The average age was 25 years. Among these 50 pregnant women, 2 cases (4%) had BMI <18.5, 15 cases (30%) had a BMI 18.5-24.9, 19 cases (38%) had a BMI 25-29.9 and 14 cases (28%) had a BMI 30. The mean birth weight was 2.77±0.33. kg. Mean weight gain was 10.72±3.72 Kg. Weight increased there was a corresponding increase in the mean birth weight and this relationship was statistically significant (<0.05). Conclusion:This study shows maternal weight gain significantly increased birth weight of the baby at term. Maternal weight should continue to be given importance in monitoring the health of pregnancies and bioelectrical impedance analysis and arm measurements should be further investigated as another simple way to track appropriate body composition changes across gestation, especially in resource-limited settings. Although challenging, public health efforts should continue working to improve the nutritional status of women of reproductive age before they conceive as an apparent way to improve birth outcomes.Key Words: Maternal weight gain, Birth weight ABSTRACT correlated with maternal weight gain during pregnancy. However, although a high maternal weight gain tend to decrease the incidence of low birth weight, an excessive weight gain may entail fetal as well as maternal complications, such as pregnancy and delivery complications and obesity later in life. 3