On one side, there are stars, always thinner during their pregnancy. On the other, future moms always more attentive to their weight, sometimes to the point of wanting to lose weight during pregnancy. In the center, a new trend that worries: pregorexia, or mommyrexie, understand, anorexia of future mothers. How to explain it and especially to prevent it? Decryption!
Lose weight during pregnancy: the new trend in fashion? True phenomenon of society, the "pregorexia" - contraction of "pregnant" and "anorexia" (anorexia) - would rage more and more in the future mothers. This behavioral disorder, also called "mommyrexie", is characterized by excessive attention to weight gain during pregnancy. Worried about this (new?) Obsession with thinness, specialists sound the alarm. At issue: the disastrous consequences that this type of behavior could have for the health of the pregnant woman and her unborn baby.
Lose weight during pregnancy: when future mothers feel guilty ...Victoria Beckham, Gisele Bundchen, Nicole Richie ... These moms stars (to name a few) did not show a single roundness (too much) during their pregnancy. During 9 months, they were strafed under all the seams with a silhouette of dream showing weight gains of only, 7 or 8 kilos at the end of pregnancy.
Pictures a priori innocuous, but more harmful than it seems. "This ultra-media coverage of pregnant people puts pressure on future mothers," says Paola Aburto, a psycho-clinician at Evry's "soft" maternity ward. "For some of these women who make their weight a permanent struggle, the identification with the stars is all the more important as they compare themselves and wish to have the same life as these people".
But the emergence of mommyrexie can only be attributable to these people too small. For Jean-Michel Cohen, nutritionist, the harm is deeper: in terms of overweight, women are generally misinformed. "Today, people can no longer tell the difference between being overweight and being overweight, so even before they get pregnant, some women come to see me because they want to lose weight in anticipation of their pregnancy, "he says. And once pregnant, these future moms would suffer from a more surprising pressure ... exercised by the medical profession! "These unhealthy diets often have their origins in medical statistics that put pressure on pregnant women, so health professionals point to the magic figure of" normal "weight gain during pregnancy, from 9 to 12 years old. Unfortunately, we do not take into account the psychological, economic, family and personal factors that may impact the weight gain of the future mother.
Lose weight during pregnancy: a pathology of already fragile pregnant women?But who exactly are these pre -orexic moms, who still remain today, very much in the minority? Women 'under influence' or future mothers already weakened by an antecedent eating disorder? "In my practice, I had the opportunity to meet some pretty fragile women, some eating disorders had manifested during adolescence, continues Paula Aburto.Through the therapeutic work engaged with them, very old elements were able surface, such as anorexia infant. Also, to defuse these disorders, early care in maternity by health professionals, such as midwives and gynecologists is necessary, says our specialist.
To lose weight during pregnancy: what consequences for the baby to be born?Because monitoring her line too much during pregnancy is far from safe. "These moms will reduce the quantities by lowering their consumption of food, they also lower their ingestion of nutrients, essential to pregnancy: zinc, copper, calcium and vitamins," worries Jean-Michel Cohen. Result: at birth, the child can have weight problems. "Babies who lack nutrients during pregnancy have a lower birth weight, sometimes lower than normal, and have poorer immune systems," he notes. In the most extreme cases, the child may even be born prematurely and present serious developmental problems.
And that is without counting the psychological consequences of the mommyrexie ... Perceived like a factor of attack at its line, the pregnancy can become a source of considerable stress for the future mother ... At the risk of having a negative impact on the mother-child relationship after birth.
Lose weight during pregnancy: stop at deprivation!So how to prevent these risks? For Jean-Michel Cohen, there are "caloric barriers" under which it is forbidden to go down when one is pregnant: 1400 to 1500 calories per day in the first trimester of pregnancy, then between 1600 and 1700 calories in the second trimester, and finally, between 1700 and 2000 calories, the last three months. Below these indications, his child is threatened with a lack of nutrients. And the nutritionist to remind that a diet can possibly be done with a specialist, one month after pregnancy. Never during.