What's happening in Japan is a shocking phenomenon. You hear doctors yelling at expectant mothers and telling them to transfer to another hospital if they can't manage their weight.

There has to be a special ring in hell reserved for any "Doctor" who does this. Yet another example of how Japan is 50 years behind the times.

I wasn't told to transfer to another hospital, but I was told to go on a diet. Despite the fact the doctor had no idea how much I weighed before becoming pregnant and the fact that I was under orders to take things very easy most of the time, and get lots of bed rest at various other times. (It's not easy to avoid weight gain when you have to lie about resting all the time on doctors orders.) No advice either. No leaflets suggesting healthy pregnancy eating habits, which would surely be cost and time efficient. Not even any leaflets suggesting gentle exercises suitable for those on bed rest.

The situation we have here of low birth-weight babies is mostly the responsibility of idiot obstetricians who only think of the here and now instead of considering the longer-term effects on the baby. They see no reason to do that, they think it's the job of the paediatrician who gets to try to help the baby after it's born.

dammit:"I wasn't told to transfer to another hospital, but I was told to go on a diet. Despite the fact the doctor had no idea how much I weighed before becoming pregnant"

I find this very strange that the doctor did not know your weight at the start of your pregnancy.

In Japan the moment they confirm your pregnancy they weigh you and that goes in to the "mother child" booklet that you bring with you on every visit to the doctors.

When my ex wife was pregnant with our first child that was the time when they watch the mothers weight carefully and to much gain between checkups would get you a talking to. Our daughter was a big baby and healthy.

By the time she was pregnant with out second child the weight guidelines had been dropped and she gained a considerable amount of weight and our son was born underweight and week.

It is also a medical fact the over weight people have way more complications with birth and as a surgeon friend of mine says he dreads having to operate on over weight people especially caesarian sections because the fat layers cause for multiple complications and a much higher risk of infection.

Weight gain is normal and necessary but a reasonable weight gain massive weigh gain is not safe for both the mother and child.

Yet another example of how Japan is 50 years behind the times.

Hoserfella, I guess you're not married or your wife hasn't had a baby. This isn't 50 years behind the times. This is actually new. In the past they told mothers to eat a lot and gain as much weight as possible. They recommended at least 10kg or more. Now it's known (as limbo pointed out) that excessive weight gain is unhealthy for both the mother and the baby. Also, it's been shown that babies who are born under 3000 grams don't have any complications as a result and end up in healthy adults. The fact is, recent young women are super slim and have thin hips. Giving birth to a large baby is dangerous and risky for such mothers. Thus, they are recommending not gaining too much weight and also managing the weight of the baby. That said, I don't think doctors should be yelling at mothers. They should just be giving their professional opinion as a guideline, not kicking mothers out of their hospitals. Those doctors deserve a slap in the face.

end up AS healthy adults, I meant to say

I would encourage everyone to read the original article in Bloomberg before discussing in detail. It came about two weeks ago and is very interesting. Also gives more detail information and background of the topic.

I cannot somehow post the link since it is considered "offensive" by posting standards - go figure. However you can find it by going to bloomberg.com and typing "Diets by Pregnant Women Spur More Underweight Babies in Japan " in the search page. That is the title of the article.

When I was expecting 28 years ago, I was told both by doctors and older women that I should keep my weight down during pregnancy; it was smart to have a small baby and let it grow as much as it wanted after birth. So this isn't a new phenomenon.

I didn't listen to their advice.

I was told both by doctors and older women that I should keep my weight down during pregnancy; it was smart to have a small baby and let it grow as much as it wanted after birth.

Sounds familiar. And here is one from the article

“Being born small and growing big is the worst possible scenario for risk of disease, at least from the mismatch side of things,”

“Japan is an extraordinary country,” he said. “It’s the only developed country in the world which is increasing the risk of its disease by both reducing the adequacy of nutrition of the fetus at one end and then Westernizing at the other end.”

I do not expect much to change in the short run in Japan.

My doctor told me that as long as the weight gain was within the healthy line, it's be fine and it'd be natural to gain 8 to 10kg,, I ended up gaining about 12kg and the doctor said I did a good job maintaining my weight ;)

The headline What's happening in Japan is a shocking phenomenon. You hear doctors yelling at expectant mothers and telling them to transfer to another hospital if they can't manage their weight is misleading -- Because it is certainly NOT A JAPANESE PHENOMENON TO KICK OUT an expecting mothers like that.. This headline makes it seem like most Japanese hospitals transfer expecting mothers if/when they gain weight more than they should, and it is simply not true.

There ARE clnicis (smaller ones usually) that say up front that if and when expecting mothers gain too much weight and it is risky for them to deliver a baby at their small clinic, they would transfer them to a hospital that can handle situations like that... and the clinic I had my second baby was one of them. I was VERY HAPPY with the clinic --doctors and nurses were very responsible and personal, I had a very good experience to have my baby at a Japanese clinic :)

bicultural - I was referring to the arrogance of doctors here who yell at patients. Pregnancy, I'm sure, is stressful enough without worrying about an a**hole doctor tearing a strip off you.

What's happening in Japan is a shocking phenomenon. You hear doctors yelling at expectant mothers

so it's ok to yell at all the rest..oyaji doctors are the worst.