LONDON:

Scientists have warned that fluctuating weight of wom-en during pregnancy could affect their unborn babies.

The findings have emerged from two studies. The first found that weight gain between pregnancies was strongly associated with major complications for the mother and child

in the months proceeding, during and just after childbirth, reported health portal News Medical.

This was independent of whether a woman was, by definition, overweight. The second study found that women whose Body Mass Index, a marker of body weight, fell during pregnancies had a higher risk of giving birth prematurely than women whose weight remained stable or increased.

Gaining or losing weight in between pregnancies can have major health implications for an unborn baby, senior obstetricians Jennifer Walsh and Deirdre Murphy wrote in the British Medical Journal.

While weight and obesity have long concerned women in relation to body image and lifestyle issues, few are aware of the possible risks that fluctuating weight could have on their unborn child, the obstetricians said.