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Weight Categories |
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BMI Chart
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Handouts - English |
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GWG Tracker - Under Weight
GWG Tracker - Normal
GWG Tracker - Over Weight
GWG Tracker - Obese
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Handouts - Spanish |
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GWG Tracker - Under Weight
GWG Tracker - Normal
GWG Tracker - Over Weight
GWG Tracker - Obese
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Other Languages |
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Click Here
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WIC has significant potential to enhance prenatal health during pregnancy and support postpartum health during the interconception period such that maternal health is optimized across the child bearing years. Our recent research demonstrated that maternal weight and gestational weight gain (GWG) set the stage for optimal or suboptimal periconceptional health for both a current and subsequent pregnancy (Koleilat & Whaley, 2013). In the largely Hispanic WIC population served in Southern California, over 2/3’s of mothers on WIC are entering pregnancy overweight or obese. These mothers are then the most likely to gain excessive weight during pregnancy.
Despite the well-documented adverse maternal and child outcomes that accompany excess GWG, to date there is no evidence base for WIC’s impact on GWG and periconceptional nutrition. Our work is designed to test new materials for pregnant women to enhance pregnant women’s awareness of appropriate weight gain goals and to track their weight gain effectively during pregnancy. By the end of this study in 2016, our hope it to document that WIC’s use of these materials will be associated with an increase in pregnant women’s adherence to healthy weight gain guidelines.
Part of the challenge of healthy weight gain during pregnancy is that the amount of weight women should gain is dependent on a woman’s weight before pregnancy. The Weight Categories for Women BMI chart to the left provides a chart that helps WIC staff identify a woman’s weight category when she entered pregnancy. Based on the woman’s pregpregnancy weight status (under weight, normal weight, overweight or obese) the appropriate handout can be given and reviewed with the pregnant women during her first trimester. We encourage women to know their weight gain goal, and track their weight gain often through pregnancy. It is our hope that these materials are easy to carry to WIC and obstetric appointments such that women can stay on track during pregnancy.
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