A study published in the October issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology stated that mothers who exercised before and during pregnancy delivered babies that were below the critical 4 kg benchmark. Babies with a  birth weight above 4 kgs are associated with complications for both the baby and the mother which include delivery complications, cesarean deliveries and severe bleeding after birth. The overweight babies also have an added risk of being obese later on in life.

The study further mentions about the decreasing trend of regular exercise during pregnancy. It seems that both the frequency and the intensity of exercise seems to decrease as pregnancy progresses. Most pregnant women apparently shift from weight bearing to non-weight bearing exercises such as swimming and cycling.

The data used for this study was derived from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. This is a Norwegian nationwide pregnancy register that aimed to include 100,000 pregnancies by 2008 and was designed to estimate the associations between some of the lifestyle variables to which pregnant women and their fetuses are exposed to.

With regards to exercise, it was mentioned that before pregnancy;

• 43% of women with first pregnancies exercised 3 or more times a week
• 32 % of mothers with their 2nd or more pregnancy reported that they exercised three times or more a week

By the 30th week of pregnancy;

• 35% reported that they never exercised
• 19% exercised 1 to 3 times a month.
• 24% reported that they were exercising 1 to 2 times a week
• 24% reported exercising 3 or more times a week

The researchers concluded that regular exercise during pregnancy reduces the odds of giving birth to newborns with excessive birth weight by 23–28%.

As pregnancy progresses, any exercise that restricts blood flow to the baby should be avoided. This includes exercises that require the mother to lay flat on her back. Also it is advisable to keep the mother’s heart rate at no more than 120 beats per minute. While exercise is encouraged during pregnancy, it is highly advisable to be advised and monitored by a doctor to ensure that the mother’s exercise does not inadvertently cause harm to the unborn child.