Pregnancy Eating Disorder - Obstacle In Healthy Motherhood

The craze to remain absolutely slim and trim has driven women to the edge of madness. Looking at models, they also want to be like them. They want to look like the models they watch on television and wear the beautiful figure-hugging dress that these models display. As a result, most of them try to avoid food and develop an eating disorder. Usually, this disorder is common among teenage girls. However, with the fashion industry growing and introducing new trends, older women have also got trapped in this unhealthy exercise. And it will be shocking to know that pregnant women especially are suffering from a pregnancy eating disorder.

The wish to look beautiful and stay slim forever has manifested itself in pregnant women also. They want to maintain the shape of their figure during and after pregnancy. And for this they are hell-bent on trying anything at all. This craze has made them prone to health problems like anorexia and bulimia, which are the two forms of pregnancy eating disorder.

People who suffer from anorexia eating disorder believe that the correct way of looking beautiful is by staying thin. And for achieving their goal, they constantly starve themselves and their body with diets and over-exercising. On the other hand, people suffering from bulimia eat till the point of upsetting their stomach and digestive system. This overeating is known as binging. These people usually binge on unhealthy food like fried food items and junk food. However, they find themselves guilty of binging on food and to get rid of the extra food that they have eaten, they forcefully vomit out all their contents. Most people also start a regular intake of laxatives so as to get rid of the negative effects of the junk food they have eaten. Such people do not only suffer from a pregnancy eating disorder, they are also prone to various cardiovascular problems.

A woman with an eating disorder is usually not able to conceive easily. And if the disorder takes the shape of a pregnancy eating disorder, the woman is prone to a lot of problems during and after pregnancy. Some of the problems that a woman with an unhealthy eating habit can face are -

1. Comparatively higher chances of having a miscarriage

2. Development of birth defects in the fetus

3. Increased chances of a premature delivery

4. Having a still-born baby

5. Development of complications during the pregnancy and at the time of delivery

6. Development of certain abdominal problems that can also create complications during pregnancy

If a woman with any of the above discussed eating disorders wishes to have a perfectly normal pregnancy, and give birth to a healthy child, she should get treatment for her pregnancy eating disorder. In fact, soon after detecting that she is pregnant, the woman must consult a nutritionist or a dietician, and get proper treatment for the problem.

Eating Disorder