My View: Pregnant women, like all of us, need to take responsibility for health

While our grandmothers were encouraged to eat what they liked while pregnant, we now realise this attitude is causing a crisis among today's generation of expectant mothers.

A new study released by the Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries reveals that more than five per cent of pregnant women in the UK are dangerously overweight. That equals to about 38,000 women whose body mass index is over 35.

The survey warns women about the severe consequences which obesity can have on the health of an unborn child. Woman who are obese run twice the risk of having a stillborn child and also put themselves at risk of developing blood clots and high blood pressure.

Maternal obesity also costs the NHS more, as women are 1.5 times more likely to have a Caesarean birth and their baby to need intensive care treatment after birth. The report also found that maternity services were not geared up to deal with such large numbers of obese women.

The majority of maternity units did not have extra-wide wheelchairs, examination couches, trolleys or beds, even though almost nine in 10 said they looked after obese women.

Almost one in five obstetric units did not have operating tables capable of bearing the extra weight, the report said. In turn, women said the NHS often made them feel like second-class citzens due to their size and claimed they did not receive the care they need.

The report, however, puts the onus on GPs and primary care trusts to better inform mothers-to-be of the risks of obesity to themselves and their unborn babies. But many of these women are obese before they get pregnant and

so the message needs to get out much sooner.

In our grandmothers' day people walked everywhere, they hand-washed most of their clothes and had

much more physically-hard lives than young people

today. Our sedentary lifestyles are wreaking havoc, not just on this generation but on the unborn generation

to follow.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence recently issued guidelines for women considering getting pregnant, and it pulled few punches, stating: "Women who are obese (with a BMI over 30) when they become pregnant face an increased risk of complications such

as diabetes, miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, blood clots

and death." But how do you get that message out there and get people to take any notice?

It needs to start early, but at the end of the day the only people who can decide to eat less bad food, eat more good food and exercise more are the individuals themselves. It is time that we all started to take more responsibility for our actions.