Researchers have said that a mother’s weight gain during pregnancy leads to determining a baby’s weight at birth.

About 1.2 million new born babies were observed and it was seen that babies born to women who gained more than 24 kg weighed about 148.9 g or 5.2 oz more than babies who were born to women who gained just eight to 10 kg.

David S. Ludwig, MD, of Children's Hospital in Boston, and Janet Currie, PhD, of Columbia University in New York City, said, "In view of the apparent association between birth weight and adult weight, obesity prevention efforts targeted at women during pregnancy might be beneficial for offspring."

But it was stated that it was easy to recommend obesity prevention than actually accomplishing it, two researchers from the University of California Los Angeles said.

Neal Halfon, MD, MPH, and Michael C. Lu, MD, MPH, noted that weight gains above the officially recommended limits was there in a third of pregnancies involving normal-weight women and half of those with overweight mothers.

They said, "Research is urgently needed into how to help women of reproductive age attain and maintain a healthy weight before and during pregnancy."