John Salmon said all pregnant women put on weight but “it’s very easy to put on too much weight”.

The impact of this could lead to “weight creep” for the mother, where that extra weight is never lost, and a baby with excess fat on its body.

“We know that bigger kids finish up more at risk of infant obesity, and then childhood obesity and adult obesity,” Dr Salmon said.

“Fifteen years ago we didn’t even weigh our antenatal patients.

“They are also gaining more weight during their pregnancy now than they were 20 years ago by a factor of four or five kilograms in weight.” 

He will discuss ways a regional hospital can help limit this weight gain at Sunday’s conference for obstetricians/gynaecologists in Albury.

“The peculiar thing about pregnancy is it’s probably one of those times when people are really, really motivated for those eight or nine months and we should harness that energy,” Dr Salmon said.

Interactive websites and smart phone apps could be a better way to inform and engage patients, rather than more expensive interventions like regular visits to a dietitian.

“So I think the way forward is electronically,” the specialist said. “The research on it is still limited, but it’s encouraging. The advice is really simple, it’s dripping with commonsense, really.”

Participants in a Wodonga study last year received an individual weight gain tracking chart and tips on healthy eating and exercise.

Letiesha Roberts, 35, whose second child was born at Wodonga hospital in June, found the assistance helpful.

“Because a lot of that information you really don’t know unless you’re doing your own research,” she said.

“It just made me think about things a bit more and look at the choices that we make.”

Another patient, 36, said she put on weight quickly early in her pregnancy because she was “eating for two”.

“After changing my eating, my weight stabilised; I feel more energetic and no longer bloated,” she said.

Albury Wodonga Health operational director of women’s and children’s services Julie Wright said ideally, healthy habits would continue beyond pregnancy.

“Heart disease, high blood pressure, there’s a whole range of diseases that go with being overweight, it’s a long-term health issue for those women,” she said.

“This is the rest of their life and it’s also about their children.

“Because we know if the mothers have the wrong message or don’t have an appropriate diet, you see it in the kids.”