My guess it that a lot of these pregorexia women were already anorexic. I have a friend now who I think is anorexic and was pregorexic during both of her pregnancies. We became friends during her first pregnancy. She does not eat very much and she even told me once (a year later) that during her first pregnancy she would wake up hungry in the middle of night during her third trimester hungry but she would not eat because she was so worried that she would get too big and not be able to get back to her weight right away. She then told me that she thought she would be better the next time she got pregnant though since she did get back to her weight right away. Unfortunately, this was not true. She seemed to be worse this 2nd pregnancy. She even was put on bed rest in the 3rd trimester because the baby was measuring smaller that it should have been but this really only made it worse, she ate even less while she was on bed rest and actually lost weight. I also noticed that the more people talked to her about eating more, the less she ate. This is a scary disease!

The baby came out preemie sized even though it was full term and then she breastfed while not eating much and only let the baby eat every 3 hours on the dot and only nursed her on one side each feeding. When she got on solids she only fed the baby fruits and veggies and only beans and eggs for protein and refuses to give the baby whole milk. She lets the baby eat only 3 times a day with the rest of the family most of the time. The baby stayed small and still is small (about the size of a small 1 year old and will be 2 soon!) but is otherwise normal, amazingly! The hilarious part is that my friend thinks her baby is just a “small person” she is in TOTAL denial about the connection to her not eating enough while pregnant and nursing and not feeding her tiny kid more often now.

She is trying to get pregnant again and I would LOVE to find some facts on what can happen when you do not eat enough while pregnant and nursing.. I tried to find some before and I did find some but not too much. I tried to show some of what I found to her husband but unfortunately he was in denial too and told me that he did not think she was eating any less than her first pregnancy and their first baby was fine (that child is normal sized but does have serve eye health issues but I am not sure if this is related). I tried to explain to him that this was her 2nd pregnancy and the babies are like parasites and they suck out what they need from the mom but that this was the 2nd time so there was less to take. As I said he was in denial though and then just avoided me for a while after this.

I am hoping with some more facts I can try to talk to him again this time and maybe he will believe me now or at least take more of it to heart since their 2nd baby is not obviously a normal size. I am scared to think what will happen this time if she does manage to get pregnant again.

Does anyone know where I can find some facts or evidence? Anyone have advice on how to handle this? How to help? Last time it seemed the more anyone tried to talk about it the less she ate because it is a control thing. As stated above in this article these women do not tell everything to their doctors so it is not always easy to figure out that someone has this disease. Maybe this time her husband will get some guts and tell her doctor the truth so she and the fetus can get help!

Nature gave us pregnancy as a time for preparation and consideration of the momentous experience of birth and parenthood. A time for the mind and body and spirit to gather their resources in expectation and joy. Have we become so self-centered that our dimensions take priority over the little person being formed?

Shocking.
Thank you.

Is there any research that you are aware of that “pregorexia” causes pre-term labor or impedes the development of the fetus?

(Personally, I started out slightly over-weight, so the 17 pounds I gained was perfect.)

Those were the good-old-days before the media infatuation with baby-bumps.

Like Mia, my first thought upon reading this was Hellloooo, Nicole Kidman!

And I agree, Jen. Funny title.