Eating for Three

Supplements and diet are critical during pregnancy, but just as important for women expecting twins, is a specific pattern of weight gain. Luke analyzed over 2,324 pregnancies resulting in 4,684 infants in a study published in 2003 in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. Her findings conclude that women who delivered twins of good weight at between thirty six and thirty eight weeks gestation followed a specific weight-gain pattern. Therefore, she advises women of normal weight to gain between 1 and 1.5 pounds a week until the twentieth week of pregnancy and between 1.25 and 1.75 pounds a week from the twentieth week until the twenty eighth week.  She also advises to slow back down to gaining 1.25 pounds a week in the final stretch, after the twenty ninth week. This allows for a total weight gain of between forty and fifty four pounds. Women who are underweight or overweight before conception have different goals that Luke outlines in her book.

“We’ve seen wonderful results with this pattern of weight gain allowing women to  deliver at term and at six pounds. Moms with the biggest babies had big weight gain early on,” she explains.

And, as any pregnant woman is excruciatingly aware, you only get one chance to grow healthy babies. See your physician as soon as possible to discuss nutrition, supplements, and weight gain if you are pregnant with twins or suspect that you are. For instance, if you are having fertility treatments, the likelihood of having multiples is much higher, says Luke.  So when you become pregnant, you may want to assume you are having twins and follow a diabetic diet from the beginning.

Interesting Twin Facts: While twins account for only about 3 percent of all live births in the United States, they are disproportionately represented among the premature, low-birth-weight and growth-retarded infant populations. As compared to “singletons”: -Twins are five times more likely to be born premature. -Twins are ten times more likely to have low birth weight. -Twins are seven times more likely to die before their first birthday.   For more information: “Body Mass Index-Specific Weight Gains Associated with Optimal Birth Weights in Twin Pregnancies,”