A short thread regarding the @MidwivesRCM partnership with a for-profit weight loss company, which I believe is not only inappropriate and alienating women of size, but also potentially harmful... /1

There’s some fairly compelling evidence to suggest that changes in exercise or diet during pregnancy have negligible impact on maternity outcomes... https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(15)00227-2/fulltext">https://www.thelancet.com/journals/... ; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5741924/">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic... ; https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/34/12/2502">https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/3... /2

And not only that, gestational weight loss doesn’t appear to result in better outcomes, it may in fact cause harm https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009334.pub2/full">https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/... ; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0132650">https://journals.plos.org/plosone/a... ; https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1471-0528.13042">https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/... /3

While I agree that nutrition advice for healthful eating should be part of antenatal education- we need to recognise the impact and influence of weight stigma and eating disorders on how this is communicated and received by the women we support. /4

We also need to recognise the complex biological, genetic, social, economic and political influences on weight and treatment of women of size. Partnering with a for-profit weight loss company that profits off failed weight loss attempts is not woman-centred & it’s not right. /5