In twin pregnancies, women gain around 10 to 18 kg, which means that they are 3 to 6 kg more than in a single fetus pregnancy. Despite the increase in weight gain, the twins should be born with an average of 2.4 to 2.7 kg, weight slightly below the desired 3 kg when giving birth to a single baby.
When triplets are pregnant, the average total weight case should be 22 to 27 kg, and it is important to achieve a gain of 16 kg by the 24th week of pregnancy to avoid complications for babies, such as low weight and short length at born.
Weekly Weight Gain Chart
The weekly weight gain during pregnancy of twins varies according to the woman's BMI before pregnancy, and varies as shown in the following table:
| BMI | 0-20 weeks | 20-28 weeks | 28 weeks until delivery |
| Low BMI | 0.57 to 0.79 kg / week | 0.68 to 0.79 kg / week | 0.57 kg / week |
| Normal BMI | 0.45 to 0.68 kg / week | 0.57 to 0.79 kg / week | 0.45 kg / week |
| Overweight | 0.45 to 0.57 kg / week | 0.45 to 0.68 kg / week | 0.45 kg / week |
| Obesity | 0.34 to 0.45 kg / week | 0.34 to 0.57 kg / week | 0.34 kg / week |
To find out what your BMI was before you became pregnant, enter your data into our BMI calculator:
It is also important to remember that the more fetuses there are in pregnancy, the greater the woman's weight gain should be.
Why adequate weight gain is important
Adequate weight gain is important in any pregnancy, but it becomes even more worrying in the pregnancy of twins due to the greater risk of premature birth and birth of babies with low weight and short length, which compromises the health of children.
In addition, special attention should be paid to gaining adequate weight until the 24th week, as adequate gain reduces the chances of premature delivery. On average, in pregnancy with twins the woman should gain about 10.8 kg by the 24th week, and in pregnancy with triplets this gain should be 16 kg.
Dangers of excess weight gain
Despite having to gain more weight than in a single fetus pregnancy, during pregnancy with twins, care must also be taken not to gain too much weight, as it increases the risk of complications such as:
- Pre-eclampsia, which is the increase in blood pressure; Gestational diabetes; Need for caesarean delivery; One of the babies is much more weight than the other, or both are very heavy, leading to a very premature delivery.
So, to avoid these complications it is important to have a close monitoring with the obstetrician, who will indicate if the weight gain for the gestational period is adequate.
Find out what care should be taken during the pregnancy of twins.
