Weight Gain (IOM)

In the 1950s, doctors restricted women to gaining no more than 15 lbs to keep babies small and deliveries easy, which led to a crisis of neurodevelopmental delays and cerebral palsy from starving fetuses. The pendulum swung too far in the 1990s ("eat whatever you want"), creating the modern maternal obesity crisis. The 2009 IOM guidelines finally struck the perfect, evidence-based middle ground.