Maternal obesity and the importance of nutrition. Lessons from a first year elective placement.

Obesity is an issue seen more and more in the media, and is a leading cause of death and health complications worldwide (World Health Organization (WHO) 2014). Antenatally, women are classified as obese or overweight at booking and their midwifery care is altered accordingly, which may lead to further stress. A lot is known about the apparent dangers of obesity but not much is known about the malnourishment of obese pregnant women and the potential harm their diet could be doing to the fetus. The focus needs to be shifted from the dangers of obesity on to the importance of nutrition for both mother and fetus and the role midwives could play in this issue.