Pregnancy & Eating Disorders

When Jennifer became pregnant, she was nervous about how she would handle gaining weight. The recovered anorexic from Hartford, Connecticut, had once whittled her 5'6" frame down to 80 pounds by eating only 200 calories a day. Fortunately, Jennifer sought treatment for her problem in college, undergoing six months of psychotherapy.

Though her doctors consider her recovered, she feels her issues are far from over. "Disordered eating is something that never leaves you," Jennifer says. "Even if you're not doing the behaviors, you're thinking about them."

Once synonymous with the preteen and supermodel set, eating disorders have now found a place in pregnancy. And while there is little data on the number of moms-to-be who have these problems, a study in the International Journal of Eating Disorders reveals that as many as 1 percent of pregnant women struggle with these issues. Here's why getting the facts about eating disorders -- and their treatment -- is important to you and your baby.