Updated March of Dimes CineMama app helps women to track their weight gain during pregnancy

Gaining too much or too little weight during pregnancy can have serious health consequences for your baby. The updated March of Dimes CineMama app helps moms-to-be track their weight gain as well as make a time-lapse movie of their pregnancy. The app is free and available for both iOS and android devices.

The "CineMama" app debuted in 2013 enabling women to create a time-lapse video of their pregnancy while getting health tips along the way, and to date, more than 120,000 women have downloaded it. Now, the app has added a pregnancy weight tracker to help women know whether they are gaining a healthy amount of weight during their pregnancy. The pregnancy weight tracker is provided through a grant from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and based on the scientific findings from a 2009 IOM report that determined guidelines for healthy weight gain during pregnancy.

Women who gain too little are more likely to have a low birthweight baby (less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces). Women who gain too much are more likely to have a premature baby, who is at risk for breathing problems, jaundice, and intellectual delays. Excessive weight gain also may contribute to conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure, which can cause problems during pregnancy.

"Many women think they can double the amount of calories they eat once they are pregnant," says Siobhan Dolan, MD, a medical advisor to the March of Dimes. "But the reality is they only need an extra 300 calories a day - that's one extra healthy snack a day."

CineMama is part of the March of Dimes "Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait" educational campaign, which focuses on the importance of a full term pregnancy. The campaign encourages women to wait for labor to begin on its own and reminds health care providers to not schedule a delivery before at least 39 weeks of pregnancy, unless there is a medical necessity. Important development of the brain, lungs and other organs occurs during the last weeks of pregnancy.