Off air ... Jackie O. Photo: Getty Images
Pregnant radio personality Jackie O is currently on bed rest, as her unborn baby is small for dates.
The star will remain at Sydney’s Mater hospital on full bed rest until the birth of her baby after reporting complications with her pregnancy.
"I went in for a routine check-up on Thursday and because it's an IVF baby it's actually quite small so I've been ordered to stay in hospital for the rest of the time and hopefully things improve," she told her co-host Kyle Sandilands on air on Monday morning.
The 35-year-old is expecting her first child with husband Lee Henderson in December.
Concerned about this possible complication of IVF treatment, we asked Associate Professor Peter Illingworth from IVF Australia if it is true that IVF can cause low-weight babies.
“No, it's not a normal complication of an IVF pregnancy. The birthweight of singleton IVF babies is exactly the same as the birthweight of singleton non-IVF babies - there's no difference at all in the average birthweight.” he said.
Anxiety can be pronounced in mothers who conceive by artificial reproductive technology and Dr Illingworth suggests that this can sometimes result in extra monitoring during pregnancy.
“When babies are small-predict, that's always a concern for the mother and the family involved... It's not the case that an IVF mother is more likely to have a smallweight baby but if it does happen the doctors are that much more careful as the couple have spent so long trying to conceive."
Jackie O announced her pregnancy in July this year, saying that she and her husband and turned to IVF after attempting to conceive naturally for months.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, he birthweight of a child is widely accepted as a key indicator of infant health and can be affected by a number of factors, including the age, size, health and nutritional status of the mother as well as premature birth.
