Babies of obese mothers are three times more likely to die in their first month.
New research today also revealed that severely overweight women were more at risk from complications, and were more likely to give birth early.
The team, who studied more than 187,000 first-time Scottish mothers, found the most obese women were more likely to give birth to a dangerously underweight child. High blood pressure caused by obesity also increases the chances of a woman suffering from potentially fatal pre-eclampsia.
Professor Gordon Smith, who led the researchers from Glasgow and Cambridge Universities, warned the surging obesity crisis was storing up serious problems for the future.
He added: "The way to prevent these outcomes is to address the problem of obesity directly."
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