I'm always surprised to find articles about breastfeeding in the New York Times, but I was shocked when I realized that I know the mother and baby whose picture is prominently displayed at the top! We met a little while back at a breastfeeding group I run, and I think she had some of the most sensible comments in the piece.
The article states:
...Is it any wonder that some new mothers are quietly thrilled at the calorie cushion that breast-feeding provides? “Nobody wants to admit they are doing it for themselves, or ‘I’m doing it to help myself look hot again,’ ” said Jesse Comer, from Portland, Ore., [not the mother I met] whose main motivation to breast-feed was her baby’s health. “It’s tough to admit to other people that everything isn’t about the baby.” But Ms. Comer, like many mothers interviewed for this article, “felt like until the weight was off, I wouldn’t feel myself.”
For those incredibly shrinking women, the time they nurse is precious not only for its skin-on-skin cuddling, but also for the Get Out of Dieting Jail Free card that comes with it.
But does breast-feeding actually speed weight loss in postpartum women? It depends.
Last year, and epidemiological study of 36,000 Danish women found that the more a mother breast-feeds, the less weight she retains six months after birth. A few factors determined how much she lost: whether a woman was overweight before pregnancy, what she gained while expecting and duration of nursing, said Kathleen M. Rasmussen, an author of the study and a nutrition professor at Cornell.
So here's the thing about the guilt some of us feel when we experience weight loss with breastfeeding: It may feel like it's about vanity, but it's actually about your health. Numerous studies have shown that breastfeeding protects mothers against weight and metabolism related health problems, including diabetes, heart attack, coronary artery disease, obesity, and the high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance associated with metabolic syndrome. Researchers attribute this to the weight loss and metabolism shifts that occur during breastfeeding. Not burning off the weight - which your body added during pregnancy as a fuel source for breastfeeding whether you intended to breastfeed or not - puts you at a higher risk for these and other health problems. So it's not just about fitting into your old clothes. It's about your health.
Still feeling selfish for loving, as one of the stars of Ugly Betty put it, "nature's lipo?" Just keep in mind this quote in the article from breastfeeding advocate Marsha Walker: “We deserve it. She ought to get into those skinny jeans after 9 months of pregnancy and 20 hours of labor. That’s what I tell mothers. Go for it.”
I know it doesn't work for everyone, and the article points that out. My own observations: Some women appear at a month as if they've never been pregnant, while others seem to have a huge appetite during breastfeeding and hold onto some of the weight until they wean. Some mothers lose it gradually at first but lose more rapidly after the 6 month mark. And some women struggle with the last few pounds until they wean, while others go well under their pre-pregnancy weight. (This happened to me, and it wasn't pretty. Between the hair loss, sleep deprivation, and extreme weight loss I looked a little like a prisoner of war.) A few years ago I polled you (open with Explorer) on this topic, and I think the results show this, um, spread.
So, do you feel guilty for loving the calorie burn?
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