Exercising and Breastfeeding

I breastfed both my babes and exercised 4 days a week....30 minutes cardio and about 15 weights for each work-out. The only thing that decreased my milk supply is lack of fluids. I was also a working mom who had to pump. Just drink plenty of fluids and you should be fine.

Off hand I dont know the general answer.

Anything that stresses the body WILL reduce your supply.
Reducing your pumping WILL reduce your supply.

Is your baby fully feeding from you?

An option is to maybe walk a bit more? Getting exercise and not stressing your body.

Your daughter will be feeding from you for such a short time try and focus on her and her needs, you will have many many years to make your membership work for its self in years to come ...

Congratulations and kudos to you for nursing!

Keep nursing, go exercise and remember to drink lots of fluids and eat well. There is no reason not to exercise.

Good Luck and enjoy your baby!
J.

I never heard of that before. Like the previous poster said, dehydration can cause low milk supply.

Eat oatmeal!!! That will boost your supply. Also, fenugreek tablets will help. Contact your local Le Leche group.

So I have breastfed all of my kids and pumped. Exercise will not decrease your milk.... The fact that you are not pumping as much as you think you should is why you are decreasing milk. You need to drink extra water because you exercise but also because you are a nursing mama.
If you are weight lifting I would avoid doing any kind of push ups or upper chest weights but as far as stopping all together that is not necissary.

Kathleen C

I breastfed my son until he was almost 12 months old and I've noticed that while I did yoga and some light exercising- it actually helped my milk supply. It seemed to flow easier.

I have never read either that exercising decreases the milk supply. Thinking about it, if you're working it would probably be better for you to exercise because the milk will be easier obtained. (In my observation). Plus, you feel better about yourself which also a plus!

I hope I helped!

As far as I know exercising will not decrease milk supply but dehydration will. Make sure you drink a lot of water to replace what you sweat out.

well,
i want you to know that breastfeeding in itself is exersize!
i breastfed my son until he self weaned at 19 months. in that time, without doing any exersize except maybe the occasional walk here and there, i lost 5 lbs OVER what i gained with my son - and i gained over 50 lbs!!

so just keep nursing, keep breastfeeding. your work should allow you to pump as often as you need to - im sure there are rules protecting working moms in that way. as other employees who have maybe done it, or go right to your boss (however this step requires you be knowledgeable about the rules)
you should be able to find the rules online. i know one of the parents magazines had something on their website about it.

I know that being dehydrated can cause your milk supply to go down and you might be dehydrated with lots of exercise, but I am sure that if you kept hydrated everything would be fine. My sister-in-law trained for and ran in a marathon while breastfeeding.

I've never heard that before. Some women say after they exercise, baby doesn't like the taste of the milk, but it doesn't decrease your supply (unless, like the other commenters said, you're dehydrated).

I asked a similar question a couple months ago and there are so many exercising mamas out there who will say that exercise actually increases your supply. If you're able to find my original question (about jogging) I think you'll find a lot of reassurance there about exercising. I'd say, go for it! Besides, when you exercise, you'll naturally want to eat healthier and drink more water, which is all good for making milk! :)

There is absolutely no reason to skip exercising. Just be sure to stay EXTRA hydrated. Especially if your work out makes you sweat a lot. YOu'll need lots of water.

I exercised heavily during the year I breastfed my son. I had no supply problem as long as I drank plenty of water before, during, and after exercise. I also tried to time my workouts so that I could wait one hour after intense exercise so that my body could clear any lactic acid that might make the milk taste different.