Breastfeeding Benefits & Barriers: Postpartum weight loss

During pregnancy most women are advised to gain 25 to 30 pounds. This breaks down as follows:

1. The baby will weigh approximately 7 to 8 pounds.

2. Increased uterine blood vessels and amniotic fluid weigh approximately 3-6 pounds.

3. At least 10 pounds of the weight gain are fat stores that are laid down to enable a woman to breastfeed.

Women who choose not to breastfeed will have to diet to lose those ten pounds.

The 10 pounds of stored fat allow a breastfeeding woman to continue to nurse her baby, eat an extra 500 kilocalories a day, and still slowly lose weight over the first six months of breastfeeding.

Obese women who limited their caloric intake to approximately 500 Kcal per day less than their daily normal intake plus lactation needs and exercised 4 days per week averaged a 4.8 Kg. weight loss over 10 weeks of a study. Their infants grew similarly to the infants of a control group of similarly obese women who lost an average of 0.8 Kg. ( Lovelady, 2000 ).

Case Study 2, part A

A mother brings her 2 month old infant in for his routine check-up. He has been growing well on only breast milk, however she plans to wean the baby because she is having "dizzy spells," especially after the first nursing in the morning.