Wondering About Excercising While Nursing

My Doc told me as long as I drank lots of water and ate healthy meals than I could excercise. So just remember those and you should be okay.
Hope this helps!

I had my daughter in May of 08 and ran a half marathon in October of that year.
I breastfed full time. I probably didn't get as much training in as I needed, but I did workout and started to eat better.
I DID have to increase calories for sure! Of course good calories. If you don't do that you will see the supply go down, but that in no way means don't start to train.
Just trust your instincts and watch your body. If you are going too hard at training you will see a reaction in your milk.

I just told myself I would work out and try my best, but not go overboard. I didn't need to win the race... just finish was my goal.
In the end I did WAY better than I thought, so you will be surprised that even normal workouts will help you get ready.
Also remember WATER WATER WATER... and lots of it!

Good luck!

I also dieted and started exercising as soon as I had the green light from my doc after baby #2 - right at 6 weeks. My doctor told me that there is no limit on the exercise, the milk is produced from the nutrients in your body so as long as you have enough to produce the milk you should be ok. I recall doing some research about the calories while nursing and seem to remember that it burns an additional 500 calories per day, so if you're dieting as long as you keep that add'l 500 cal cushion for milk production, you should be ok. Good luck in the triathalon!

Eat more and drink more.

Since you'll be burning extra calories, you'll need the extra nutrients and fluids to keep your supply up. If you keep your diet the same, your milk supply will go down a little bit.

Your milk may be a little salty after exercising. Some babies like it, but most don't mind. He may react a little funny the first few times he nurses after a heavy exercise session.

I don't have any advice because I am in the same boat. I am nursing an almost three month old baby (my first). I am registered for the Spudman Triathlon in July and am wondering how in the world I am going to be ready for it. I still have about fifteen pounds to lose. If you are in the same area and want a training partner send me a message.
I'm in the pleasant grove, Utah area. This thing is supposed to group you by similar area, but I think it doesn't sometimes, just let me know.
I love doing triathlons. I've even been relatively competitive, but this year though my goal is just to be able to finish it.

I have also been training for a triathlon which is coming up next month, and am nursing my baby. She is now almost 9mo old, so older than your baby, but I did start easing into some mild training back when she was just 3wks old. Obviously I kept is low-key for the first couple of months, mostly for recovery sake.

At this point I have been either running or biking 6 days a week with swimming a couple of days as well. I don't go huge distances (I'm just doing a sprint), but will have days when I run 5mi and have a few block training days thrown in as well. I have found that as long as I am getting enough to drink throughout each day and eating enough as well that my supply isn't affected too much. I have noticed it dwindle a bit two times, but increasing my hydration and adding oatmeal back into my diet daily (as well as the occasional rootbeer-which isn't helpful for training but is great for milk supply!), as well as adding an extra nursing or two into the day have fixed it.
I will mention though that it all has taken a bit of a toll on me; I am one of those people that never gets sick and since really starting to work harder while nursing I have gotten sick much more easily, causing me to tone things down a bit. Stinks for me, but I'd rather continue nursing, and I'm not doing the tri for a competitive finish time but just to finish and have actually done it, so for me it's not the end of the world.

Just make sure you start easy and gradually build up so training isn't a total shock to your system! And good luck!

This is probably an individual thing, but I started running 5 weeks after having my daughter and was up to 50 mi/week by the time she was about 3 mos. with no effect on my milk supply. There are some who say that lactic acid can be an issue, so a lot of anerobic (sp??)exercise might effect milk quality. I nursed my daughter until 2 years old with no negative effects. One warning: I found that I seemed to be more likely to develop tendinitis during that time. Some suggested hormones were to blame - so pay attention to aches and pains just in case.

Congrats on your growing family an your breastfeeding relationship! I have three boys, too, and it is so much fun!
Your body burns 500 to 600 extra calories a day to lactate. This means if you are eating to hunger (not more) and not choosing high-fat junk (too many cookies, chips, etc.) your caloric intake will naturally be sufficient to sustain lactation and probably even let you lose some weight at a nice, steady 1 to 2 pounds a week.
Studies on exercising moms who had issues with lactic acid in their milk were done 20 years ago on elite runners who were training for pre-Olympic marathon-type events. If this describes you, maybe you could be concerned, but most healthy, athletic women are not running themselves into such a low percentage of body fat or for that long.
Milk production is all supply and demand, so it is absolutely key that you keep milk moving out of your breasts to encourage your body to keep producing. If you take good care of yourself and nurse on cue as often as you can--espcially in the early morning hours when prolactin hormone levels are at a peak- your supply should meet your baby's needs just fine. Being apart because of long trainings and not nursing often enough is a far greater risk to your supply than any kind of caloric deficit. (BTW, studies in African war zones have shown that mothers in famine conditions produce nutritionally perfect breast milk.)
You might appreciate the book "Eat well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding." It's been republished recently with some updates and is basic, but generally useful. Also consider contacting your local La Leche League Leader for free, friendly, accurate help with breastfeeding questions, a way to borrow parenting and breastfeeding books fo free, and an opportunity to connect with other nursing moms. You can find her at www.llli.org.
Best wishes!

Hey C.! Congrats for training for the triathlon! That's great. I started back up my running and exercising routine at about 5 weeks after delivery with no issues. I am doing the Ogden 1/2 marathon next month and am also Breastfeeding.

I would say making sure you are drinking enough water is one of the most important things. Exercise, even strenuous, should not decrease milk supply if you are eating right and getting plenty of fluids. I have even heard the lactic acid and taste thing is not really true. You burn about 800 extra Calories if you are exclusively (no formula, solids or anything else) Breastfeeding. And they recommend eating an extra 500 Calories a day above what you needed pre-pregnancy while breastfeeding. So depending on how much you are training you'll want to increase that even more.

So I hope that helps, Good Luck!

well I'm not an expert but I'll tell you what I have done. I did diet to loose the baby weight with baby #2 and I didn't have any trouble with my milk supply. To give you an Idea I am 5"3 weighed 115 before getting pregnant gained 28 lbs while pregnant and now with my baby being 3 months old I am 117. I was eating between 1500 to 1800 calories a day and that was enough for me to loose weight and still have plenty of milk. So I don't know if that gives you a guide line or not but that is what I did. Also a high protein diet helps to keep your milk supply up. So I eat lots of chicken and snack on healthy stuff like nuts.

I don't know too much, but I remember that the lactic acid that builds up during heavy exercise makes it into your breastmilk. It's not bad for the baby, but many of them don't like the taste and will stop nursing. So I would be sure to build up your routine very gradually so you don't end up with lots of sore muscles. Sore muscles are caused by the lactic acid, so if you don't have very sore muscles, your breastmilk's lactic acid levels will stay low.

Hi C. - you can certainly do the training and still breastfeed. I have been training for the last 3 months for my first 1/2 marathon while breastfeeding my baby girl (now 8 1/2 months). I have not had any milk supply issues. You need about 500 extra calories/day for milk production, and probably even a little extra while training. Just keep up your water intake and don't cut your calories too much and you'll be fine. I just pump before training to make sure I don't have full breasts while training.
Are you looking at doing the Danskin tri? I did it as a team with my mom and sister 3 years ago. It was a great experience!
Best of luck!
J.