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A major concern most new mothers have is how quickly they will regain their pre-pregnancy shape. For most, this is impossible due to the stretching and expanding of the hips during pregnancy. However, weight loss and body toning can be done, but should be done slowly in nursing mothers.
Breastfeeding actually can cause weight loss in a nursing mother, because it expends about 500 extra calories a day. However, medical professionals advise that you need to eat that many extra calories in your diet to provide adequate nutrition for your diet. So, although breastfeeding can actually cause weight loss, for the nursing mother it may be more a matter of weight maintenance as she cannot safely diet as soon as a non-breastfeeding mother.
You should not enter into any strenuous dieting programs while breastfeeding for several reasons, the most important one being that if you starve your body of essential nutrients you are thereby starving your infant. Breastfeeding also takes a toll on the body and a proper diet helps keep up energy which is already low due to the responsibilities of caring for a newborn.
The best course of action for a nursing mother is to seek gradual weight reduction. The common rule of thumb that is considered safe by most medical professionals is to lose no more than two and a half pounds per month during the months you are nursing. That way, you’ll still have dropped 15 pounds at six-months post-partum and 20 pounds by eight months. At nine months post-partum you’ll most likely have lost most of the weight that you put on in the prior nine months while pregnant. This is a healthy weight loss for a nursing mother that should not compromise the nutrition of her infant.
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