breast feeding and exercise

[mummy277]

Hi I would like to know what types of exericse can i do whilst breast feeding?
Ive heard many things about how toxins can get into the milk etc.

I would obviously start of slow, fast pased walks and using my stepper at home etc but then after about 4wks i would like to rejoin the gym and do my classes again.
spinning 2x wk & body balance 2 x wk

I would also like to rejoin slimming world extra easy option.
I am vegetarian if this also a problem (however i do eat fish, ppl laugh at me when i say this)

I intend of bf and expressing after 4 wks of our little boy getting used to bf so that my partner and family can help out now and then and i dont feel like a milking machine like i did with my daughter.

please can somebody advise me on what to do.

Also whilst im asking a question can i ask what i should do if i were to have a few drinks after baby, i have an engagement party to organise :-) , like i say i will be bf and i have an expresser, whats the rule for drinking? can it be done and can i just express the naughty milk out and throw away?

I agree, there is a load of contradictory rubbish out there!

There is no evidence toxins get into the milk with exercise.

You might be thinking of lactic acid, which some studies found present in milk after strenuous exercise, but this is harmless - it may affect taste, though. You avoid it by waiting a few mins after strenuous exercise before bf :)

No need to pump and dump after drinking - eaisest thing to do is to search alcohol and breastfeeding on mumsnet, where you will get all the details.

Kellymom is also a great resource.

I had an emcs so eased back into exercising with walking from 2 weeks, working up to running by 8 weeks. I workout regularly, run, cycle, walk, do a few classes here and there.

I did research the toxins thing but as tiktok says, there's no evidence. And having successfully bf two babies without issue whilst exercising (not at exactly the same time obviously), I've never had a problem.

This is obviously not a scientific study- just my personal experience...! I went back to the gym when dd was 3 weeks old and started running/more strenuous stuff when she was 9 weeks old. She was end until 8 months old and I never had an problem. Tiktok mentions reports of the effects of strenuous exercise- and it was properly strenuous- I looked up the study when I was checking what I could do. Unless you are thinking of flinging heavy weights around or doing a hard sprints session as part of your 10 mile run, you really don't need to worry. I did weight training, 5 mile runs, kickboxing DVDs etc. Never a problem.

ebf not end!

If people laugh when you say you eat fish...that's because you're a pescartarian, not a vegetarian!

Sorry...not very helpful!

i used to say pescartarian but people just stared blankly at me lol...

ok thanks for the responses, so long as spinning isnt considered heavy exercise it should be ok as thats going to be the hardest of the workouts.
Body balance is more toning using yoga and pilates etc.

i am glad :-) got to remember how it all goes now, i have baby brain and i had my dd 2 yrs ago and i cant remember anything, when they feed or anything or if its safe to go to the gym for 2hrs and leave him with his daddy who has no functional breasts to feed him with if he were to get hungry lol

Spinning could count tbh if you put your all into a session....but as Tiktok says, the effects aren't long lasting so still shouldn't be a show stopper. I used to feed DD until she was just about bursting, hand her to DH and go. Would always be back within 90 minutes and she rarely needing feeding, even when little. Running even better for this, as you can just put your trainers on and go - no faffing round getting to gym etc.

when I BFed DS all the advice said don't pump n dump, but I always did because my BM CHANGED COLOUR if I'ld had alcohol! it had a horrible greyish tint instead of its usual nice creamy colour!

Maybe when you expressed after drinking, you had gone longer than usual after feeding - there would be proportionately less fat when you expressed and the milk would look less creamy.

I can't think alcohol would change the colour of it - can't think how that would work. Ethanol itself is colourless. Some green-tinted foods can make breastmilk look greenish so colour can get into breastmilk somehow, but have never heard that alcohol did this :)