What are you having? She's already 5 weeks old... Gaaah! Safe weight-loss while breast-feeding?

[peacefuleasyfeeling]

I see there is a lot of wisdom and expertise in this topic, and I think I need some of both.

DD2 is 5 weeks old today. I just popped into my local Co-Op with DD1, and the woman behind the till cheerily asked me "Do you know what you're having yet?", gesturing toward my post-pregnancy tummy (she's been asking the same question every week since she learnt I was pregnant). I feel so upset, given that I apparently, at 5 weeks post partum, still look 9 months pregnant!? Wtaf! I didn't really care until this lady made her comment. But I have put on so much more weight this pregnancy, and 15 kg are still hanging around (pre-pregnany 65 kg, now 80 kg on a 173 cm frame). With DD1 the extra weight just dropped off within a couple of weeks... I came back from the shop in floods of tears, now I feel so embarassed and sad to have cried so much in front of DD1.

I've been lucky enough never to have to think much about weight-loss, so am not that clued up on how to go about it. As I'm breastfeeding I don't want to go on a strict diet as such. I notice pretty much straight away if I'm not getting enough calories, as my milk supply goes right down. But surely I don't have to lug this extra weight around?

I have limited opportunities to exerise, so wonder what advice you can give me regarding

a) safe calorie reduction while breastfeeding; is it possible, or even worth it?
b) clever ways of exercising with / around 2 small DCs (in addition to the obvious looong buggy walks); do exercise dvds actually work for instance?

I'm not getting much sleep at the moment, with a newborn and a 3 year old sleep refusnik, does that have an impact on weight?

I'm looking forward to getting a bit wiser and motivated if anyone has any ideas to share. Apologies if this has been extensively covered elsewhere, I'm just too tired and weepy to look properly.

Oh my goodness . Just as well you waited!

That sounds awful, hope you can get it sorted soon. Can you not even do gentle walking?

I had a 14 finger split! Now it's around 9 and I'm still working on it. It's not that awful although I was horrified when I found out. Google the tupler technique, there is one uk practitioner, Rachel and she is lovely. Based in London which is easy for me but lots of people travel to see her. She does free checks about once a month and her business is called tummy tribe.

Basically it involve hundreds and hundreds of kegel like exercises for the tummy while wearing a splint. You wear the splint 24 hours a day and it's a bit uncomfortable but not that bad. I have not done it diligently but plan to knuckle down properly as soon as my 8 month old is sleeping through. even with my half-arsed approach I have seen a massive difference in my tummy.

Other basic rules are NO situps ever, avoid twisty exercise like tennis or golf. They told me I could do cardio like running but not to lift weights until I has strengthened my traverse muscle (which is the key to supporting the recti to allow them to heal)

Link here tummytribe.com/wp/

Darn, try again tummytribe.com/wp/

I had DC3 7 months ago and what I found each time was that I wasn't one of those women who lost weight super quick while breastfeeding, each time it started to come off after the 6 month mark.

I took it easy after each birth and ate a tub of Ben and jerry's every night and just after 6 months I dropped 1-2 dress sizes without doing anything different. I've literally just gone from a large size 12/small 14 to a normal size 10 in A couple of weeks with no lifestyle changes.
I wouldn't cut calories I would go out for walks, put baby in a sling if you can or push a pushchair with lots of shopping around town!

If you want to eat healthily though, I'd recommend looking at paleo diets etc.

Aw, thanks, TheYoni and Vivi.

I did get my physio referal today and this doctor was much more positive and less scare-mongering (and rather quite humorous), so I feel relieved and cautiously optimistic. I did see the Tupler Technique mentioned; great to hear personally from you, Yoni, I might contact Rachel and see when might be a good time to have an assessment.

I am going to make a list to take to the physio of things I do which are fundamental to my comfort and enjoyment and see if I can still do them; wearing a sling, bfing positions, cycling, picking up my older daughter as well as the baby (GP suggested this was off the menu from now on) etc. Hopefully it won't have quite as drastic an impact on my life as GP suggested.

Thanks again, everyone!

Hi again - peaceful glad you are being positive. One thing I did learn from DD1 is that the body does hold on to weight after you've had bub for a few months - breastfeeding or not. With DD1 I suddenly lost loads at 6 months post partum - and I'd not been dieting. So take care xxx

Hi peaceful, thanks for updating this thread & hope you and your lo are doing well!

Quick question if you don't mind, I had my dd 9 wks ago and have been wondering about the split abdomen and how you know if you have it!? My docs dont do a 6 wk check (it went something like 'how do you feel'? 'im ok' 'you can exercise then'....) so not sure who I can ask - basically my q is that in retrospect can you now feel you have it? I've tried checking myself but dont really know what I'm feeling for! Also did your doc say whether your tum sticking out (as you say upthread) is an indicator?I dont really have this but am still paranoid and really want to start doing core stuff (am doing couch25k already)

Tia!

Hi there, Dotty. I specifically asked my GP to check, just to make sure. I felt too sensitive to prod about in my abdomen myself in order to try to self-diagnose, which might be an indicator in itself, as it just feels too weird; all tender and squidgy. I'm not sure whether the protruding tummy is an indicator necessarily. In fact, I'm almost certain it isn't, as a few of the women I've seen offering diastasis recti exercise programmes on YouTube (during the course of my frantic research...) have tummies like wash boards yet say things like "Since doing this gentle workout, I've now reduced my diastasis recti to two fingers wide!" so no must be the answer. Why don't you go back to your GP and just get them to have a feel; it seemed pretty easy and took 30 seconds, so hardly a waste of their time.
Good luck!

There are how-to videos on YouTube if you search under 'diastasis recti'. Most women have some separation after pregnancy and the experts seem to agree that 1-2 fingers is fine and liveable with. Anything over 4 seems to pose more of a problem (back problems, lack of core strength and risk of hernia).

Women's health physios can check you too.