Being a mother is the best feeling in the world but during this period, finess of the mother is severely compromised.
Whenever a mother conceives, many questions come to her mind like, whether she will properly breastfeed her baby, how will she get to know if baby is satisfied with her milk, dows she need to eat more to produce more milk, can she do exercises during period of breastfeeding, etc.
Now let me tell you about important points about breastfeeding and exercise.
Prolactin and oxytocin are the two hormones which control the milk production and ejection respectively. As the lactation period starts, pituitary gland starts to produce these hormones in higher amounts.
Prolactin is produced more during the night. This helps in making mother feel sleepy and better.
Oxytocin reflex is also known as let down or milk ejection reflex. This Hormone helps in ejection of already produced milk so that the child can easily get the milk.
Exercise decreases the stress and depression. There are many exercises which improves fitness and mental health of the mother without affecting the breastfeeding process.
1. Start with simple exercises. Consult a physiotherapist. Walking is a good exercise. You can start cardio training and circuit training after 6 weeks of delivery.
2. Consume a healthy and balanced diet. Consume nearly 2400 calories daily because if you would exercise without taking enough calories, it would affect the milk production.
3. Drink 3-4 litres of water daily because the milk contains 80% water. Do not let yourself dehydrate before or after the workout.
4. After the exercise, do some meditation. This helps the mind to get some rest.
5. Sometimes due to exercise, lactic acid gets accumulated in the blood flow which leads to bitterness in the milk. In such cases, if the child refuses to drink the milk, eject some milk out and then feed the baby.
Thank You.