Of all the touted benefits of breastfeeding, the idea that I would effortlessly lose all of the baby weight was a major motivator for me. Unfortunately, in my case, it turned out to be false. I breastfed my eldest child for a year and a half, and lost most of my pregnancy weight within the first month, but then I started regaining it. My experience has been roughly the same with my second child, who?s still nursing at almost one year old. The pervasive belief that women can easily ?bounce back? right away thanks to nursing just isn?t the reality for all women.
Technically, you do burn calories when you breastfeed: 300 to 500 per day. But that doesn?t necessarily mean you?ll lose weight?it?s more complex than that. Calorie counts don?t account for the diversity of body types among women, and sleep, stress, eating habits, physical activity, hormone changes, total pregnancy weight gain and the number of previous pregnancies will all determine whether you return to your pre-baby weight. Yoni Freedhoff, a family physician and author of The Diet Fix, says the number of calories burned during breastfeeding may not be significant enough to offset the stress, lack of sleep and change in diet many women experience after giving birth.
Lauren Olofsson, a registered dietitian and lactation consultant, agrees. She says stress?brought on by the sleep depri­va­tion and 24/7 work of caring for a newborn?increases cortisol levels, and high cortisol levels have been associated with weight g...