Your Mommy Body Is Beautiful
A woman’s body goes through extreme changes during pregnancy and after giving birth. After childbirth many things change, especially our daily routine. For the first three to six months of our baby’s lives, our sleep patterns are interrupted due to waking up every two hours for feeding. Some babies continue to wake up during the night, even if it’s only once, throughout their first year. No matter which way you cut it, that’s tough to deal with.
Hormones change drastically throughout pregnancy and after you have your baby. Breastfeeding releases prolactin and oxytocin, two major contributors to milk production. Depression during breastfeeding can occur, but it is most often reported when moms wean their baby too quickly.
Simple formula for what some new mama’s might be feeling:
Sleep deprivation + breastfeeding hormones + new parenting anxieties + total life change = drop in mood
By this time you are likely to avoid looking at your post-birth body in the mirror. I have been around some moms, like the ones I met via a meetup.com group, who make giving birth look like nothing. They are like a size zero after popping out a human. No, I’m not joking. They have shaped their body back into pristine shape in no time, while some of us have to work double time just to get ourselves back to our weight before birth.
I wake up now at 5 a.m. or earlier to hit the gym. I never thought I would ever be that person who could or would get up so early. My daughter encourages me to get up and get my day started. Even after working hard, I am 10 pounds over my original weight before having her. I am also still breastfeeding. I’ve done some research that indicates that many breastfeeding moms don’t always lose weight, some gain weight during breastfeeding. This is mainly due to prolactin, which is the hormone that helps produce milk, but also might cause weight gain:
“Prolactin also affects the body’s ability to metabolise fat. An ongoing study suggests that the hormone impairs the body’s ability to maintain a balanced metabolism.”
I’ve read online threads where women claim that they lose more weight once they stop breastfeeding. Regardless, if you’re trying to lose 10 pounds or if you’re in the mama camp that needs to lose even more, don’t worry. Embrace your post-birth body. As long as you’re exercising and trying to eat healthy, then you don’t need to worry about the scale during breastfeeding.
Everyone’s body is different, and we all lose weight differently, especially after giving childbirth. The most important thing is that you are starting. You are trying and you are getting some sort of exercise on a daily basis. Put yourself first for at least two hours a day, if you can even squeeze that in. You’re mental health impacts your physical health and your ability to remain motivated enough to complete important goals.
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