When i breastfeed my son of 8months i still get a aching feeling in my tummy like in the first few days of having him. I've been told that my uterus is still contracting. Is this true? and is that a good sign?
I dont seem to be loosing any weight, and again i've been told that abit should come off when i eventually stopped feeding. (i know i need to eat well to successfully breastfeed)and i have no intentions of stopping feeding yet.
Just like to know if my uterus is sill contracting and what it means!!
Thanks in advance
2007-01-20 23:28:55 · 7 answers · asked by cgiggler3010 2 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
yup, its your uterus contracting. after having been large enough to hold your baby inside it, breastfeeding is telling it that its time to get back to its tiny size. this will help in getting your tummy small quicker.
fyi, the losing weight comes from your body producing milk. breastfeeding for 20 mins is like you briskwalked for about 1 hour. the way my ob-gyn explained is that when your pregnant, you should eat about 300 calories more than normal. when your breastfeeding, it should be about 500 more than normal. the reason most people lose weight is they dont eat more than they were pregnant but are now burning more calories.
be careful tho. when i started weaning, i did not reduce my food intake, so i gained back about 10lbs of that which i lost after giving birth while breastfeeding.
good luck :)
2007-01-21 00:43:18 · answer #1 · answered by Nikki 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi there and Congratulations on being a nursing mother! You are giving your baby a priceless gift and doing something for him that no one else in the world can ( well, at least until wet-nurses come back in vogue). Beleive it or not in a world of bottle fed babies you are really a wonderful mother. I breastfed all of my babies for well over a year and it was the most wonderfully satisfying time of my life. It creates such a close bond and makes you part of such a beautiful cycle of life. It still amazes me how perfectly a woman's body works when it comes to feeding babies. My 5th baby was adopted and for medical reason they did not want me to re-lactate so I had to feed her from a bottle. Wow....having been used to breastfeeding I could not imagine anyone going through that if they did not have to! By the time I would get her bottle ready she would have cried herself into a knot! How much easier to just pick her up and feed her!
But, that was not your question.
After 8 months your uterus is probably starting to think about coming to life again. You might be cramping because at some point soon you are going to start having periods....if you have not already. I would mention this to my doctor, that is the place for this kind of a question I think. We can not really know.
I am so happy to hear that you have no intentions of stopping! I nursed my babies until they were the ones that were all done, not the other way around!
Good luck honey and you are doing a fabulous job!
Blessings,
Lady Trinity~
2007-01-21 00:02:49 · answer #2 · answered by Lady Trinity 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it most likely is you uterus contracting as you breast feed. It takes quite some time for the uterus to return to normal size after giving birth. Breast feeding helps it happen sooner by stimulating the body to continue releasing small amounts of the hormone that causes contractions during labor. All this means is that you could have your pre-pregnancy body back faster than a new mother that isn't breast feeding.
2007-01-20 23:40:34 · answer #3 · answered by T 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I too had the same thing happen while breastfeeding. I actually never did learn why the contractions continued, if that is indeed what they were, even after the first mth or two when they were said to occur. After quitting breastfeeding, they've never happened again, and so I shall assume all is well!
2007-01-21 01:20:52 · answer #4 · answered by MaPetiteHippopotame 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're hungry! Eat pleanty more than you used to before giving birth. You can burn up to 1000 calories in one day from breast feeding! What I did was had a glass of water and ate every time the baby had breast milk. I was always hungry and so thirsty!
2016-05-24 04:26:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Right before my period starts, I always feel cramps while I nurse. I never lost my baby weight until my baby stopped nursing, either.
2007-01-21 16:39:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This could be because of muscle fatigue or dehydration. Why don't you try some time tested home remedies? I found this website very useful. http://aches.in/cramps.html
2007-01-21 21:49:25 · answer #7 · answered by Daphne 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋