Losing weight too early after childbirth can cause your milk to become less and thinner

After giving birth, many women are eager to change their truck-sized bodies back into cars. There is even a saying that if you don’t lose weight within 6 months, you will never be able to lose it back! In response to this, Dr. Zhang Jiabei, director of Kanghua Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic, slammed on the brakes. She warned that losing weight too early after childbirth would make breast milk less and thinner, and even the weight loss effect would be compromised.

Losing weight too early after delivery will affect the quality and quantity of milk secretion and will not be conducive to supplementing breast milk.

Zhang Jiabei is currently also serving as a special Chinese medicine physician at the Peking University Health Science Center Postpartum Care Home. She said that many mothers are indeed confused: why is their belly still so big after the baby is born? In fact, this is because the uterus has not yet completely descended. It usually takes about 1 month to return to its original position. This is also the purpose of confinement rest.

In addition to breastfeeding, weight loss has also become a hot topic for new mothers because they are not happy with the sight of a baggy belly. However, Dr. Zhang Jiabei explained that breast milk is the only and best food source for newborns. The mother's nutrition and weight will affect the quality and quantity of milk secretion. Therefore, if weight control is carried out too early, the amount of milk will become less and thinner, causing the child to not be full and shortening the frequency of feeding. As a result, the mother will lack sufficient sleep and will be physically and mentally exhausted, making it difficult to lose weight.

Therefore, Dr. Zhang Jiabei suggested that the timing of losing weight after childbirth should not be rushed. At least wait until the child is no longer dependent on breast milk and starts to eat complementary foods, and then actively manage weight to achieve twice the result with half the effort. She laughed and said that in clinical practice, she had encountered women who claimed to be "obese for 18 years after childbirth" who came to the doctor for treatment to seek weight loss. Through treatment and improved eating and exercise habits, it can still be effective.

Some mothers mistakenly believe that drinking more water will make their belly look bigger. Dr. Zhang Jiabei said that the big belly is mainly related to the fact that the uterus has not yet descended back to its original position. However, since they have eaten a lot of high-concentration, high-protein tonic foods during the confinement period, they should actually drink more water to avoid increasing the burden on kidney metabolism.

Chinese medicine practitioner Zhang Jiabei recommends that mothers drink more warm water and avoid drinking cold water which may affect the discharge of lochia. (Photography by Zhang Yawen)

Drink more water and drink warm water. Dr. Zhang Jiabei pointed out that after childbirth, a secretion similar to menstruation - lochia - will be discharged. Drinking cold water will cause poor uterine contraction and lead to incomplete discharge of lochia. In addition, the mammary gland is a apocrine gland, so the body must produce heat and sweat to facilitate lactation. Drinking too much cold water will make the body too cold, which may affect lactation.

If you don't want to work hard to lose weight after giving birth, you should control your weight within a reasonable range during pregnancy. Dr. Zhang Jiabei recommends that the weight gain during the entire pregnancy should be controlled at around 10 kilograms. However, many pregnant women tend to gain weight too quickly in the first three months of pregnancy. She reminds that the fetus is still differentiating during this period, so if pregnant women eat too much and too much at the beginning, they will end up gaining weight on themselves, and thus become "fat" at the starting point.