nursing and morning exercising

FiddleFit

FiddleFit

Cathlete
Hi! I have a question that hopefully some people have some experience with. I would like to go back to exercising around 6am every day, but because DD (almost 5 months old) sleeps through the night (9:30pm-8am), my breasts are always very full in the morning. I'm usually quite uncomfortable until she wakes up and nurses.

Right now I'm waking up at 6:30 and pumping one side (5-6oz in 10 minutes). When DD wakes up at 8:00, she easily gets enough milk from the other side to fill her up. I'm using all this milk to store in the freezer, but after doing this for a few months, I've got tons of frozen milk, and probably don't need to do this anymore.

I'm thinking that if I stopped pumping, my overnight milk production would eventually decrease, until I'm no longer so uncomfortably full in the morning. That's one option I'm thinking of doing. Does anyone know how long it takes for the body to adjust?

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Maybe I should just suck it up and try my workouts with full breasts, and maybe it won't be as bad as I'm thinking it will be?

Thank you for your help!
Sandra
 
i am very interested in whatever answer you get sandra, as i am defiantely a morning exerciser and hope to continue this after our baby is born. what do you wear for a sports bra when you are nursing?
 
Hi Sandra,

At least in my experience it has only taken a few days for my body to adjust the amount of milk production with both my babies.

I've worked out with full breasts before and it wasn't so bad, but I made sure I straped them in with a couple tight sport bras. Of course it's always nicer when they're not so full.

Hopefully others will have advice etc.


Lindzebird
 
Again, Lindzebird, thanks for the reply. I just sucked it up and gave it a whirl this morning, and it was fine.

How's that little girl of yours? Is she a year old yet?

Cheers,
Sandra
 
Hi Sandra,

Thank you for asking, she is doing really well. She'll be a year in June. It's amazing how fast time flies. I've thought about posting a picture of her doing planks (first I'd have to figure out how to do it of course). She does them all the time... hasn't quite figured out the crawling on her knees yet, but she pulls herself with her arms forward to get at everything. She quite mischievous and has quite the personality!

Warm Regards,

Lindzebird
 
so, you exercised after not nursing all night. then , when your baby woke, did you feed normally? does the exercise affect the quality of your milk?
 
I'm still shocked that your 5-month-old is sleeping through the night!!! Can I ask, what else is your baby "eating" besides nursing? My kids NEVER slept through the night, and with #3 on the way, I'm looking for any new tricks I can find!!!

ETA: Sorry I can't help you with the a.m. exercise question!!!
 
Lindzebird,

That's a hoot! She does planks?? You definitely need a picture of that! I'd love to see it. :)

Sandra
 
Hi Morris,

Yes, that's exactly what I did, for two mornings now. I notice the pressure and discomfort more at the start, then seem to forget about it as I get into the workout. However, I won't be doing anything that requires laying on your stomach any time soon LOL!

No, DD has never objected to the taste of the milk after exercise (or any other time, for that matter). Those little babies are such greeder suckers that I can't imagine them turning up their noses at fresh milk, no matter what it tastes like :)

According to Dr. Clapp's book on pregnancy and exercise, women who exercise, on average, produce more milk than women who do not. So, another good reason to do some kind of post-partum exercise.

Cheers,
Sandra
 
Hi Michele,

LOL! I wish I could say I have the magic trick to this, but I'm afraid I don't. Both of my children started sleeping in 7+ hour stretches at night when they were 6 weeks old. By the 10th week they were both going a good 10 hours. I think it's genetic, to be perfectly honest. On the other hand, I also choose not to have the kids sleeping with us, unless they are really sick. So, they were in cradles beside the bed for the first 6 weeks, then moved into their own rooms/cribs soon after that, once they were regularly sleeping through (and hence, no longer nursing). I'm not against kids sleeping with parents, but it just isn't something I personally want. My babies were also both looooong nursers (and large babies). I kind of wonder whether they had larger stomachs, and could hold more milk?

When this DD was a newborn, she had her days and nights switched around, and was awake every 2-3 hours at night, and sleeping 4 hours at a time in the day. I switched her around by not letting her sleep more than 2 hours at a time in the day. Within a couple of days she started sleeping in longer stretches at night.

I haven't given her anything but breastmilk, yet. She's really curious about food, and I'm so tempted to start, but the push here in Canada is to hold off on anything additional until the baby is 6 months old. So, I'll wait another month.

Sorry, I don't think this helped you much. But congratulations on your third baby! I hope all goes well for you!

Sandra
 
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