Breastfeeding is the best way to develop a bond with your baby. After nine long months of waiting, it offers the ideal moment for every mother to embrace, stroke, and cuddle her kid in her arms.
Your breastfeeding relationship with your baby is all that is necessary to soothe and comfort them. The chemicals prolactin and oxytocin are released, which strengthen the mother-child relationship and foster feelings of love and bonding.
But nursing also significantly alters the body, much like pregnancy. Some areas of your body might return to their previous states, while other modifications might become permanent unless you take action.
Learn more about the physical effects that breastfeeding has on different parts of your body.
Losing Weight
Weight loss may be the main health advantage of nursing for mothers.
You will probably lose four to six pounds of water weight during your first week after giving birth as a result of increased sweating and urination.
Because your body consumes up to 500 calories each day just to produce breast milk, you can anticipate losing more weight while you breastfeed.
Additionally, a study found that women who nursed when they were younger had a lower body mass index compared to those who did not breastfeed, demonstrating the long-term effects of nursing on weight loss.
The development of loose skin in many parts of your body, particularly your abdomen and breasts, comes along with weight reduction.
Stretch Marks
Expect stretch marks on your lower belly, hips, thighs, and breasts as a result of the stretching your skin experienced during pregnancy.
Stretch marks develop when the deeper layer of skin strains past its breaking point, resulting in tiny rips and linear scarring.
Spider veins in your breasts and varicose veins on your legs may also be visible. Due to the increased blood flow to the breasts during breastfeeding, these veins may appear more pronounced.
However, they are not permanent, and as you wean, they start to go away. Using electric breast pumps can help reduce strain and discomfort whilst breastfeeding.
Abdominal Changes
Breastfeeding causes the release of oxytocin, which speeds up the contraction of your uterus to its pre-pregnancy state. Your uterus returns to normal as a result, and your belly gets smaller.
However, diastasis recti, a disease that develops when your stomach swells during pregnancy and causes your abdominal muscles to separate, lose tone, and weaken, may lead many women to notice their belly protruding.
Even your abdominal skin may sag, giving you love handles above your waistline and a lower-tummy pouch-like appearance. These are particularly noticeable in women who had several pregnancies and large infants.
Breast Enlargement
Wait until you begin breastfeeding before you decide that your breasts are already engorged from pregnancy.
Your levels of progesterone and estrogen fall immediately after giving birth. The hormone prolactin, which is in charge of creating breast milk, begins to work, increasing not just milk production but also blood flow in your breasts, giving them the appearance of being larger.
Your breasts will feel painful and sore during breast engorgement, but maintaining a regular breastfeeding schedule will lessen the pain.
As you begin weaning, you can also detect small lumps in your breasts; however, these lumps normally go away after your milk stops being produced.
Your breasts will return to their pre-pregnancy size and form over the course of roughly three months once your baby has been weaned off nursing. They might, however, end up looking saggy and deflated.
Contrary to widespread perception, breastfeeding doesn’t specifically contribute to sagging breasts. Instead, the ligaments holding up your breasts are strained due to the larger and heavier breasts you have during pregnancy and breastfeeding, causing them to stretch.
Therefore, when milk production ceases, your breasts shrink, giving them a hollow, flattened, and droopy appearance.
Expect the size and color of your areolae and nipples to return to normal.
Author bio: Anita Browne is a Product Sales Manager for O’Flynn Medical, a leading Irish supplier of healthcare equipment, including electric breast pumps, hospital bed rental, and much more.
