HOW TO EXERCISE AND STILL BREASTFEED

Women's Fitness speaks to Sarah Campus about her top tips for nourishing your body and your baby as you return to training

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Studies have repeatedly shown that regular exercise can reduce stress, boost energy levels and help with any possible postpartum depression. Paired with a healthy balanced diet, exercise can promote mental and physical wellness without diminishing your milk supply. But what if you're breastfeeding? Is it still possible to exercise and not get depleted?

First things first, let's start with covering off when exactly you can return to exercise. Nursing mothers can work out when they have been signed off from their healthcare 'Your milk as nut as e even α 2001 professionals - usually from six weeks after a vaginal birth and 10-12 weeks after a C-section. There are some old wives' tales that caution against too much exercise because it will make your milk sour due to lactic acid. Although lactic acid levels in breast milk are significantly elevated for up to 90 minutes after maximum exercise, which may alter the flavour of the milk, there is no such elevation in levels after moderate activity.

So, as long as you keep your aerobic exercise in the 80 per cent heart-rate range or below, your baby shouldn't notice a difference. Since you may sweat while working out, be sure to shower or at least wipe around your breasts though or they may taste salty! 

MUM ON THE RUN

Your breast milk is still as nutritional as ever, even after a workout. A study published in American Academy of Pediatrics showed that exclusively breastfed babies of mothers who exercise regularly grow just as robustly as those whose mothers are sedentary. Those bonus immune boosters in breast milk don't seem to be altered with moderate exercise either.