I know the thread is not continuing, but I had to make a comment - just
returned from vacation in Sunny Puerto Rico to catch reports on the new
study on breastfeeding and exercise!

It is hard for me not to write it in caps, as I do want to scream:  what do
you mean women shouldn't exercise while nursing?

I was a mom of 3 toddlers, taking care of my own house and doing all my own
errands.  It was I who vacuumed, washed floors, washed  clothes, hung them
up to dry, folded and put them away in a two story plus a basement house, 
picked up my THREE children in diapers, put them in car seats, took them
out of car seats, put them in strollers, backpacks and chased after the one
on a leash, etc, etc, etc. (And in-between all this we played, chased each
other, and laughed a lot!) I can't even remember what all I did as it was
such an exhausting time that I tell young mothers "you'll _never_ be as
tired as you are right now - even when staying up to make sure the
teenagers are all in for the night!"

Women of other cultures "exercised" even more than I - working the fields,
going to the river to wash clothes, carrying them back, etc.  Though they
probably had more help from family members for childcare, they were
"exercising" like crazy!

Surely our own Katherine Dettwyler must be laughing out loud when she reads
about the studies on exercise!  Please, study something that can REALLY
give us some information on breastfeeding!

My real point is, that women cannot stop living just because they are
breastfeeding.  Many of our lives are not simple and easy - and women have
breastfed through wars, poverty and yes, even heavy activity.  Yes, in our
American culture women have a "choice" of whether to "formally" go to
exercise classes and "sweat it out" for one or two hours a day - but most
of us did not have a choice - we "sweat" daily, get our work done, and see
to the feeding and caring of our children.  A study which would imply that
women must limit their activity or whose milk is "less appetising" because
she is active, would give the message (again) that only ladies who can live
in negligees while nursing in rose gardens (aaachooo) can breastfeed!

Jeanette Panchula, BSW,LLLL, RN, IBCLC
Vacaville, CA

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