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 [log in to unmask]