Hello, All.
       I've been reading the thread on this with some amusement and finally
just had to share a comment made by my cousin's husband when I couldn't lose
weight while nursing my second child.  (Please no flames for the connection with
cows!)  I had put on 40 lbs. during pregnancy and could not lose the last 10.
 My daughter was 3 months old and I was still "bulged".  People who were
idiots were congratulating me on my next pregnancy while I was standing there with
a small-enough baby in arms that I couldn't possibly be "showing" with
another pregnancy.  I was not happy.
       My cousin's husband made me feel better.  He laughed and asked what I
was worrying about: I was nursing!  He grew up on a farm and said the cows
have to carry extra weight while they are making milk, so they have something to
draw from to be sure they can continue making milk.  He figured I needed the
extra 10 pounds to be sure I could also continue to make milk, and I shouldn't
feel bad that it was there!
       A while later, I also read something that suggested that nursing moms
may continue to carry extra weight because nature wanted to make sure we could
continue to make milk if there was a famine during cold months or droughts,
so the babies would continue to grow and the human race wouldn't die out during
times of little food.  So I decided to stop worrying about it and look at
that weight as a badge of womanhood.
       By the way, by the time my daughter had her first birthday, I had lost
*too much* weight without trying, and weighed less than I ever had as an
adult, even though she was still nursing quite regularly.
       Dee

Dee Kassing, BS, MLS, IBCLC
Collinsville, Illinois, in central USA

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