I used to be quite sporty and am really looking forward to doing some exercise after recovering from my caesarian. But my mom is very disapproving and says that too much exercise will spoil my breast milk. Can that be true?

This thinking arises from the fact that if you exercise extremely vigorously, the amount of lactic acid in your milk will increase. It is thought that some babies may be adverse to the taste of this milk.

The reality is that you are unlikely to engage in exercise vigorous enough to produce the amounts of lactic acid that would make the milk unpalatable. And if you did your baby may not mind, since only some babies are sensitive to the change in taste. Since you have just experienced nine months of pregnancy and a caesarian birth, you will probably need to start exercising gently and get strong slowly.

Scientific tests carried out in UK in 2002 showed that even after vigorous exercise, with breast milk in which increased levels of lactic acid were measured, babies showed no adverse reaction when feeding. (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/109/4/585)

In addition, is you are a person for whom exercise is important then getting back in shape is probably a vital aspect of your recovery. Remember that doing exercise is very beneficial for your mood and sense of well being, and those are aspects that really enhance your experience of motherhood. So what you need to do is be sensitive to how your body feels, and how your baby reacts at feed times after you have exercised. You will know what works and what doesn’t, as long as you are sensitive to the possibility that your baby may react to the taste of your breastmilk if you exercise vigorously.

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