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D.C. Area Babies
Breastfeeding
Do breastfeeding hurt and by doing so do it help you to lose weight?
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Re: Breastfeeding
Yes, it can hurt in the beginning, but if your LO is latched correctly, it should not hurt.
A lot of women loose weight while BFing, but not everyone does.
If you are planning to BF you should take a class. It is not necessarily intuitive to every baby or mom and can be hard in the beginning, especially figuring out latch, positioning, etc. kellymom.com is a very good online resource for BFing.
Ditto what 2vthokies said on both the weight loss and the pain. For me, breastfeeding never hurt but a friend of mine struggled with latch and had painful experiences with breastfeeding. If it hurts past the first couple of days, definitely consult with a lactation consultant and get advice on how to make the experience better.
As for the weight loss, i am still 8lbs away from losing all the baby weight while i know FF mothers who have already lost the weight - i really think it depends on the woman.
For me, breastfeeding didn't really hurt, although my nipples were sore for the first week or so. The only times I've ever been in pain from breastfeeding has been lately because LO has teeth and thinks it's fun to bite when he's bored with eating.
For me, breastfeeding was great for weight loss - I was back to pre-pregnancy weight by 6 or 8 weeks pp, and am currently 15-20 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight (however, I was overweight before I got pregnant). I also was dairy free for several months, which helped.