Help - I'm just about to start running again after having a baby. I am still breast feeding any thoughts or information on the effects it might have. Also what about still softened ligaments! I'm terrified of injury. I'd be glad to hear about other new mums experiences.
0 ·
Comments
there might be some useful bits in this running and pregnancy article, or if you've put in your subscriber number, this neat real-life account
hope it's going well
Sean
The main problems of running while breast-feeding are the predictable ones about needing extra support and being prepared for the possibility that when you get hot and sweaty your breasts will behave like the modified sweat glands they are and make extra foremilk, which may lead to leakage. Harmless as long as you don't get embarrassed about it!
Anecdotally, some women have reported that their babies don't like the taste of their post-exercise breast milk.
Your ligaments should be fine now. They get back to normal within days of giving birth, and breastfeeding doesn't delay the process.
Happy running - and enjoy those wonderful small-baby days. They're soon in their teens and telling you they didn't ask to be born.
Cheesr, V-rap.
I've never had any problems with feeding and running. If you run hard then the lactic acid is reported to get into the milk and upset your baby a bit but I wasn't running hard enough to have that effect and now she doesn't feed as frequently so it's not a problem.
I tried running again 5 weeks after the birth and it was really grim. In fact, it wasn't until my wee one was sleeping through the night at 6 months that I could really face running again regularly as I was just too damned tired before that - I only went out when she had been screaming all day with colic and I needed to de-stress more than I needed to sleep which was very rare - most times sleep won over every time .
It's taken a long while to feel like I was running again rather than shuffling along - I've only just started doing the odd 5km and 10km and she is now 9 months old. I've found having a Baby Jogger running buggy a great help as it makes it easier to get a run in during the day if I need to.
I think everyone is different in getting back to running after babies. I know you see people like Sonia O'Sullivan running internationally like ridiculously soon after giving birth but that is just not normal. There's a runner I know who has run for Britain who has found it a real struggle to get back running again after and is still tired and knackered and just not up to racing and training and all that. Her baby is now 6 or so months.
Sorry for the long post - I think I rambled a bit.
Good luck with the running - how old is your baby now?
I felt like I'd never be able to run ever again six weeks afterwards. Still, I sent off my marathon entry form the other day so I obviously don't feel that way any more.
Good luck and happy running,
E
Sorry about that - good luck and I hope you get running again soon!
So you can see my dilema, no decent medical studies on any of this. I guess I'll take it really easy and see what happens.
Luckily I got a little angel who sleeps right through the night, so tiredness isn't too much of a problem.
Lou
Lucky you on having a wee one who sleeps so well. My dear hubby was training for London and Caitlin was still waking 2 or 3 times a night right up until a few weeks before. He always went in to get her out of her cot and then brought her to me to feed and then he took her back to her cot again so I bearly had to surface out of sleep.
I don't know how he did it. He was often getting up at 6am and doing 7 or so miles and then going out for another 7 or so miles in the evening. He was hoping to run a qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games but then he got injured with 3 weeks to go and is only just getting over the injury now. Poor sod.
Am off to a session for beginners at the running club tonight so we'll see what happens
That 20-week figure has a very plucked-from-the-air feel about it (and you can't have relaxin postnatally because it's only produced by the corpus luteum, whose breakdown plays a part in the onset of labour - although relaxin almost certainly isn't the only ligament-softening hormone in pregnancy) but midwives are often very protective (and rightly so) of "their" new mums' need for lots of rest. The whole pregnancy and birh shebang, followed by having to dance attendance day and night on a baby and soothe the jealous anxieties of partners and older children, is completely exhausting.
Still, NOT exercising postnatally causes much more long-term damage than getting back in the swing at the earliest opportunity.
Cheers, V-rap.
I wasn't even a runner at that stage. My first marathon was when she was 20 months and she thought the medal was 'chocolate gold' and tried to feed it to me. Aah.
Moral of the story? Horses for courses. Listen to your body but I agree not exercising is more dangerous than starting back as soon as you're ready. Also, you'll bring your child up with an exercising parent as a role model, so no future couch potato.
I'm not in the same league as you lot as I didn't start running till after I had my second kid. I think she was about 4-5 months old when I first went out. I just did it to try and get back in shape. I was still breastfeeding at the time. Hadn't run before this but didn't have any horrible things happen to me because of it!
I work 3 days a week and manage to fit in two sneeky trips to the treadmill at the gym on the way to pick them up and then try to get out on a weekend for a longer run. I have been a bit slack recently but did realy well last week.
I think running has been absolutely fantastic at getting me back into shape after having my kids quite close together. And I realy enjoy it, which I spose all you Super mums already do! Now I do it because I like having the time to myself to think and its something I do thats just for me.
The only thing that kept me going was remembering what it used to be like when running felt good and easy and I could run without thinking about it.
Running has changed for me post baby too in that I appreciate just being able to run in a way I never did before I'd experienced the relative incapacity of being hugely pregnant. Plus as you say it's time to think and something just for me which post baby is soooo precious.
You mentioned baby joggers. I have been considering these, what are your thoughts on them?
So far as I can see, there is only one type of running buggy, and these are made by baby jogger, and are £299. Is this right, and if so, are they worth it?
Thanks
Mine is by Baby Jogger (they're distributed by Little Green Earthlets in this country - are originally from America and adjusted to British Safety Standards). They do a Zipper which a few people in my running club have which is smaller (more manoeverable around shops and easier to fit in your car boot) and 'only' £199. These don't have a lifetime warranty on the frame which the standard Baby Jogger II does but seem to be just as good to run with - better with the 16' wheels as opposed to the 12'. I got the standard BJII one mainly because I preferred the option in terms of seat colours (sad I know) and liked the idea of a lifetime warranty - also it has a longer wheelbase which means there is less weight over the front wheel which makes it a bit lighter to turn.
I find it great because I couldn't afford a regular gym membership with a creche and with my hubby wanting to run too, sometimes it's the only way to fit a run in. I do prefer to run without it because as I said before it's nice to have time by myself. I know people who run with their partners and take turns in pushing and do 2 hour runs with theirs! I've only run up to 6 miles with mine. One couple bring their daughter out on our Thursday night session and she sleeps whilst they run. Theirs is a different one which can attach to their bikes too as they do lots of cycling as well.
I've seen quite a few at races too - I'm thinking of doing the Cabbage Patch 10 with mine as hubby wants to run too.
I got a smaller normal buggy too for using round the shops and things but I find I use the Baby Jogger all the time because it's so nice to walk with - rolls really easily and I can walk properly with big strides and also it's easy to push with one hand although it is a tad tricky to manoevre in small spaces.
We do lots of walks over the Downs and use it in preference to our back carrier most of the time although you have to lift it over stiles. We've also taken it up a small mountain in Ireland but with the big rocks, in retrospect, a back carrier would have been easier.
I think it's the best value for money thing we bought. It also has the advantage of making Caitlin known everywhere I go as the baby with the posh buggy.
I think it's fantastic you've done so much already. Fitting it all in is really hard and even more so if you work full or part-time too. For a very few people running is their life and life gets fitted in around running - for the rest of us, life comes first and running fits around that - it's supposed to make life more enjoyable and there's no point sacrificing really important things like time with your kids when you can run marathons in a few years time instead.
They know all about races and supporting and I've now added in the 'club vest spotting' element for extra interest. They are old enough for me to say 'stay there' until I finish the race (although the longest I've tried this for so far is 7k)!
I also have a Zipper baby jogger and would recommend them - they are not cheap but are very light and you can stear with one hand even with a three year old sitting in it. I haven't had a chance to use it for running yet and I have to say I prefer to go out on my own. They are however really for exercise, whether walking or running, and are useless for carrying shopping, if it rains etc.
It is hard when you are at home all the time with the kids. I am very lucky that I work 3 days a week so kind of try to get the best I can from all worlds. On the days I am on my own all day I am very pleased to see their dad come home! My girls are 3 (and three quaters as she says!) and 2 and it is getting easier all the time (the kids that is not the running!!). I reckon when the youngest is 3 it'll just get easier. I don't realy mean "easier" but different. They ask me and their dad if we are going running when ever they see us within a yard of a trainer. They even set off together leg it up and down the stairs, arrive in the kitchen in mock breathlessness say theyve been for a run and demand drinks. Its very funny. I seem to of digressed a bit now! Can't even remember what I was trying to say!
Gosh - don't I sound militant - must be the hormones.
Would love to hear your points of view.
You ought to go back to your doctor and ask him why you've been advised to stop running. Or ask another Doctor.
:-)
Ordinary running gear is accommodating enough for a small-to-middling bump, and by the time your bump is big you may be too uncomfortable even to run for the bus.
There are a couple of well-documented instances of elite athletes running until well into pregnancy (Ingrid Kristianson, Liz McColgan, our own Monique), but not everyone can. The first three months of pregnancy can be so exhausting that the very idea of running would make you laugh if only you had the energy and could open your mouth without heaving.
I think Emma Litterick's "listen to your body" advice is as good as it gets, and I hope she listens when her body tells her it's time to STOP running.
Bolis down to "Never mind what experts say, I'm a runner and I know best"
Surely the point here is, her GP has advised her not to run. Now you dont know the reasons for that any more than I do.
We just can't simply assume that her doctor is anti-running or covering his/her back.
You may well be right but I feel Breda ought to be going back to her own GP for clarification. If she feels her Doctor is being over-cautious, see another doctor.
But for pete's sake, dont go against your GP's advice on the strength of a magazine article!
More to the point, I'm not sure I can face nine months of "me and my pregnancy" in RW. We've already lived through it all with that girl from the opposition who seemed to be pregnant for about 18 months.
But I agree - if in doubt, Breda should certainly...Breda! Sorry! That ill-mannered overgrown monkey shouldn't be trying to talk about you over your head. If you're confused, ask your doctor if there's any specific reason why YOU, in particular, shouldn't be running while pregnant (don't accept vague stuff about "bad for your joints" or even "bad for the baby") and if you don't feel you're getting your questions answered, have a chat with your midwife. Midwives are the experts in normal pregnancy.