Running and Breastfeeding

Looking back, I can see so clearly the look of defeat. August 2009, with Adara.

I have been wanting to write a post about running and breastfeeding for some time now because they are two topics which I feel very passionate about and because I believe you can be successful at both. When I say that I have wanted to write this for some time, note that I actually started this entry three months ago. It got saved as a draft and pushed aside, many times over. Here goes!

I used to believe, like many other mothers, that these two had to be mutually exclusive -- that you could not train hard and breastfeed. From personal experience, I saw my milk supply plummet and I stopped running. This was after Adara was born. In talking with other mama friends, we all shared similar experiences. Active runners, yogis and cyclists before children, we were now first time mothers and just trying our best to keep our identity and sanity. We ran. Our milk decreased. Our babies seemed fussier. We stopped running or kept our running to a minimum. As a full-time mother, my kids are my first priority. As a first-time mother back in 2009, my newborn was my life, the axis in which my world spun. I felt that my sole responsibility was to keep her alive. The best way I knew to do this was to keep her well-fed and well-rested. She was colicky, a terrible sleeper, so I gave up on the well-rested part. The very least I could do was keep her well-fed. When I attempted running more than 3 miles and my milk supply decreased, I instantly quit running. At the time, it just was not worth the "experiment" to me.

Adara as a newborn. August 2009.

How do mothers do both? How do serious runners breastfeed? I was stumped and unwilling to let my children be the guinea pigs. So when I had Adara, I ran very little. I kept my mileage at a perfect equilibrium -- just at the point where I could feel some stress-relief and fitness benefits but still not feel like I was sacrificing any milk production. My weekly mileage was probably about 15 miles/week -- relatively low. Definitely not mileage of a serious runner. It was the best solution I could find at the time.

I researched elite athletes and professionals runner mamas and tried to decipher their solution. Solution: Quit breastfeeding. Most of them either did not breastfeed at all or breastfed for just a couple months. That was their own personal choice and I get it. When it is your job to compete, to win races, that is a whole different issue. I am far from being a professional, never will be and I am far more interested in providing my children with the very best nutrition from the start than I am with my running success.

When Adara was little, I knew that I wanted to have a second baby relatively soon. I am sure that was part of my lack of motivation to run more, not to mention the fact that she absolutely hated the running stroller (and everything else, as I mentioned in previous colicky baby posts). By the time she hit 10 months, I was pregnant with Cesia. After Cesia's birth, I was more geared up and motivated to run this second time around. Post-partum I felt great, energized and excited to be done having kids. I had my two little girls and life was perfect. We were a family of four and that was all I ever wanted. I was sure that my childbearing was done for a while and so I steadily ramped up my mileage. I never saw an issue with milk production and Cesia was a good eater, a big baby from the start at 8 lbs, 8 oz. and continued to gain perfectly. I can not remember ever being concerned about milk production the second time around. Maybe I was just too busy to worry about it or maybe I had finally settled in to being a mother and parenting naturally without so much worry about what the experts had to say. Running felt good, my kid was healthy and so we ran.

October 2011. Days of the double.

Fast forward to baby #3. Third time around, Isaac is already 1 year old and my mileage is close to about 50 miles/week. I am happy. I am healthy and milk flows easily. After three rounds of nursing and great experimentation, I have been amazed by the body's ability to adjust and produce exactly the amount of milk the body needs, at that time. I started back running **SLOWLY** when Isaac was only 2 months old. After being diagnosed with a genetic pregnancy condition at 36.5 weeks called chollestasis and just days later being induced, Isaac was born 3 weeks early. Thankfully my little boy was quite big already at 37 weeks gestation and was born healthily at 6 lbs, 7 oz. Still, he was more than two pounds less than my second baby. He needed milk. My body knew that, he knew that. He was a hungry baby who has grown into a hungry 1 year old. Surviving solely off breastmilk for the first 6 months, it was again my job (among many others) to make sure my body was producing what my baby needed.

First run with Isaac. March 6, 2013.

Hard to believe he was ever that tiny. (tear)

At 2 months old and safe to sit/lie in the Chariot carrier baby sling insert, we began our running adventures. My milk decreased. I noticed the decrease and I got scared. This is exactly what happened with Adara, and back then I simply stopped running. This time around, I did not want to stop. There had to be another way. I analyzed my diet, my water intake, my nursing levels and even took some homeopathic supplementation via more milk plus drops. Then I got engorged, got mastitis for the 3rd time and was bedridden with three babies to care for. I believe a mother's body knows exactly how much milk to produce and supplements can just mess up that equilibrium. For some they may work, but from personal experience I can say that every single instance I drank mother's milk tea or ingested more milk plus drops, my body went into overdrive and produced way too much milk. After a week on antibiotics and a week off running, I was ready to try again. And again my milk decreased. I ran through it. I had faith in my body, in physiology. I had taken enough master's level courses in physiological science to know that the body is an incredible and well-tuned vessel. My neuroscience books told me that when my baby sucked, my brain would be triggered to release oxytocin, increase prolactin and produce breastmilk. I also summoned up the wisdom of ancient goddess mama's. Since the beginning of time, mothers have been breastfeeding. Since the beginning of time, these same mothers have been working their butts off, slaving away for hours in fields, walking and running many many miles simply to find nourishment for themselves and their children. These ancient mothers were not spending their days resting in bed, drinking and eating as much as they could simply to ensure proper milk production levels. And so I ran.

Isaac post-run Monday. Little boy fell asleep right during 800m repeats!

After about 1 week of lower milk production, my body adjusted. More milk began to flow. The body and the brain work under principles of supply and demand. If the baby sucks and demands more, the body will supply it. And so here Isaac is today just shy of 13 months and still demanding. We are in the process of slowly weaning him -- in preparation for a weekend get-away for Alan and me in just a few weeks -- and because he is demanding it less. For the past three months I have been consistently running between 35-50 miles/week without any milk production issues. My body and all women and mother's bodies are so finely tuned to adjust and protect life. Finally, I am confident that new mothers can run and breastfeed without any issues. Please, if you know any new mothers out there who are looking for evidence, looking for support, who are yearning to keep on running through new motherhood and trying to save that ounce of identity pre-kids, share this with them or send them my way. I desperately sought this information nearly five years ago and was left feeling disappointed. I don't want others to feel the same. Thanks and happy Wednesday!

Pre-preschool pizza prep this morning.

8am and dinner is done. After 2pm, I am tired and unmotivated to cook so we take advantage of the mornings and get dinner prepped and ready to pop in the oven when hungry bellies grumble.

Isaac keeping himself busy messing up the kitchen while the girls and I prep dinner.