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Breastfeeding reduces postpartum weight retention^1,2,3,4

¹ From the Centre for Health and Society (JLB, MG, BLH, and TIAS) and the Research Unit for Dietary Studies (BLH), Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark; the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden (LL); and the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (KMR)

² The content if this report is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases or the National Institutes of Health.

³ Supported by a grant from The Danish National Research Foundation, which established the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre that initiated and created the Danish National Birth Cohort; by the Pharmacy Foundation, the Egmont Foundation, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, and the Health Foundation; and by a grant under Ruth L Kirschstein National Research Service Award F32DK070491 from the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health (to JLB).

⁴ Reprints not available. Address correspondence to JL Baker, Institute of Preventive Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Øster Søgade 18, 1, 1357 Copenhagen K, Denmark. E-mail: jba{at}ipm.regionh.dk.

Background: Weight gained during pregnancy and not lost postpartum may contribute to obesity in women of childbearing age.

Objective: We aimed to determine whether breastfeeding reduces postpartum weight retention (PPWR) in a population among which full breastfeeding is common and breastfeeding duration is long.

Design: We selected women from the Danish National Birth Cohort who ever breastfed (>98%), and we conducted the interviews at 6 (n = 36 030) and 18 (n = 26 846) mo postpartum. We used regression analyses to investigate whether breastfeeding (scored to account for duration and intensity) reduced PPWR at 6 and 18 mo after adjustment for maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG).

Results: GWG was positively (P < 0.0001) associated with PPWR at both 6 and 18 mo postpartum. Breastfeeding was negatively associated with PPWR in all women but those in the heaviest category of prepregnancy BMI at 6 (P < 0.0001) and 18 (P < 0.05) mo postpartum. When modeled together with adjustment for possible confounding, these associations were marginally attenuated. We calculated that, if women exclusively breastfed for 6 mo as recommended, PPWR could be eliminated by that time in women with GWG values of 12 kg, and that the possibility of major weight gain (5 kg) could be reduced in all but the heaviest women.

Conclusion: Breastfeeding was associated with lower PPWR in all categories of prepregnancy BMI. These results suggest that, when combined with GWG values of 12 kg, breastfeeding as recommended could eliminate weight retention by 6 mo postpartum in many women.