Hey mama: get buff while you breastfeed

Baby's first carbo-loading session

As if being a new parent isn’t time-consuming enough, the results of a study published by the American College of Sports Medicine has experts recommending increased workout time for breastfeeding mothers. And the suggestion’s got nothing to do with weight loss: it’s actually a matter of preserving healthy bone density.

Researchers measured bone mineral density in twenty women four to twenty weeks postpartum, and found that the most sedentary of the group lost 7 percent of their lower-spine bone density in that short period. They suspect the loss is because women transfer a lot of calcium – 200 milligrams a day – from their bone stores into their breast milk. More calcium for baby, sure, but at the expense of mom’s spinal column? Not so good.

So what’s a breast feeding mother to do, especially if – realistically – a two-hour gym session aint gonna happen? Well, she can opt to lose the bone density and hope to regain it later. Researchers admit that women’s bone density “often returns to normal levels” after they’ve finished breast-feeding, though they caution that this isn’t necessarily the case.

But there’s another option, and it seems like an open secret among new parents on the web: mom can bench-press her baby. According to MommyandMe.com, the move is called “Let’s Fly Away” and requires nothing but mother and her “little astronaut.” And why stop there? If you’ve got a chubby lil’ tot, then they’ll be all the weight you need for squats, bicep curls – and, if they’ve got an iron stomach – dead lifts or jumping jacks too.