A KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) study on breastfeeding practices reveals that among the women who exclusively breastfed, those with high body mass index (BMI) before pregnancy lost more weight than women with a healthy BMI pre-pregnancy. The findings are published in the journal Nutrients . Women with high BMI who exclusively breastfed, in addition to losing their pregnancy weight , lost an extra 200 grams on average, 12 months after childbirth.
Women with normal BMI who exclusively breastfed lost weight but continued to retain about 1,330 grams of their postnatal weight during the same period. Regardless of BMI, all women practicing exclusively breastfeeding tended to retain less weight than those who practiced mixed feeding or exclusively formula feeding. Most women with normal BMI gain an average of 11 to 16 kilograms during pregnancy.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Loy See Ling, Department of Reproductive Medicine, KKH, said, "In this year-long study, we made an interesting discovery—an additional benefit for women with high BMI. Due to hormonal factors, there is a re-distribution and management of their body fat to the extent that there is an opportunity for them to lose more than the postnatal weight gain.
"This is of particular interest in Singapore, where we are facing a rising obesity rate at 10.5% in a year. Encouraging exclusive breastfeeding alongside targeted lifestyle changes may serve as an effective intervention for enhancing the metabolic health o.