Breastfeeding and postpartum weight retention in a cohort of Brazilian women

Abstract

The relation between postpartum weight retention and breastfeeding practices is controversial. Defining breastfeeding as the period when a child is exclusively or predominantly breastfed, we studied the association between breastfeeding duration and postpartum weight retention. We followed 405 women aged 18-45 y who were assessed at 0.5, 2, 6, and 9 mo postpartum. The outcome variable, postpartum weight retention, was expressed as the difference between the observed weight at each follow-up and the reported prepregnancy weight. The main statistical procedure used was the longitudinal mixed-effects model. Mean postpartum weight retention at the end of the study was 3.1 kg. Single women aged > or = 30 y retained more weight than did younger single women or married women. The combined effect of breastfeeding duration and percentage of body fat at baseline was significant only for women with < 30% body fat. According to the model's prediction, when women who had 22% body fat and breastfed for 180 d were compared with those who had 22% body fat and breastfed for only 30 d, each month of breastfeeding contributed -0.44 kg to postpartum weight retention. When only the percentage of body fat was varied, the total effect was 3.0, 1.7, 1.2, and 0.04 kg in women with 18%, 25%, 28%, and 35% body fat, respectively. These results support the hypothesis of an association between breastfeeding and postpartum weight retention and suggest that encouraging prolonged breastfeeding might contribute to decreases in postpartum weight retention.