The Healthy Post Natal Body Podcast
The Healthy Post Natal Body Podcast
Q&A Belly support bands during pregnancy and foods that increase breastmilk production?
Could belly support bands, kino tape, belly wraps etc. be the hidden key to postpartum recovery? What about wearing one during your pregnancy, will that actually help prevent diastasis recti/pelvic girdle pain etc?
In today's episode, I discuss the real deal with taping and belly bands during pregnancy.
Despite their popularity, there's a lack of evidence to suggest they prevent diastasis recti; instead, strengthening exercises prove to be the more effective method.
I talk about what they do help with, how you should use one and what you should be looking for if you're looking to buy one.
I also tackle the widespread claim that oats, brewer's yeast (and other supplements) are the answer to increased breastmilk production.
The conversation doesn't end there – we dive into the emotional whirlpool that new mothers face, especially the fear of not producing enough breast milk; a concern for a staggering 76% of mothers, according to a survey.
I examine the reliability of this statistic and the societal pressure to steer clear of formula supplementation. Here's the link to the brewer's yeast study.
I also talk about Geraldine DeRuiter's highly anticipated book "If You Can't Take the Heat,". This is one that I'm really looking forward to reading when it comes out, and when I clear the HUGE stack of books on my bedside table.
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Playing us out this week "Flavor and reduction" by Cody Martin
Hey, welcome to the Healthy Postnatal Body Podcast of your Postnatal Expert Peter Lap. That, as always, would be me. This is a podcast for the 12th of October 2025. And you know, um it's a from the vault episode, right? Because last week uh I had an interview with Katherine Sellery about parenting. Next week we're doing a wonderful thing with uh next week, yeah. Next week is a Q&A, then then something, then it's another from the vault. So get your questions in, peter at healthy postnatalbody.com, right? If you have any questions for next week, I kind of already have the the episode lined up, but still get them in. Um and then after that, when I'm doing an episode that I recorded, an interview that I recorded with a couple of uh ladies, Lisa and Robin, about uh facility in America, which is basically postpartum recovery facility, which is fascinating stuff. Um this week from the vault, belly support balance during pregnancy and foods that increase breast milk production. So we're talking uh belly support bands, kinotape, belly wraps and all that. Do they help with your postpartum recovery? Um oats, oats, brewers, yeast and other supplements, whether that helps with breast milk production and all that sort of stuff. And if not, why not? That is always the thing, like usually. So um be try to help youpostnatablebody.com if you have any questions yourself. This was from the QA from the fall, like I said, from uh from last year. So you're gonna love this one. Discussions come up below. So without further ado, we're not anyways. Uh I'm talking about pregnancy uh taping. One of my uh one of my clients, one of my new clients, asked this week, she saw this, she saw this video on um on YouTube, because all these things are on YouTube or TikTok or one of those things, right? Um she saw this lady who was pregnant tape up her ability with like kinotape, um, kinesiology tape, which you see some athletes wear um for like their knees and all that sort of stuff. If you go to a fidget, they they might tape your knee up if you have like a knee injury just to help support it a bit. Um, so she was asking if is that a thing during pregnancy because you know it looks quite complicated. Uh it's not it's not easy to do, you have to make sure everything is in the right place, you have to take it off when you're washing and all that sort of stuff. And as I explained to her, listen, there is nothing whatsoever that states that keynotape that proves that kinotape will help prevent diastase effect. That is just complete hokum. That is just not true. The you can buy these um these, they're not belly binders, but they're like a support, a baby bump support thing. Um, and I was asked about them uh quite a while ago, because belly binding, postpartum belly binding is a thing in like India and all that sort of stuff. Um and you know, people kept asking me, does wearing a corset or a belly binder does not help heal your diastastis rectile? And I started looking into it. Of course it doesn't, right? I've I've spoken about this before, but um the prevention of diastasis, there there's a whole market out there now. People selling you stuff that will prevent pelvic girdle pain or prevent diastasis rectile and all that sort of stuff. And they're all gadgets and they all cost like 100 pounds or 150 bucks or something like that. Um, now none of these things actually help prevent diastasis rectile. I've said this before. They are none of them help prevent pelvic girdle pain. There is just not a single thing that I could find on the market that can actually come even close to proving that they help with that. What they do help with, because I'm not telling you not to buy one, um, what they do help with those support things, and there's a picture on the if you look at the podcast uh thing on social media, there's a picture of that. I might link to it if I figure out how to do it. Um like a support brace, basically a belly, uh, a a baby burn for your belly. That's kind of what it is. Um, and that can help just temporarily alleviate the pressure a little bit, and it helps lift the the bump a bit, helps lift the the belly a bit, and therefore might alleviate some uh some uh some of your back pain temporarily. But those things are not really things you want to wear all the time, right? If you can at all help them. Um, I know that there are varying degrees of back pain and discomfort when you're pregnant. Some people, it's just you know, whatever takes the pain away, go for it. Um but for most people, strengthening up the right muscles is by far the best way to go, and none of those muscles are fundamentally the core muscles um during uh during pregnancy if you're already at the stage that um that you have back pain. And you can do some core stuff, like I always say, always keep doing your core exercises during the pregnancy, but that is predominantly about prevent uh about easing making your postmagin recovery a little bit easier than it is speeding that up a little bit. But it's not so much about the core exercises, such as you know, wood choppers and anti-rotational holds and all that sort of stuff. They are predominantly not there to help you prevent back pain during your pregnancy. If you're already at the stage like that, you have pelvic girdle pain or back pain, then um doing the core exercises that you find in a postpartum program won't really help that much. Um you can, however, still strengthen up your posture muscles. And uh posture muscles, I mean your upper back, I mean your glutes and all that sort of stuff. And and maybe, maybe by working with your alignment a little bit, because obviously everything changes when you shift your center of gravity, you know, when you're when you're pregnant, your center of gravity shifts, which is why some of you will have this uh heard me say this before, you end up with that pregnancy bottle, or some some women end up with that pregnancy model where you just you know constant as if your bum is disappearing, you you end up with this with this pelvic tilt, which is quite pronounced. And again, nothing wrong with that. That is just just the way it is. But what we do, what what I have found is that if you do some glute strengthening exercises and some back exercises, you can help your back out a little bit. Um by that, I'm talking about you know, again, resistance band stuff, right? But also some resistance band T's and Y's, um, some glute kicks, some side kicks, get some squats in there. Squats are wonderful uh when you're pregnant to help ease off um ease off any discomfort. And the thing is, of course, how deep can you go and all that sort of thing, range of motion becomes a thing, but those um support girdles, so to speak, they are not really meant to be worn for like four, five, six hours a day. That is not what they're for, they really are just there to temporarily give you some relief. Um, and we say if you're getting one, buy one that kind of like works, like I said, works like a baby burnt. So one that straps around your shoulders, right? Because you need that that strap to hold it in place. If you're just buying a band and there is no additional support coming from anywhere other than the band, then it still just all sits in the middle section, and the only reason it then temporarily feels better is because you've wrapped everything up so ridiculously tight, right? Um, you're much if you genuinely want support, then using a uh a belly binder like the one I have in the image, um is a belly support, it's not really a binder. Um a belly support is much more likely to help, is much better for you than uh than that fingers, uh, than the than a wrap or a corset or whatever it is. Kinotape is is I'll leave that to the physios that that use it. That really is a because you have to put it in the right place and you have to know where to place it. You kind of have to really know what you're doing with keynotape to really feel any benefit of it. Um most people don't. That fundamentally, I don't know where to put keynotape, right? And I could figure it out, depending on what I'm trying to do, but that'll be a lot of hassle. Um, and you know, keynotape comes off after a while, and you might want to take showers and all that sort of stuff, and that means it comes off a little bit quicker, and you don't want a physio appointment every week just to tape your belly when that does very little good whatsoever. Um, you know, even within sports uh science, for a while it was really popular with athletes to use keynotape, even if they didn't have a have an immediate need for it, just uh help support. Um, and I don't see a lot of that anymore either, because the there was just nothing backing up that that would actually help with their athletic performance. Um, like I said, I'm I'm I'm not opposed to taping, I just don't see how how it would ever work for you when you're pregnant, because the baby keeps growing. You keep you keep eating, you keep living, that baby keeps growing, and your bed is gonna get bigger and bigger. A little bit of tape isn't gonna help. It really isn't. So get the proper support if you if you if you need it. Uh, even better would be, of course, if you can do exercises and all that, but that is not necessarily a given for uh for everybody. Right, then I had a question. Um, the fear of of breastfeeding, right? I had a chat with uh somebody this week who said that they went to the NCT anti-Natal class and the COVID baby, and they went to a Zoom class uh by NCT. And so for those of you that don't know, NCT is like the leading antenatal classes uh provider in in the UK, and technically they're a charity, and I have one or two issues with them. Uh don't get me wrong, overall, they do an okay job, but you know, they are they're not as honest as as as they should be. But they they don't prepare women as well as they really should, in an effort not to scare them. They really are the breastfeeding charity in the UK, right? And so they're pushing that pretty hard. Now, um, nothing nothing wrong with that. Just know that if you're signing up for those classes, that's that's where they're coming from. So, first of all, breastfeeding is brutal and difficult. And I've done many interviews with lactation experts and all that sort of stuff, um, who are wonderful who will admit this. Um, breastfeeding is not easy, every mother knows this. It's not like the way I plug in my electric car, um, which I have now, by the way, because I'm you know environmentally friendly, not just because I got a really good deal on one. Um, but you know, I plug in the electric car and it automatically starts charging. That is not what breastfeeding is like, uh, even though it is sold to you in that way, in like movies and and uh at these antenatal classes and all that sort of stuff. So it's messy and it's difficult, which can come with a fair amount of stress, and we know that stress well kind of doesn't help with anything, right? Stress is is one of those things that that we try to avoid as much as possible, especially early on postpartum. Um, so what she was asking about was are there any foods? Because she was told foods that she was struggling with breast milk production, she just couldn't produce enough, and that is insanely common, by the way. Most women, I think, uh, and then we'll link to this study because uh it'll come back in to show you to show what my next point is. Um, a lot of women, uh, I think it's 54-ish percent. Um it might it might well be best. Vast majority of respondents, 76%, reported that while breastfeeding, they felt as though they were not making enough milk to meet the needs of their child. Now, um this is, and I'll go over this this study a little bit, was published in Dove Press uh a while ago, and it's not the best study in the world, it's just a survey study. But um 76% is a significant number. So even if if you assume that um new moms are being more careful and they they're a bit insecure and they're like, I'm not sure I'm producing enough, um, let's say they overreported, it'll be at least half. Half of them don't um would not produce enough milk to meet the needs of the child. The majority of respondents in this also indicate they have not supplemented the formula as a result of not making the milk. And that is that is what my problem with things like ACT is, right? They keep you pushed, they keep pushing you away from formula to the extent that you're not even supplementing with it, which is terrible. So then you fall into the how can I, and this is what my what this lady had fallen into, how can I increase my breast milk production uh naturally? And it comes up with a ton of articles. Um almost all of it is uh, well, this could work, or this potentially works, or this, and there is no science behind most of this stuff whatsoever. There's no study behind it, is what I mean by not, other than this particular survey study. So, one of the things that that this lady was doing, she said, um oats, oats, benefits of oats for breastfeeding, right? Um, oat milk will it help increase your breast milk production. She said, and then I just went, wow, I don't know how. But you know, of course, oats are healthy. Don't get me wrong, there are also benefits to having oats and having a healthy diet and all around nutritious diet, of which oats could well be a part, and oats are full of fiber and you know, better glucane, and all that sort of stuff, and you know, all your proteins, your vitamins and your minerals, you know, the iron, the zinc, and manganese and calcium, and all that sort of stuff. Um, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the oats directly are responsible for an increase in breast milk production. I I can't really see it. Um, but you know, if it works for you, it works for you. I'm completely diet agnostic, right? That's what I always say. I'm not saying you shouldn't have oats, I'm just saying that the question I was asked oats help with increase in breast milk production. No, I I don't I just don't see that. And the study or the study, and I air quote that quite heavily, which was published on uh Dove Press a while ago, um which was I don't know, um when was that? 2017, you know, so so quite a while ago, is is a survey study. Um and they just basically they just surveyed um 188 women from 27 states, it's an American study, uh completed a questionnaire, and they kind of said it's like I said, the vast majority of respondents, 76%, reported that while breastfeeding, they felt as though they were not making enough milk to meet the needs of their child. And the majority of respondents also indicated they did not um supplement the formula, 54%, and amazingly, more than half, 60% of mothers who responded mentioned they had consulted the healthcare provider but not making enough milk. So, so so think about this. You go to your healthcare provider because you're like, I'm not I'm not sure I'm making enough milk, and you still don't get the advice that you should be supplementing with with formula. That's that is that the mind boggles, right? Anyways, uh right. That is that is my little I promise I won't round that much that much more. The the this this survey, like I said, I don't want to call it a study because it just isn't. Uh the survey is pretty weak, it's an internet thing. Um and they mainly went with uh getting people to fill in. Uh they they had a look at uh what people Google for that people are seeking uh uh information, they're they're they're searching for information, you know, doing research, that type of thing, and and they'll then say, Okay, I need to I need to take oats. Or um, or in this case, what one of my uh this lady said was yeast, beer yeast. She has heard that beer yeast was good to increase uh breast milk, um which, you know, is just not a thing. Like I said, the the the brewer's yeast, beer yeast, um that when I was 12, 13, 14 years old, I was a spotty little uh teenager, right? And they used to give this beer yeast to to kids and say, ah, this will clear your skin, and that did that doesn't work. Um it also it is again, if you read the wrong articles, it's a lot of uh it's a galactolog, and that helps um increase breast milk production and all that sort of stuff. There's no evidence that I have found of any mechanism that I have found that that would actually back that up. And trust me, with the amount of money they can make of this sort of stuff, you would think that someone would have spent the money on doing it. And again, I will I will link to a study which also found that there's no there's not just there's just nothing to this claim, which is annoying, right? Because you get told that oats is a gut log and breuagiste is one, and you go to Holland and Barret or whatever, or Whole Foods or whatever crappy supplement store you go to and you do your best, and you buy the best oats, you buy the organic rolled oats, the extra coarse ones and all that sort of stuff. There's the things that are basically inedible, and and you have oats for breakfast every day, and you take a whole bunch of supplements with it, and none of that stuff is actually proven to help. In my humble opinion, and Peter at healthypostnatalbody.com, if you're a lactation consultant or a registered dietitian who specializes in this sort of stuff, in my opinion, just start supplementing with form. If you think you're not producing enough milk, don't worry about it. Like I said, 76% of women feel that way. You are not that special, to put it in a little shitty way. Uh you're not alone in this. You are, this is completely normal, it's completely common. Not everybody pumps out liter after liter after liter of breast milk every day. It is if only a quarter of women feel like they're producing enough milk, then you know, you're not alone. And the solution is you go to the healthcare provider and you say, Hey, is there something wrong with me? And your healthcare provider should 99 out of 100, 99 times out of 100, should say, No, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with you. Don't worry about it. Don't go to an NCT type person that says, Well, you just have to keep trying. If you're not producing enough, you're not producing enough. If it's difficult for you, it is difficult for you. If it's impossible for you, it's impossible for you. If it doesn't work for you because it causes you pain or stress and all that sort of stuff, then don't. Your job, and I've said this before, your job as a mother is to make sure in an ideal world, your child is well fed with good nutrients, which you can find in formula, um, and just keep them alive. You know, you'll be fine. The baby will be fine if you if you supplement with formula. That uh, yeah, there there is there is no reason to worry about it. Would it be better if it was all natural? Yeah, maybe. Sure. I'll I'll go with that. But if you can't provide that, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. And for people to keep pushing this BS idea that there is just really annoys me because I see a lot of women post-partums. You can imagine most of my clients are post-partums, they're at breastfeeding stage, and they're all worried about this stuff, and they're they're buying brewer's yeast. Yeah, it does nothing for you. I'm afraid there's just nothing to back that up. So stay out of Holland and Barrett, stay out of Whole Foods and whatever supplement companies are selling you stuff. And I've seen online personal trainers also selling breastfeeding supplements and all that sort of stuff. I have yet to see one that actually has a scientific study that's even remotely robust, back up that the claim that it increases breast milk production. What you do see a lot is articles like uh the one on very well family, which is you know, God help me. Um is one of those websites that that rates very highly on Google and isn't actually rates doesn't rate very highly on actual actual information. Um so what do you say? Can uh can eating oatmeal help you make more breast milk? Right? And it's um yeah, that that was this was from 2020, so you know it's still rate high. Um also also one of the most popular oats are also one of the most popular foods that breastfeeding moments eat to make more breast milk and support lactation, and then linked to a study, um uh which you know I I will also link to because that study is just a survey, so that that is how they back that stuff up. The benefits of eating oats when breast milk breastfeeding include the following, right? Beta glucan is found in oats. Beta-glucan is a type of fiber that's photon based levels of fault to raise, fault to raise the levels of the breastfeeding hormone prolactin. Higher prolactin levels can have a positive effect on breast milk production, can have a positive effect, right? And they link to a study that actually talks about cholesterol lowering, right? It it is here, it is it's an article that makes me want to want to want to vomit a little bit, right? Oats are full of nutrition, yeah, they're really good. Right? Uh they're an excellent source of soluble fiber, plus they contain B vitamins to help increase energy, elevate mood, yeah. All yeah. Um of course it increases energy, it's food. That's what food tends to do. Elevate mood and fight off exhaustion, anxiety, stress, and depression. Yeah, listen, you need you need your um your uh B vitamins, right? They're important vitamins. But you know, if you're relying on the B vitamins to help you with postpartum depression, you've got another thing coming, sister. I mean, that is just not a thing. And then again, sapalines, uh, oats contained sapaline substance are a substance that may have a positive effect on the hormones related to breast milk production. Note that none of these things, none of these claims, um actually say, yes, this helps. This is supplementy nonsense talk. It's this is Wellman's and Wellwoman's, uh, which are the leading, for people listening outside the UK, they're the leading supplement multivitamin uh sales people in in the UK, well womans and all that sort of stuff. And they have a whole range, well kids and well men and and well pregnant and well over 65 and all that sort of stuff, right? And they pretend to tinker with the ingredients um in an effort to make sure that you buy more of their very expensive stuff. Um right, all the claims are always can help with can help or helps with the fun normal functioning of an immune system, yeah, so the normal functioning or could can help with us. They do don't even claim that it they it helps with just could help. Has been shown that it could. But that is that is nothing. Right. That is a sentence that means absolutely all. Um, and it drives me nuts because you guys are spending an awful lot of your money on this sort of stuff, and you're trying to do the right thing. Now, I'm not saying again, I'm not saying don't eat oats in the morning. If you like oats, you eat oats. Right? They're an excellent, an excellent nutritional source. They're really good for you. Oats, a bit of fiber, there's lots of vitamins and minerals in them. That's awesome. Help you poop nice, right? That all that all helps. But for the love of God, don't buy it thinking that it increases breast milk production when it there is no evidence of this. And you know, then then you feel guilty when when it doesn't help. If you think it helps for you, then then it helps. But it's much more likely because you added milk or whatever to the oats, and you find you you start eating a little bit healthier and a little bit more higher in nutrients. Um but like I said, there is no direct link between brewish yeast or oat milk or or oats or any of that sort of stuff, or oat milk, even, right? Because oat milk is really popular. There's nothing that says that uh that it actually works. Right. That is the podcast for the I want to give a little shout out to one of my favorite people on the internet, and this is another book that I'm gonna have to read. And I've got a ton of these bloody things. Um, Geraldine the Reuter. The Reuter? I'm gonna say the Reuter, simply because that is the original Dutch name. The Reuter, right? And we should probably pronounce it um Geraldine the Reuter, right? As they do. Um she has a book coming up called If You Can't Take the Heat. And this is one of those books that is, I think, because I had a look and it'll be out. It's out for um for pre-sale now, which is if you remember one of the other guests that I had on a while ago, presale really, really matters to uh to offers, pre-sale volumes. Um and it's it's up for pre-sale now. I think my delivery um is scheduled, was scheduled for when I lived in the UK, you can order it on the house and it comes out on the 12th of March. My delivery was like 2nd of April or something like that for the hard copy. It's like 22 quid, 28 dollars, 20 pounds, and you know uh Geraldine has has like a James Beard Award and all that sort of stuff. Now, I could pretend that I know what the James Beard Awards was, but you know, I don't, but she's a funny lady, and you know it's it's it's um she's uh what I call you know what everybody calls uh she's like uh she's this what this what was the book called Jesus the Peter messing this up um uh some of the blurt on the back with Charlie Newer Geraldine the Reuter The Reuters welcomes us into her personal history and just connected with ourselves. That's from Hood Feminism uh author Mickey Candle. And you know, it's it's yeah it's it's it's interesting. In uh it says here in the in You Can't Take the Heat, the writer's the Reuter shares stories about her shockingly true, pain painfully funny and sometimes just painful advantages in gastronomy. We'll learn how she finally got a grip on her debilitating anxiety by emergency meal planning for the apocalypse. Um that's gonna be fun. It's a fresh look at food and feminism. One of the colony world's sharpest voices is what the the blurb says on the penguin random house website. And I, you know, like I said, if you're going to buy a book um this year, and and you do what I do, I've got a ton of books that uh that I have to read, a disgustingly high number uh of books, and everybody who knows me knows that I'm not uh not a huge uh a huge reader because I've got five or six. Although my bedside table looks impressive. If you see my bedside table, you think, oh, this dude is crushing it. Uh right, the fall of Jen Ban Fu. What I have here, what I have here, excuse me, I rummage around. Um Pandora's Jar, Women in the Greek myths by Natalie Haynes. Um Dr. Jen Gunther has a new book, Blood. Um Busting Myths About Menstruation, which will also be a read. So, you know, I have to read these things in 2024. Because as I always say, I'm just a middle-aged white guy, right? Um, and some of the things I used to think are not necessarily true. So, you know, I read this stuff. Um, but I I I know that you know um Geraldine's book will definitely be worth uh worth the money. Uh, Tales of Fool Feminism and Feminism and Fury, right? The Friet, that's always there, that's what I called it. I'm sure, I'm sure it'll be a great read. So definitely, if you're looking to buy someone a book this year for uh as a present, because you know you you give lousy birthdays. give something like that and you're the person that gives books in the same way that I always know people that give me books knowing that have a pile of books high or they give me alcohol knowing that I don't really drink if you're one of those people buy your audience book um we should we should be supporting those uh those offers not not always the Andy McNabbs of of of this one so give that a shot right uh give give that a uh a shot a shot right we're 30 minutes in and I'm walking I've been let's be honest I spent the last minutes last five minutes talking about the book I don't haven't read yet um but like you buy and I'm not getting the cut on this right I'm not getting the card but it only like I said it's one of those books we don't have people's being any question at all I just want to send it a little comment do me a favor do me a favor go on the Apple I think a little five star I think don't probably give me two or three stars I don't want two of three stars for maybe apparently that makes it a little more genuine we can't only give you the five stars about the podcast of course a body music