Table 5.

Overview of studies which examined the association between breastfeeding and postpartum weight change

S. No.	Author Name (year)	Location	Age		Association between Breastfeeding and Weight Change			Covariates included in analyses
1	Monteiro et al. 2013 ((194))	Brazil	<24 years – 48.2% >24 years – 51.8%		For women within 2-year postpartum period, each breastfeeding score point increases an average postpartum loss of 70 g (p = 0.002)			Sanitary condition of household
								Social programs of income transfer
								Type of delivery
								Prepregnancy weight
2	Onyango et al. 2011 ((193))	Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman, USA	Brazil	28.3 (6.3)	Lactation intensity and duration explained little of the variation in weight change patterns			Maternal age
			Ghana	30.8 (3.9)				BMI at 14 days
			India	29.0 (3.5)				Parity
			Norway	30.8 (4.3)				Delivery mode
			Oman	27.7 (5.0)				Infant birthweight
			USA	31.5 (4.5)				Sex
3	Samano et al. 2013 ((195))	Mexico	18.8 years		Among both adult and adolescent mothers, those who practised EBF lost more weight than those who did not practise EBF (−2.9 kg, interquartile range, −5.7 to 0.8 kg, vs −1.8 kg, interquartile range −2.8 to 2.2 kg)			Pregestational weight
								Marital status
								Education
								Delivery mode
					Duration of Lactation	Mean Body Weight (kg)	Mean BMI (kg/m2)
4	Sarkar et al. 2005 ((191))	Bangladesh	18–40 years		Nonlactating	44.3	19.4	Age Height Education
					<12	42.48	18.86
					12–24	42.96	18.85
					25–36	43.32	19.11
					37–48	43.47	19.29
					49–60	44.11	19.36
5	Stube et al. 2010 ((192))	East Massachusetts, USA	Ghana: 30.8 (3.9)		Months of Lactation	BMI kg/m2 (95% CI)		Prepregnancy BMI
					0	26.1 (25.4–26.9)		Parity
					0–3	25.3 (24.6–26.0)		Family history of diabetes
					3–6	25.5 (24.9–26.2)
					6–12	25.8 (25.2–26.3)
					>12	25.4 (24.8–26.0)
					Months of Lactation	Wt. retention kg mean (95% CI)
					0	2.5 (0.6–4.3)
					0–3	0.2 (−1.6–2.0)
					3–6	0.9 (−0.8–2.6)
					6–12	1.3 (−0.1–2.8)
					>12	0.4 (−1.2–1.9)