Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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So I'm five months preggie, and I'm wondering about my leptin management and cortisol levels.

For the most part, I sleep about 9 hours a night (I have no choice b/c of the preggie hormones!) and those are pretty regular hours of sleep. Also, my life is pretty low stress right now. I am still doing CrossFit twice plus a jog or two per week, but I keep it less intense than pre-preggie. So I'm pretty sure my cortisol is under control. However, I think my leptin management/cycles may not be as elite as they were in the few weeks/months before I conceived.

I'm wondering: if I put in the work to improve my leptin cycling, then would this help my baby have better leptin cycling once it's born and therefore, better sleep cycles, like his or her mommy...?

Any thoughts? Or research?

edited Dec 19 2011 at 22:37

asked Dec 19 2011 at 18:16

gilliebean♦
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This doesn't answer your question but I found a few cool studies linking leptin to breastmilk production a few weeks ago. So there might be benefits to reducing your cortisol besides sleep. paleohacks.com/questions/67814/… – Aughra Dec 19 2011 at 18:23

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I just wanted to say that you will be the coolest mom ever! – Dave S. Dec 19 2011 at 18:34

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Congrats Gilliebean!! – Jack Kronk Dec 19 2011 at 18:56

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Nice question - and congratulations! How thrilling that you're expecting. :) – familygrokumentarian Dec 19 2011 at 21:03

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Great to hear from you! I'm glad you are well, and congratulations! – Ambimorph Dec 20 2011 at 4:01

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miked · Answer 1 · 2011-12-19 23:12:44Z UTC

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Well my wife did a 100% paleo pregenancy but didn't stress about things like leptin or cortisol management. Just ate right and got as much sleep as she could. She now feeds our guy 100% paleo breast milk and he sleeps in a dark room. All of that considered, he's had no trouble sleeping. For the first month he got up twice to eat, and now he just gets up once since his stomach is bigger. We've never had any of the nightmare experiences that other parents told us to expect. We attribute it to a good diet.

answered Dec 19 2011 at 23:12

miked
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Out of curiosity (I do Pregnancy nutrition coaching), did she eat any dairy? – Dragonfly Dec 20 2011 at 0:32

No, she was pretty dairy sensitive before we switched to paleo, and once we did the switch neither of us can tolerate dairy. (We don't consider Butter or Heavy Cream dairy since they don't have the dairy proteins that cause the allergies; we cook with ALOT of butter!). After the little bugger came out, she had two experiences where she added goat cheese to a salad and both days he was really fussy, so we're assuming that something from the goat cheese got in her milk and it didn't agree with him. – miked Dec 20 2011 at 16:55

Does proper leptin cycling in a pregnant mommy contribute to better infant sleep cycles?

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