Breastfeeding and Calorie Intake

jttrotter2004

I'm exclusively breastfeeding my 5 month old and just started this app a little over a week ago. Since then, I feel I've noticed a dip in my milk supply. I have my settings on "loose a lb a week" and "lightly active" since I don't work out every single day. When putting that in, it put me at 1320 cals for the day, but I bumped it up to 1500 manually to take into consideration breastfeeding and needing a little extra cals. At 1500 I still feel the dip in supply, so now I'm wondering if that's still too little. So my question is how do I keep my supply up, but also not just maintain weight...I'd like to loose 8-10lbs! I'm 5'3" and currently 137ish. Anyone else have experiece with this?

mommymissy82

Losing 8-10 lbs should be at a rate of .5lbs to do it sensibly, and set it to sedentary unless you are actually working out. As for extra calories my gyno told me that it's not true , eat properly and you will be fine. My son just turned 5 months last week

victoria_1024

You will want at least 300 extra calories a day for exclusively BFing. I've been eating around 1800 calories a day and have been losing well without hurting my supply. I have more to lose than you though.

Graceraeg

I breastfeed and my baby is 15 months now. Before 6 months if your exclusively breastfeeding add 500 calories. After 6 months when you start feeding baby food add 300 cal.
What I do is when you go to add a meal you can look up breastfeeding and adjust accordingly. It will take off the calories you spent bf. I set my myfittnesspal goals to maintain weight just so I know I won't gain unless I go over those calories. I always eat less then maintain calories and I lose weight.
I had a problem maintaining supply when I started dieting. You need extra nutrition and calories when breastfeeding. I notice if I eat a lot like have a cheat day the next day my milk supply has gone up greatly! You also need plenty of healthy fats or you will feel starved when breast feeding. Look up kellymom.com its a great site for breastfeeding moms.

Ninkyou

You shouldn't be eating less than 1800 calories a day if you are EBFing. Up those calories.

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