Calories and Breastfeeding

debbs3678

Hi-
I'm EBF a 12 week old. How many calories do I burn per 20 min feeding? How do I log it? In exercise?
Thanks

EauRouge1

It's impossible to tell how many calories you are burning in one feed. A rough estimate is 'up to 500 calories a day', but that is 'up to' so you can't really just log 500 calories each day and expect it to be accurate. A better approach would probably be to stick to a realistic calorie goal regardless of how much feeding you are doing.

This is a really good website with a lot of info about weight loss and breastfeeding. Basically it's normal, sensible advice; eat lots of healthy food, do some exercise and don't rush things- http://kellymom.com/nutrition/mothers-diet/mom-weightloss/

Good luck

TavistockToad

search for it in your food diary

crackpotbaby

Speak with a lactation consultant.

serapel

If you are breastfeeding your child 100% with no formula, you are burning approx 500 cals a day.

An ounce of breastmilk is 20 cals that you are using up. A baby feeds about once every 2-4 hours and should take in roughly 3 ounces every 4 hours. So over the course of a day, your baby is taking in about 21 ounces of milk and you body is using up 480 cals to make the milk.

If you continued to breastfeed exclusively as the baby gets older, there is more fat in your breastmilk as baby's needs change and you could be definitely burning over 500 calories a day.

As you begin to switch formala for breastmilk, then you deduct 20 cals for every ounce your baby eats. So if your baby has 8 ounces of formula, you deduct 160 cals from 500 cals to see how much extra cals you need.

serapel

debbs3678 wrote: »

Hi-
I'm EBF a 12 week old. How many calories do I burn per 20 min feeding? How do I log it? In exercise?
Thanks

In 20 minutes a baby could only eat 1 or 2 ounces of breastmilk or it could be 3 ounces. Or they could just be suckling and not drinking any milk.