Postpartum

al4374

Hi I thought I’d share my success story and also ask for some help. Last Aug we did an ad-Libitum challenge here, where we didn’t count calories, just carbs. At that point I’d been low carb/keto for abt 9 months. I posted in my challenge intro that I have pcos and My goal was either a ttc success success story or my period back. Guess what? During the 4 weeks of the challenge I think I lost almost no weight and was rly frustrated until... I got a positive pregnancy test at the end of the month! I had finally ovulated for the first time in like forever and was retaining some water which explained the lack of weight loss. Anyway, fast forward 3/4 of a year and I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy girl in May! I fell off this woe during pregnancy and haven’t been able to get back to it in the chaos of having a newborn. The dust is starting to clear so I’d like to try again. Anyone have experience with this woe postpartum? I’m wondering how low carb affects breastfeeding and if there’s anything special I need to know. Also looking for any tips and tricks on how to make this happen when I have so little spare time.

chelny

Congratulations! (I don't know how to answer your quesitons about postpartum, though.)

Alliwan

I had to just go lowish carb until the kids were about 6 months old or it dipped my milk a little too far low for my comfort. But after about 6 months, i lowered my carbs slowly until i can do keto without a milk supply. Other than that, I've had no problems postpartum with keto or low carb. Just be aware your fertility can still be WAY high. I got pregnant a few months ago (ectopic/miscarried) but I was tandem nursing both my kids and using birth control and I still got pregnant.

So there are good and some oof things about Keto/LCHF.

al4374

@Alliwan what was lowish carb for u? How many grams?

Alliwan

I had to do about 80g to 100g total carbs a day or id see a dip in milk supply. Once they started some solids at about 6 months, then i slowly went down about 5g carbs every week or two until i was 25 to 35g net carbs a day and im ok there. Im down to nursing one kid now and she's almost 2.

mmultanen

I’m wondering how low carb affects breastfeeding and if there’s anything special I need to know.

When I was nursing my kids I saw a huge dip in supply if I restricted calories too much. Low carb didn't have much of an impact per say but I needed to eat A LOT to keep my supply up. my advice is monitor your supply, and your energy first. Keep those as high as you can and if you lose weight, great but don't make that the focus. Your body will absolutely take from you to give to the baby. So focus on making sure you're getting enough nutrients, and calories, to support your mental and physical health right now.

al4374

Thanks @mmultanen you're probably right, I need to focus mainly on supply and energy levels right now. Im not specifically calorie restricting. Does it make sense that when I lower my carbs to even 80-100g I'm SO hungry? I feel like when I lower my carbs, even a little, I need to up my calories even more.

Alliwan

of course! your body will use the carbs first in milk production as that take A LOT of energy to make. So calorie input based on hunger is very ok during those first few months. You need to take care of your body and your milk production first, weight loss can come later if you need to. Funny thing is, your body uses carbs first to make the milk, but breast milk itself isnt super high in carbs.