Anyone else postpartum?

paperstars

Hey! I'm new here. I gave birth to my second baby, a beautiful little girl, 8 weeks ago. With my first I had gestational diabetes and watched my diet very carefully. I gained 14lbs and lost it all in the delivery room. This time around I didn't need to watch my diet so I gained about 35lbs and the only weight I lost was the actual baby. So I'm about 25lbs-30lbs above my pre pregnancy weight and am hoping to lose that as well as an additional 10lbs

I have a question... is any one else breastfeeding? I'm not sure how to account for that. I'm thinking I should just input it as exercise that burns oh... probably 300 calories a day. Or just mentally add 300 extra calories to the calorie requirement the site gave me. I don't want to harm my milk supply but my midwife told me mild dieting shouldn't be a problem.

mfkfoster

Just searsh breastfeeding in the food database and add it to your food log. If you know how many ounces it's better. There's a lot out there and it adds calories back because breastfeeding uses cals.
I hope this helps. I gave birth to a wonderful baby boy in October!

Love_cup

When I was breast feeding I lost 30lbs two weeks after my daughter (only gained 20 pregnant with her). I would definitely count those calories being burned. Although I gained most of it back after I stopped and started the formula the nursing was the best exercise I got for a few months after having her.

w_sanford

Hi! I am a dietitian...and I work for WIC. It depends on how much you are breastfeeding...but if you are exclusively, you are probably burning/expending an additional 400-500 cal/day.

I would recommend you at least consume your minimum calorie intake...but always keeep in mind the breastfeeding. Most importantly, make sure you are getting appropriate servings from each of the food groups.

Abrasue

I am about 6 months postpartum and an EBF my son. i'm dieting and exercising daily and my supply hasn't gone down at all, if anything it has improved. I suggest of course eating the additional calories but also to increase your protein too!! that will make sure everything keeps on track. good luck!

paperstars

Thank you all so much for your advice! I'll definitely keep it in mind

JynMeyer

I just had my 7th the beginning of May and I'm hoping to lose 50lbs in a reasonable period of time. I am EBF and I'm talking 24/7.... he eats CONSTANTLY. In 6 weeks he went from 7lbs 14 oz to 10lbs 8 oz .... hahaha!

But Im definitely looking for good healthy recipes that I can use to lose weight and get back into shape. I am hoping for about 1lb a week eventually, but right now Im still having a rough time recouperating. Nursing Justus in bed all day all night has all but been the equivilant of bed rest and when I AM able to get up and do stuff I start bleeding again. So, it's going to be slow and steady for moi.

The BONUS is that it's finally SUMMER!!!! I live in Oregon so this is short lived!!!!!

Collinsky

Congrats on your baby! They grow so fast. :-)

In your food log, you can enter "Breastfeeding - Mom" as a food option, and it will automatically deduct 500 calories from your daily total. You just do that every time you log, and it takes care of the math for you.

There is a book called Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding, and it can help you to figure out what is and is not good while you're nursing. Your local La Leche League group probably has a copy or two in their lending library, if you can't find it at your local library.

There are also a couple of fitness DVDs that are geared toward mamas, like Moms Into Fitness Bootcamp and the Be-Fit Mom DVDs. They show variations that are suitable for the early weeks after birth, and you can do more challenging versions as your body returns to normal. I've been doing the Moms Into Fitness Bootcamp 2 video, and I love that it is challenging, but offers a modified jumping jack shown for women who have stress urinary incontinence who find that regular jumping jacks make them pee a little, and that the ab work in it is great for diastasis (which is where the six-pack muscles have separated.) I highly highly recommend getting a workout DVD that is geared to moms -- I wish it hadn't taken me 5 babies to finally do that.

When you're breastfeeding, it's not really about dieting. You don't want to restrict calories; and you don't want to drop weight too fast. It's about eating right, getting active, and letting your body do what it needs to do.

mommyrox05

Hi there and congratulations on your new little one. As far as maintaing your milk supply, just make sure that you get in enough water and add 300-500 calories a day for breastfeeding. I would add closer to 500 calorise since your baby is young and you are her only food sorce. That means that she is demanding more of you that say a baby of a year, who is also eating table food as much as he/she is requiring you.
My daughter is 15 months old and I counted 300 calories extra per day, (I just searched breastfeeding mother and added it in to the snacks area on my food diary) and I was only nursing her 3 times a day and at night. Now that I am not nursing her at all durring the day I do not add those calories in at all.
But I would deffinitly add at least 300-500 calories extra if you are strictly nursing. Hope that helps...and GOOD LUCK!

JynMeyer

I'm new here- but how do you 'Add' foods to your diary? I searched for breastfeeding and it showed me a table but Im not sure how to apply that to my profile? I guess I dont know how that works yet.

Exclusively breastfeeding they say that babies drink about 1oz per hour, so a 3 hour feeding would = 3 oz. I have issues with my left breast (inverted) so I pump now and then and get a GOOD 5-6 oz from squeezing every drop out. He will actually down that in a feeding if I let him. I'm minimalizing it now that Ive been reading on it, but I would like to see a drop in weight from nursing soon. As much as I output I would like to think I would see a difference!

I lost all my pregnancy weight really quick but I was already trying to lose weight when I got pregnant so my goal is only 25 lbs to healthyville.

I also know that what you put out... your body is ALSO going to hold onto about 10lbs of wight to continue nursing, right? I found that with nursing my 6th who is 22 mos now (I nursed her until I was 6 mos pregnant). My body help onto ever pound for dear life.

Ive been having lower back issues and in general a tougher time recouperating from birth this time... so I am REALLY looking forward to being able to exercise.

Collinsky

You can't really add it to your profile. They may be working on a way to make that possible, but for now you have to log it as a food. So when you go to your Food log to track what you've eaten, you put in "Breastfeeding" as a "food" and then it will pull up the options. Select it, and it will put it in your food log as a food, but it will subtract 500 calories instead of add it. Every day you go to log, you just put that in like a food. I put it in my Breakfast choices every day, but it doesn't really matter where it goes.

As your baby gets older, you can adjust it. My son is 13 mos old, and nurses less than a younger baby, so I changed it so it came out to 375 calories, which is probably close to accurate for how much he nurses. www.Kellymom.com is a fabulous breastfeeding site in general, and there's a calculator for how many ounces your baby probably takes in, and then you figure about 20 calories an ounce for how much you burn. (That's mostly helpful for older babies who have started solids and aren't as dependent on nursing.)

JynMeyer

I need to make a correction, I dont need to lose 50lbs, I need to lose 25, hahaha!

enigma2546

I delivered my daughter 9 weeks ago by csection, i watched how i ate, with an exception of one month, i went from 183 to 265 , i am now down to 240 , but only of the past few weeks have i started watching what i eat, and excercising, i'm determined to drop any weight i can. I walk constantly with my daughter, and as of next week myself and 3 friends of mine all with children under 8 weeks are attending a mommy baby yoga class ! : )