Breast feeding.. More Calories?

bryantraymond

Quick question for any of the ladys or guys that may know the answer. My wife is joining my fitness pal now that our baby has been born and she is breastfeeding our son. I know due to breastfeeding she should be intaking some extra calories. Can anyone advise as to what those extra calories should be??

hjfischer

You can add breast feeding calories based on ounces, age of baby, etc. Just search in the food section. I save mine in the 'snack' section.

NewVonnie

You can add breast feeding calories based on ounces, age of baby, etc. Just search in the food section. I save mine in the 'snack' section.

Yup..just type in "breastfeeding" in the food database and it gives you lots of choices

ibbray04

I believe it should be around 300 extra calories per day.

Just a little note: please tell your wife to be patient with the weight loss while breastfeeding. I know people say: "breastfeed to lose weight", but that is not true for MANY women. I am one of them. With both my kids I held on to the pounds while I nursed. With my second, I gained 21 lbs total, and held on to 12 of those pounds the entire time I breastfed. I just weaned about a month ago and already dropped 8 lbs. Please pass it on to her so she doesn't get frustrated

crysofmyk

Extra calories absolutely needed!!! I was told 500 minimum. You don't want to drop below and not be a)producing enough milk or b)not having enough nutrients in your milk. I would actually recommend calling a lactation specialist before starting any kind of a diet. I breast fed for 18 months, and after just 8 months of breast feeding I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I would say that if she is breast feeding and getting some form of cardio (walking etc) then a good well balanced diet is all that is needed, no calorie counting required. Also, be sure she gets enough calcium. Can't stress that enough. I stopped taking my calcium supplements after my son was born not realizing that my body would take the calcium from my own bones if need be to give to the baby. I ended up with a hairline fracture in my tibia that kept me from being able to work out for 8 months after I stopped breastfeeding. That's why I'm on here now. Not to lose baby weight, but to lose the weight I gained from not being able to work out for so long.

silverbullkitty

I breastfed both of my boys (ages now are 6 & 3) for fourteen months... Eight months were solely breastfeeding. My lactation consultant advised me to consume 500 more calories a day. Right after giving birth, with both pregnancies, I weighed ~180 pounds.

kristarablue

Usually it is an additional 500 calories or so at least that is what I have read...make sure she eats enough also everytime she sits down to breast feed, be the amazing husband you are and bring her a glass of water because she needs extra water during this time, she needs plenty..Congrats by the bye