extra calories while breast feeding

jpba

I am exclusively nursing my 4 month old baby and am not sure how many extra calories per day that I should add to my daily caloric intake. Any suggestions? I think it's 500, but I'm not sure. And then when I start to feed him solids in a few months I know I will have to cut the extra calories a little, but I don't know by how much. I would appreciate some input. Thanks!

Babieseverywhere

Search for breastfeeding under food and it will give you several optional, choose the one closest to what you are doing.

I get an extra 200 calories by choosing "Breastfeeding - Older Baby or Minimal Feedings" and I add that entry to my breakfast everyday.

I am actually tandem feeding an toddler and older baby but would rather err of the side of caution than eat way too many calories, IYSWIM.

bwattelet

Hi! I am also breast feeding my little guy. He is 7 months and is eating some food. When I first came back on here about when he was four months, I did some reading on this subject . From what I could tell 1500 calories a day until they start to eat more solids and then you can start bumping it down. I started at 1500 and each month went down a 100 till I reached 1200. Good luck and congrats!!

bgmomof3boys

Congrats on the baby and good job for breastfeeding! you log breastfeeding like you do food. just type in breastfeeding and you'll see lots of different options.

Melmade

I look up breastfeeding under foods and add it to my snacks or breakfast every day. My son is 10 months old and on both solids and breast milk--I breast feed him about 6 times a day. I choose the breastfeeding 6-12 months, which automatically gives me 300 extra calories. I think 500 seems good for you. One way to tell is to exclusively pump for a day, measure how much you pump and your baby eats--a bit exhausting, especially if your baby's not using a bottle at all. But you can look up online how much per oz. your milk averages, and i think there's a way to calculate what you burned producing it. Keeping your calories up will help you maintain your supply and keep toxins from entering your milk supply.

momofJandA

Still breastfeeding here (Ava's 19 months now). If you search breastfeeding under foods it gives you a bunch of options. Exclusive breastfeeding should give you an extra 500 cal. but log it to be sure. When your son starts solids he may continue to nurse all day/ all night (Ava did until she was 15 months). You just have to pick what matches your situation the closest.

Babieseverywhere

One way to tell is to exclusively pump for a day, measure how much you pump and your baby eats.

Sorry to interupt the flow of this thread, just need to post a correction of this common breastfeeding myth. The amount a mother can pump does not accurately reflect what a baby consumes nor what the mother can produce. Some women can not pump a drop yet nurse successfully for years.

As you were

jpba

Thank you so much for your help everyone! I'll start logging my breast feeding tomorrow.

momofJandA

One way to tell is to exclusively pump for a day, measure how much you pump and your baby eats.

Sorry to interupt the flow of this thread, just need to post a correction of this common breastfeeding myth. The amount a mother can pump does not accurately reflect what a baby consumes nor what the mother can produce. Some women can not pump a drop yet nurse successfully for years.

As you were

^^^^ Agreed. Humans are much more efficient and successful at getting the milk out than ANY machine, plus there's the whole skin to skin stimulation to get the milk flowing

LoveMyFour

My DR said an extra 300 during pregnancy and an extra 500 with EBF.

wylie481

I feel like I should know this answer but just want confirmation from any of you who might have already encountered this. I'm exclusively pumping, and then my son takes in whatever he takes. Would I subtract the same amount of calories when pumping as I would if I were breastfeeding directly? I hope this made sense... :ohwell: