Nursing mother NEEDS to know...

WannaBHotMommaN2010

For women who are nursing & dieting (or those who have).

Hi..a little hesitant to ask this, but I'm going to...because I really need some help!

I've got a personal question...(sorry guys who are reading this!). :embarassed:

I just had a baby 4 months ago, and have been able to successfully nurse her. (W/out dieting) I was able to lose weight (24lbs) and freeze 200+ bags of milk in my freezer, all while still giving her a very abundant supply. Yea! :bigsmile:

However....now that I have started "dieting and exercising" to lose this baby weight, I have noticed a HUGE plummet in my milk supply. :noway: So much so, that I am now only able to give her what she needs (while I'm at work my husband stays home with her). I haven't been able to freeze anything in the past month (actually, having to use what I did have frozen. (Again, sorry it's personal...NEED to know!). :ohwell:

How can I still keep losing this weight but get my supply back up where it needs to be? I've not been eating near as much, and it's effecting my ability to feed my daughter. I've been on Fenugreek pills and tea's and I'm sure that's the only reason I'm still able to keep nursing, but it's not lasting long.

How can I still lose weight and feed my daughter? I've noticed the more I eat, the more I produce, but on the down side, I'm also starting to re-gain my lost weight...yikes!

I don't know whether to stop dieting and keep feeding her, or start dieting and quit feeding her this way, and switch to formula (knowing there's nothing wrong with that).

Any thoughts? :embarassed:

WannaBHotMommaN2010

For women who are nursing & dieting (or those who have).

Hi..a little hesitant to ask this, but I'm going to...because I really need some help!

I've got a personal question...(sorry guys who are reading this!). :embarassed:

I just had a baby 4 months ago, and have been able to successfully nurse her. (W/out dieting) I was able to lose weight (24lbs) and freeze 200+ bags of milk in my freezer, all while still giving her a very abundant supply. Yea! :bigsmile:

However....now that I have started "dieting and exercising" to lose this baby weight, I have noticed a HUGE plummet in my milk supply. :noway: So much so, that I am now only able to give her what she needs (while I'm at work my husband stays home with her). I haven't been able to freeze anything in the past month (actually, having to use what I did have frozen. (Again, sorry it's personal...NEED to know!). :ohwell:

How can I still keep losing this weight but get my supply back up where it needs to be? I've not been eating near as much, and it's effecting my ability to feed my daughter. I've been on Fenugreek pills and tea's and I'm sure that's the only reason I'm still able to keep nursing, but it's not lasting long.

How can I still lose weight and feed my daughter? I've noticed the more I eat, the more I produce, but on the down side, I'm also starting to re-gain my lost weight...yikes!

I don't know whether to stop dieting and keep feeding her, or start dieting and quit feeding her this way, and switch to formula (knowing there's nothing wrong with that).

Any thoughts? :embarassed:

ErinD

Well I have been here, so I understand your questions. When I raised this question with my doctor she asked me how much longer I wanted to breast feed for..then the next question was are you willing to eat more for your child and try to maintain your weight right now? I decided that I wanted to maintain for the next 4 months until my boys were just over a year. I supplemented what I was eating with more fruits and veggies, stayed away from adding additional carbs and upped my protien a tad. I did loose weight still just not as fast as I was before. Are you drinking enough water as well. Your body will store fat if it feels that it does not have enough energy/food to produce breast milk. If you want to change to formula and keep dieting thats a great idea too. Good luck

3babybeans

Take whatever MFP gives you as your "base calories" (for example 1200) and add 500 to it (therefore, 1200 + 500 = 1700). Then, be sure to add in your exercise calories as well. I'm on month 11 of nursing & this method has worked great for me. As your baby gets older & doesn't nurse as much, decrease the calories you're alotting for bf'ing. I'm giving myself about 150 a day right now b/c she's in the process of weaning & isn't nursing as much. HTH! :flowerforyou:

Something else I want to throw out there is that I wasn't successful at losing weight while bf'ing with my first 2. However, following MFP guidelines & eating some extra for my milk supply, I've lost about 50# this time around. Sometimes it just depends on your body's decision while nursing, too (which really really sucks to hear, I know I've been there). Good luck to you!

If you've had success so far with bf'ing, keep it up! It is SO worth it for you & your baby.

WannaBHotMommaN2010

She's only 4 months old right now, so I was hoping to continue either until she got to be a year old, or until she gets teeth and chomps down too hard! :noway: OUCH! That would be it for me instantly.

I am drinking about 64+oz of water a day (plus decaf tea)...some days I feel I'm a fish with as much water as I drink. :laugh:

I will try what you said. I only eat a couple cups of fruit in the morning for my breakfast, maintain a decent lunch (around 500 calaries), and it's supper that gets me (I guess b/c I pump 16oz a day) I feel I'm starving.

I just want to do what is right for my daughter and keep trying if I can. I just feel guilty having to do formula, b/c I don't want to be selfish and focus on myself, when I can give my daughter the best food possible.

I appreciate your response. I will keep my head up and keep trying harder. I'm willing to stay the way I am now, so long as I do not keep gaining.

Happy

I stuggled with milk production after I went back to work. Make sure you get enough protein, at least 60 grams per day. That's probably one of the most important things to help supply, that and water intake which it sounds like you do well with. If you are determined to keep going, I tried a drug called domperidone. It doubled my production (sadly, only 2 to 4 mL per session but it helped). The drug is not available in the US but I ordered it online from Thailand.

thejarviclan

Remember that your weight loss should be slower while you're nursing. It will come off just from nursing alone so you should be eating all of your exercise calories.

For now, just concentrate on toning and conditioning. The weight will come off, but it may be more slowly at this point.

You do need a certain amount of fat stores in order for your milkfat content to be high enough.

One other thought...four months is a natural point for a growth spurt. It's possible your milk supply is just in the process of catching up!

At any rate, keep up the great work!

WannaBHotMommaN2010

:bigsmile: Thank you SO much for that comment. I forgot all about that growth spurt! She had me up every 30min - 1hr last night to eat, so you'd thought I'd remembered that.

Thank you everyone SO very very much for your encouragement. I needed that, b/c today, I almost gave up. I have two other children (6 & 4 years) whom I was not as successful with b/c I was trying to diet while nursing, so I'm gonna take everyone's advice to heart today, and really focus on her.

Any and all other comments are more than encouraged!

mommybirdie

One other thing that you need to know, if you are pumping a lot, your body somehow knows the difference and will lower milk production. How many times are you pumping vs. nursing? After about 4 months of pumping (on average), your body may only provide for your nursing feedings. If your production drops, try to go half and half. Nurse when you are home and have daddy feed her formula once you run out of frozen breast milk. If she has never had formula, I would reccommend mixing breast milk with formula as your frozen stash is dwindling, otherwise she may not go for the taste of the formula. Don't stress about her having 100% breast milk; some is better than none. As someone else stated, everyone's body is different and there is very little that you can do to change that. I know many women who would have loved to have had 4 months of nursing and others who were able to nurse twins until 15 months and lost the weight right away. Do what is best for your family and remember, this time with baby will never come back, but the weight will still be there to lose. Good luck!!

Venusjems

I had the same problem too. Except i never pumped... i work at home and strictly feed on demand.. which is about every three hours or so (he is about to be six months). Mine is older and i started him on solid foods twice a day at 4 months (with advice from ped) he is 22 pounds right now a bigggg boy..
Anyway after eating right and not so much junk food, i notice that my boobs are no longer "full" they used to fill up to the point of almost pain, right around the 3 hour mark and now they are "soft". But he still continues to get enough of what he needs out of them. I try to eat around 1500-1700 calories a day.
I planned on brestfeeding till 6 months, and then breast feed only morning and night till one year and have him weaned... So i am trying to wean him to formula right now, taking one feeding away a week or two..
You know to each his own, you dont have to feel guilty about taking time for yourself and wanting to lose the weight and on the flip side you dont have to feel guilty for wanting to continue nursing your baby and not lose the weight right away.
Your other babies ended up ok on formula, and there are lots of people out there that chose not to breast feed, their babies ended up ok..
Decide what is best for YOU and dont feel bad whatever you choose!!!

Mommy2Girls

I too have been there....I would for sure continue with the breastfeeding. Just remember that it took you 9 months to put the weight on, so give yourself 9-12 months to get it back off. Continue to ensure you are eating enough and exercising regularly and the weight will come off gradually. Right now at this point the breast feeding is the most important thing. Even if you just maintain the weight you are at now, it's only for another 8 months like you said and once you are done breast feeding then give it all you have to lose the weight. I found as soon as I stopped breast feeding the weight just started to melt off!!! Keep it going!

CassieNic

water water water! are you drinking extra water for that tea? teas and coffees can dehydrate you more because it acts as a diuretic. im nursing a 4mo, when the weight wasnt "falling off" me like it did with my 3yo, I started adding cardio to my days and that whats when it did...now im stuck. I know its because im still nursing. and probably burning too many calories. even tho i eat my exercise calories back most days. like other people have said, im going to continue to just eat healthy and maintain, then when she self weans, LOOK OUT BODY! :laugh:

look up "lactation cookies" ive heard they work wonders for increasing supply. When I needed to increase my supply I started taking "more milk plus" pills. they have fenugreek plus every other herb that is shown to increase milk. on their website they have a store locater.

rejoice

Lots of great advice here, especially with increasing your protein. Our little one is 5 months old, I've found as I have tried to increase my protein I don't feel like I'm starving all the time. Another suggestion, I had problems with decreased production with our second son, try drinking Root Beer or taking brewers yeast capsules. Keep in mind each child is different. Our oldest I could eat whatever & still lose (he nursed ALL the time!). Our second son I nursed until he was 18 monthes & couldn't take off the last 10 pounds until he was weaned. Looking back I'm glad I made the choice to keep nursing though.

WannaBHotMommaN2010

Wow, love the advice everyone! I am jotting down like crazy (when I should be working)! I have made a lot of pointers and think I will print these out for when I get home to study more on.

To answer the one question about the pumping vs. bf'ing, i pump more than nurse b/c I'm at work more than I am around my daughter so it's just really hard for me to get it back up again. I go like clockwork every 2 hours at work, and it has dwendled down to only 1oz a breast each time I pump... not sure how to get it back up. I've even tried every hour, but that is almost impossible here with such a busy work schedule.

When I am home on the weekends, she strickly nurses with occasional baby food. As far as drinking water over my tea's...no, I don't, I confess, I know I should. I HATE water, so it is so hard to drink it. I force myself to drink at least 64oz a day, and most times, not. So, a lot of times, I've added the crystal light to my drinks, that seems to help.

I know when I look back on this one day, I will not regret trying. The weight will come off, when it's ready too. I was just tired of everyone (mostly family) making remarks at my weight/size. It took me a while to take the weight off with my first two (and I wasn't this big), so imagine how hard it'll be for me now. I will just working hard at it, and it will. Like someone said it took me 9 mo to pack it on, I can't expect it to come off over night. I will just take it one day at a time.

Thanks again, I will try to locate these suggestions (lactation cookies, brewers yeast caps, more milk plus, etc). I'd never heard of any of those, so it's worth a try.

wilted6orchid

I'm also nursing and losing weight. I'm sure you've got most of the info you need by now. But as far as this site goes, remember that 1500 cals is minimum for nursing mommies. I get 1200 from this site so I went into the exercise journal and added nursing as a cardio, it burns 350-500 cals a day. So I put in 350 cal for 80 minutes. I guessed 20 minutes a nursing. I just use that as a basis to keep my food journal at 1500 min.

Also, your are doing fine with water! Please don't think you need to force fluids to nurse. Eat plenty of protein and don't weigh yourself to often. I weigh twice a month, personally, but weighing a lot can really discourage you sometimes.

Good Luck, and take care of yourself...that's the best way to take care of your baby.:flowerforyou:

wilted6orchid

Oh and just so you know...that 24 pounds is baby weight, but NOT since Jan.

It's since June...don't try to go to fast. Our bodies do store some toxins in fat that can be released into breastmilk if you lose weight to fast.

WannaBHotMommaN2010

WOW! I did not know that. I just went into my food goals and up'd it to 1700, but now that you say that, I guess that does make sense to put it under cardio...great tip!

I lost 24lbs of my baby weight since December (she was born Nov). But, since I started dieting and exercising, I gained 14 of it back (hate that!)...then, to top it all off, since I started this program, my milk supply started shrinking!:mad: :explode: So, think I'm just gonna call it quits on this diet stuff until I call it quits on the nursing. I am just gonna have to take it slow, and not weigh as often as I have been (Saturday mornings in my b-day suit! :embarassed: )

Great tips!!!!

wilted6orchid

I also used More Milk Plus...but mine wasn't the capsules, it was the tincture. If you're curious I will give you some details.

My understanding is that the tincture is much stronger than the capsules. And that the capsules and tincture are both for long term milk increases. It also comes in a tea!!:flowerforyou: My friends have told me the tea is great for an immediate boost as opposed to the slower, but longer term boost of the other two.

mrsyac2

no advice this way my kids were formula fed-- Also try talking to your doctor and the pediatrician- That is the best people for you to talk to-- Mfp is great for ideas but if you are starting to dry up since your saying you aren't getting as much then you need to talk to someone as well--


Im sorry some of you ladies breastfeed until your child is 1 or until over 1 wow-

Breast Milk is best for the first couple of weeks-- Im sorry hope I don't offend I just got a mental pic of a 1 year old lached on..

3babybeans

no advice this way my kids were formula fed-- Also try talking to your doctor and the pediatrician- That is the best people for you to talk to-- Mfp is great for ideas but if you are starting to dry up since your saying you aren't getting as much then you need to talk to someone as well--


Im sorry some of you ladies breastfeed until your child is 1 or until over 1 wow-

Breast Milk is best for the first couple of weeks-- Im sorry hope I don't offend I just got a mental pic of a 1 year old lached on..

WOW! I am nursing my 11 month old & you really did offend me. Do NOT be sorry for me, Mrsyac. I am doing what I think is best for my children, just like you did what you think is best for you children. Please remember that breastfeeding is a personal choice & refrain from juding those of us that chose to breastfeed to 12 months or longer.

BTW - are you a dr.? Do you know for a fact that breast milk is only "the best for the first couple of weeks?"

mrsyac2

no advice this way my kids were formula fed-- Also try talking to your doctor and the pediatrician- That is the best people for you to talk to-- Mfp is great for ideas but if you are starting to dry up since your saying you aren't getting as much then you need to talk to someone as well--


Im sorry some of you ladies breastfeed until your child is 1 or until over 1 wow-

Breast Milk is best for the first couple of weeks-- Im sorry hope I don't offend I just got a mental pic of a 1 year old lached on..

WOW! I am nursing my 11 month old & you really did offend me. Do NOT be sorry for me, Mrsyac. I am doing what I think is best for my children, just like you did what you think is best for you children. Please remember that breastfeeding is a personal choice & refrain from juding those of us that chose to breastfeed to 12 months or longer.

BTW - are you a dr.? Do you know for a fact that breast milk is only "the best for the first couple of weeks?"

Actually I work in a high risk maternal fetal medicine office and after posting I went and asked questions-
Sorry I offended you I thought about my children who were off the bottle and formula at 1years old- To each is own yes it is a choice to breastfeed I don't see nothing wrong with breast feeding a newborn baby what-so-ever- Just got thrown of course that a 1 year old is still attached to a breast or bottle when they should be drinking from a sippy at 6-7 months old -- and bottles should still be there but limited and the child should be eating food
And yes I did go and ask around the office- First couple weeks are the most important due to immune system..