Breastfeeding question - Probably TMI for many

firegirlred

Okay-so I don't actually have a question about breastfeeding. I'm pretty well educated on the whole subject. I know how many calories extra it takes to make milk. That's not what I'm looking for.

But I know there are a few other new mommas out there, and I want to know if you figure these calories into your daily allowance. If you do, how and how much? Exactly how do you log them in MFP?

mhesterruns

I was told to figure them in. That way my supply would not dwindle. I also made sure to drink plenty of water, when I didn't I pumped less.

lisawest

I know several that have enterred it as an exercise. When you first set it up, you tell the program how many minutes of this exercise burns how many calories. (How long do you nurse or pump everday, and how many calories is that supposed to burn.) Then you can either just add the exercise every morning (works best with really little babies), or you can put in how many minutes you nursed each time and the computer will automatically figure how many calories that should have burned (works well with older ones who are on solids).

There are a LOT of posts out there on very similar topics. If you don't get an answer that you understand, try searching the boards (link is right above the first post). I'm sure something will pop up that makes sense!

firegirlred

Thanks-I didn't even think about searching for this topic. I'm a little slow lately with the mommy brain and all! I was just curious how each person was logging individually.

I found out from the milk bank how many calories are in each ounce of my milk. So I added it as a food with a negative calorie balance per ounce, then log the milk that I pump off every day (after baby is nursed I can still pump off an extra 20-24 ounces a day). I wasn't really happy with logging it like this.

Thanks for the suggestion to search. I should have done this at the start.

mama22girlz

I think some people were logging it as exercise. I had it set up as an exercise and how many times I did it a day, but since my little one is 15 months and usually nurses about 3 times a day sometimes 4 I have stopped counting it. I think only her morning feed is big the rest are more like snacks.

You said milk bank, are you donating? thats great. I couldn't find anywere here locally (ontario canada) to donate, I really wanted to.

JMKelmer

Hey there - way to go! Nursing is such a great thing for baby and mom. You need an extra 300-500 calories a day while nursing on top of what mfp tell you is your daily allowance.

A great website if you haven't gone to it is kellymom.com. Free site a great deal about nutrition while nursing.

Good luck mama!
Jen