Breastfeeding Mamas

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AmberElaine84
AmberElaine84 Posts: 964 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How many calories are you consuming a day? Since my son is only 8 weeks old and exclusively breastfeeding, I have it set at 500 calories burned a day from nursing, which puts my daily caloric intake at 1700. I have been losing weight slowly, and I just want to make sure I am doing this right. I don't want to be maintaining my weight. When I eat less than 1700, it feels like my milk supply starts to go down a bit. Are there any supplements I can take to boost my milk supply while loosing weight? TIA!!

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  • simmonsntz
    simmonsntz Posts: 10
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    Hey Tia:
    I breastfed both my boys. You have to eat enough, eat healthy and drink lots of liquids. If you are losing and feeding your little love, kudos to you! Keep it up...
  • MercuryBlue
    MercuryBlue Posts: 886 Member
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    When you're excusively bf-ing, yes, I'd set your additional caloric intake to 500 per day. If you find you're not losing weight at all, reduce it by about 100 and see if that helps. I'm still nursing (but not exclusively) so I only allow 200 calories per day for that, and it hasn't affected my milk production at all.

    Make sure you keep drinking lots of fluids, though! And if you notice your milk production slowing, then eat a little bit more.
  • milic
    milic Posts: 1
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    I too am exclusivly breastfeeding my 3mth old and i did my 7 year old for the first year and found that i really did not drop much wait till i stopped breastfeeding then it all came off really quickly. I set my intake at 2500 a day and have noticed a slow but steady decrease I have also really upped my exercise because i have found that if i dont eat enough my milk goes down but i can exercise all i want it wont effect my milk supply. just stay posative and remember it might not be till after you stop that you notice a big weight loss
  • MercuryBlue
    MercuryBlue Posts: 886 Member
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    I too am exclusivly breastfeeding my 3mth old and i did my 7 year old for the first year and found that i really did not drop much wait till i stopped breastfeeding then it all came off really quickly.

    This is so true. A lot of women I've spoken with have told me the same thing! BF-ing supposedly burns a lot of calories but in some women, nursing causes the body to 'hold onto fat'. Because it needs the fat to produce milk. I've found it's easily twice as hard to burn a pound when I'm nursing than it does when I'm not.
  • AmberElaine84
    AmberElaine84 Posts: 964 Member
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    Thanks girls!! I would love to decrease my cals, but I am ALWAYS starving!! I try to stay healthy, but of course there's always a few junky snacks in there. :blushing: As you guys know, it's awfully difficult to get in a good workout with 3 kids. Is it just me or do those of you exclusively nursing constantly feel ravenous?
  • MercuryBlue
    MercuryBlue Posts: 886 Member
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    Thanks girls!! I would love to decrease my cals, but I am ALWAYS starving!! I try to stay healthy, but of course there's always a few junky snacks in there. :blushing: As you guys know, it's awfully difficult to get in a good workout with 3 kids. Is it just me or do those of you exclusively nursing constantly feel ravenous?

    Lol. YES.

    .... I once ate nine tacos in a sitting. My husband was like "WHAT THE HECK????"
  • emmy133
    emmy133 Posts: 7
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    I've been breastfeeding my 4 month old, though not exclusively. My weight hasn't changed a bit since giving birth. I was afraid to cut calories and start dieting, and now that I have, my milk supply seems to have gone down. My doc recommended fenugreek, an herb I found in pill form at Whole Foods Market. I tried it, but couldn't really tell if it worked to increase supply because my baby started getting fussy and refusing to nurse, so I quit taking it, thinking that maybe the herb was a problem.
  • kabailz13
    kabailz13 Posts: 18 Member
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    I'll second the fenugreek! Also, if it is becoming a big problem, your GP can prescribe motilium or maxalon to help :)

    I am still feeding my now 16 month old numerous times a day and was adding 500cals when feeding her exclusively, 250 till aroung age 12mths and now, I sometimes add, sometimes don't add 150cals :)

    With the fenugreek, I was needing to take 3 capsules 3 times a day to help but it did help :) It's from the celery family
  • Momma2four
    Momma2four Posts: 1,534
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    I breast fed all 4 of my children, 1rst one for 8 months, 2nd for 3 months, 3rd one for 22 months, the 4th one for 18 months. One thing I learned, breastfeed before you exercise, exercise makes the milk taste bitter. The other is drink a lot of water. I usually just lost whatever I gained during the pregnancy, within 1-2 months of giving birth. I never really tried to lose more than the pregnancy weight. I know that you have to keep your cals up there or the milk will dry up. I think some of these other ladies had really good advice.
  • size6Jessi
    size6Jessi Posts: 71
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    Im nursing. You burn 20 calories for every ounce you get rid of. My kid is 11 m onths so I probubly only get rid of 10 ounches thru the whole day. You my firend are probubly doing 8 ounces probubly with each feeding, so you need more calories or your goign to go into starvation mode and your body wont drop it like you want. Remember, dont lose to fast, it will make your milk go down, youll have plenty of time to lose after the baby is older, feeding that baby is the most important thing right now! :)

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