breast feeding

hi im breastfeeding and wanting to loose weight but need to know how much extra calories to allow for breastfeeding?

Replies

  • BelindaDuvessa
    BelindaDuvessa Posts: 1,014 Member
    300-500 calories. If your infant is small, go with the smaller number. As he grows, add calories.

    I would manually make my calories larger. That's what I'm doing with my pregnancy. But you can also add it in as either exercise or nutrition, whichever you prefer.
  • Hi,

    Read this: http://kellymom.com/nutrition/mothers-diet/mom-calories-fluids

    Suggests you shouldn't eat below 1500kCal or your milk supply may suffer - don't want that do we!

    Cheers
  • thanks guys i kinda figured i would need extra so had my quota and added couple more little things in a day equalling about 300cal so hopefully on right track:) thanks:)
  • jenneal89
    jenneal89 Posts: 243
    300-500 calories. If your infant is small, go with the smaller number. As he grows, add calories.

    I would manually make my calories larger. That's what I'm doing with my pregnancy. But you can also add it in as either exercise or nutrition, whichever you prefer.

    Not necessarily, babies bf all day long so it's more likely you're burning 500 calories breast feeding a newborn. As your child grows, they eat less frequently but are able to get more milk out in a feeding usually in a shorter amount of time. If you breast feed after a year I would then drop down to 300 calories if your toddler is drinking a significant amount of other things (water, cow's milk,etc). You can always start logging at 500 calories then slowly drop down and see what happens. I breast fed my daughter for 18 months with no problems and lost 80lbs during that time. I've also done quite a bit of research on the subject. if you pump, it's about 29 calories burned per 1 ounce.