Feel like I am losing my milk
vamolinari
Posts: 8 Member
For all you mom's out there...that are successfully losing weight while breastfeeding please reassure me that it can be done. I have noticed a significant drop in my supply and am concerned I will dry up if I continue losing weight. I feel really selfish doing this while my baby depends on me, but I also feel terrible about my body at the same time. Will I continue to have less and less milk or will it stabilize? I swear I have read that starving women can breastfeed a baby if the baby is nursing well. So why do women dry up????
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Can I ask how many calories you're consuming per day and how much exercise you do? How long have you been nursing your little one and are there any outside factors that may be playing a part, such as stress?
Nursing burns a range of calories from 300-500 (even more in some cases) so you need to make sure you are sufficiently fueling your body and drinking enough water. Women dry up for a number of reasons, so if you can pinpoint it on your own, please contact a lactation consultant.
I've lost 42lbs so far while breastfeeding. You can do it too!0 -
Thanks for responding. I am eating between 1600-2100 calories. I try to get all 8 glasses in a day but sometimes I only get 6. I am not exercising other than playing with my kids or walking around at the hospital that I work at0
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Maybe try to be on the higher end of your calories and see if that improves production?0
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Sounds like you're in a good range with both. Are you sleeping enough too?
My supply dried up within one month with my son due to stress. With my daughter, it has been up and down but thankfully now I can supplement with whole milk. I found that eating a little bit more helped bring my supply back up.0 -
I noticed a drop when I tried eating 2000 calories. You may need to bump it up. Really. Right now I eat 2350 and am losing. At one point I even tried 2500 and lost some (not a lot though).0
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I'm on the same boat. I've been nursing (pumping) for 4 months now; my son is 5 months old but I only tried breastfeeding for like a month. I stopped for several reasons but one major one being that we were having a hard time latching on. All that stress of breastfeeding and/or not feeding him enough was actually depleting my supply so I had to supplement. Anyhow, now at 5 months, I've noticed the up and down of my milk supply. I pump at least 5 times in a 24 hour period and I recently noticed that I went from pumping 6-8 oz per pump to 3 oz. That's like half the amount. :-( I did start taking my allergy meds (Zyrtec) and the downfall of that is that it would decrease my supply for a bit; Zyrtec doesn't not directly affect my milk and/or the baby.
So... all that to say that YES... other factors may affect the supply along with not eating right or enough, which I've noticed too.
I would suggest eating more greens, fruits and vegetables and lots of water... maybe even more than the recommended 8 cups a day. That seems to have worked before for me when my supply went down. Trying not to stress over the situation helps too.
This mommy stuff is tough at times but I'm happy to have found a group on MFP who I can totally relate to.
Thanks ladies! -Lyn0 -
I had good pumping days and bad pumping days; in the end I gave up pumping altogether (but only because I am lucky enough to be a SAHM) because I wasn't able to pump enough to sustain my daughter. I think some breasts just aren't built for pumping!0
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This is totally me!! My son is 5 weeks old today and I've had to stop breastfeeding due to latching issues (even after seeking help) and mastits but i have been pumping. I've had the mastitis for close to two weeks now, with having a fever and the antibiotics it severly decreased my supply and although it is gone now i'm still not producing enough milk. we've had to supplement because my son is eating way more than I am able to produce even with pumping every 2-3 hours. I eat 2000 calories a day and drink plenty more water than necessary so i know the issue doesnt lie there. I guess maybe lack of sleep and stress of it all could be the culprit but I feel like it is slowly slipping through my fingers!! :sad:0
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Don't give up yet. See if you can make it through the next week or so. There are a lot of growth spurts between the time they are born until 6 weeks, then again at 2 months, 4 months, etc. It may seem like you can't keep up, but it may just be that. Pump what you can and supplement what you are doing. 2000 calories also may not be enough. My supply tanked at 2000. I upped my goal and it came back up.0
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I had to be very careful to eat back all of my breastfeeding calories and exercise calories or I lost my supply. The good news was that I still slowly lost weight. From birth to 6 months (exclusively BFing, no solids, no formula), I added 500 cals plus any exercise. Most days I ate 2300+ calories. After the initial quick weightloss, I lost .5 - 1 lbs per week.
I also had to make sure to eat enough fat. I tried to make it all good fat. Lots of nuts, olive oil, ect... but I did eat some cheeseburgers. I tried 2300 cals of 99% lean turkey, fruits, and veggies (that was sooooo much food) but even though my supply was good, my baby stalled in her weight gain.
Do what works best for you. I couldn't breastfeed my oldest so I was hellbent on exclusively breastfeeding my daughter. I was able to do it - in factf I did it so well she would never take a bottle of pumped milk - but it took a toll on me mentally. I'll lose the Mommy Olympics for this but if I'm lucky enough to have a 3rd child, I plan to mix breast and bottle. Exclusively breastfeeding is great but I think a sane and happy mommy caring for all her children is better.
Good luck!0 -
I have only been dieting for a month or so, but I had a dip in my supply a few weeks ago, but my daughter just nursed more and it is back up. I lost all of pregnancy weight within a month or so after birth but was still 30 pounds overwight so I waited until her first birthday to lose the rest. I have lost 10 pounds this month just by counting calories. I do add 300-500 extra for breastfeeding, but never eat them all, so I'd say I'm eating about 1400 a day, but mostly healthy proteins like yogurt and lean meat with fruits and tons of veggies. I'm hoping I can keep going, but breastfeeding is definitely more important to me than weight loss. i'd just like to feel good and get healthy. Good luck!0
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Why do you feel like your losing milk supply? Do your breasts feel smaller? Pumping less? Or something else?
The reason I ask is because if it's due to your breasts feeling smaller, this is completely normal. This doesn't mean your milk supply has dropped but it has just regulated. Your milk supply will adjust to babies needs if you are nursing. If your pumping, pump whenever baby would be nursing. When baby's intake increase, pump more often until your supply matches baby's needs.
The reason women dry up is normally due to not nursing on demand, not pumping often enough, or the quality of pump might not be efficient about sucking out the milk.0 -
Are you pumping? When I primarily pumped with my first I had a severe supply drop. I had to nurse her more to increase production. My milk also dipped when I got pregnant. Have you tried extra pumping sessions to increase production? Have you tried milk tea?0
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Just an update...... I am doing better. I am maintaining at least 1800-2000 calories and so far have been losing .5-1 lb a week on average. I did start drinking the mother's milk tea and have noticed a better supply. I noticed a drop during my pumping sessions at work. AF also started and from my experiences before with breastfeeding my older son my supply dropped during that period. Thanks for all the help and encouragement.0
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