Breastfeeding- Caloric intake?

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  • PillowPet1012
    PillowPet1012 Posts: 7 Member
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    i didnt even realize i should be considering BFing in my logs... i totally "forgot" about the BF calories until last night when i was trying to go to sleep lol.

    I have myself set on a 1460 calorie a day diet and i am EBFing my 5 month old son... and ive been under a hundered or 2 everyday... so i have technically only been getting 900 calories a day the past 4 days or so. Not good!

    Bad Leah, i knew it used 500 calories or so a day, and i just totally blanked out.

    I will be adding a 500 calorie BFing subtraction to my diary starting today.
  • Victoria2448
    Victoria2448 Posts: 559 Member
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    You burn 300-500 calories a day nursing. Listen to your body and your baby. If you notice your supply dropping you should increase your intake. If you notice your baby's wet and dirty diapers getting less and less, you should increase your intake. You really should be eating more while nursing but the exact number is going to depend on you and your baby.

    Also, I am an IBCLC.

    This is great advice!
  • PillowPet1012
    PillowPet1012 Posts: 7 Member
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    what about fat? carbs? any of those items... should something be subtracted from them by EBFing too?
  • binknbaby
    binknbaby Posts: 207 Member
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    [Doula and Midwifery Student here]

    Definitely need much more than 1200. 1700 would be the absolute bare minimum, but for really good milk supply, 2000 is closer to what you will need.

    All macros should be increased while breastfeeding, but particularly fat and protein. Fat provides essential nutrients for baby's brain/nerve development, while protein will provide the "nuts and bolts" for the growth and development of muscle, organs, etc. Carbohydrates should be increased with your caloric intake, but the fat and protein is much more vital to baby's development. The carbs will mostly help to ward off hypoglycemia for mom--but relying on mostly carbs to supply energy may increase insulin too much, so try to keep it moderate.

    Drink LOTS of water. Every time you nurse, drink a full 12-16oz glass of water, plus a glass with every meal you eat.

    Obviously things like alcohol and drugs should be avoided (even OTC meds should be run by a doctor or IBCLC first), but nothing in the daily diet needs to be completely taken out of the diet, so long as it fits the nutritional needs of the mother and baby.
  • zephtalah
    zephtalah Posts: 327 Member
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    According to the LLLI it takes the body 26 calories to produce one ounce of breastmilk. The typical answer of 500 additional calories is with a deficit already built in to aid in weight loss. If a mother produced 25 ounces in one day she would be burning 650 calories by that alone (26 calories x 25 ounces.) LLLI recommend that you don't go below 1800 calories a day while breastfeeding. 1800 is bare minimum. Both supply and quality will be affected when you go below this number. It is difficult to figure out exactly how many ounces you are producing when nursing (unless you pump which I hate doing), but younger babies nurse more frequently at fewer ounces and older babies tend to nurse less frequently with large ounces. So the 500 is a good ballpark number for single babies ( i.e. not twins or triplets). Good luck with nursing and weight loss.

    (I am a mommy of 7 which I nursed all of them including my 1 year twins which I am still nursing.)

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