Baby Mama's! Join in!

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seearainbow
seearainbow Posts: 57 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hey everyone! I've been looking for a support group for moms with babies, and haven't found one, so I thought I'd just start the group myself!

I have seen many people looking to lose their baby weight, or just trying to lose weight with a new little member of the family. Some of us (like me) were on this journey before we got pregnant, and we are just looking to continue it.

I'd love to have any moms join in, but especially those with small children.

I am just finding it to be such a challenge to eat right when I have a small baby! I can hardly ever cook because if he's not eating (I'm breastfeeding), he wants to be held or played with. So I eat frozen foods that I can pop in the oven or microwave. Or instant foods like pop tarts.

And being up in the middle of the night allllllll the time sure gets hard because I get so hungry whenever I get up to feed him (every few hours to every hour some nights!).

So join in this group and add me as a friend and we'll discuss how we can make this change in our lifestyles when there are so many obstacles with being a mom. Hopefully we can give each other ideas, motivation, and support!

Replies

  • Luckymam
    Luckymam Posts: 300
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    I'll join! Got a 9 year old, 5 year old and a 9 month baby x
  • KristinaW
    KristinaW Posts: 42
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    I would love top join! I currently have a 2yr old boy and I am TTC. (trying to conceive).
    I am trying to loose the left over weight from my son-plus all the ben and jerry's i ate!- but trying to loose the weight to support the healthiest future pregnancy that i can.

    and a tip for you with your cooking issue- I had the same problem. i worked it out by placing the play pen close to the living room and talking about everything i was doing so there was a constant stream of my voice keeping him calm. turning off all other noise really helped him stay focused on me and not be so over whelmed by the idea of being alone.
  • lease3
    lease3 Posts: 1
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    Hi everyone :) I have 3 kiddies; 5, 3 and 2. It is so hard to eat well and keep up with everything, so I completely feel your pain! I am studying fulltime, and between that and my kids it is hard to exercise and cook myself meals.

    Trying hard to stay motivated - my hubby is helping by doing the same eating plan as me which is great (he's never been interested in weight loss or exercise before). It has been so much easier not having all of his chocolates and naughty food around to taunt me lol! So having the support of the household helps me :)

    Hope we can all be a good motivation to each other!
  • seearainbow
    seearainbow Posts: 57 Member
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    luckymam- welcome to the group and thanks for joining! My baby is three months old...a few months behind yours!

    justsurviving21-congrats on TTC! How exciting! Also, thanks for the tip on the playpen. Sometimes he just screams when I lay him down and he realizes I'm not holding him anymore... I've tried a sling, which works, but I am too afraid to cook with him in it. He's too close to the hot burner or the oven or whatever and it just isn't safe. He'd be sticking out farther than me and would be the first to get burnt!

    lease3- that's so great that your hubby is eating healthy too! My fiance isn't quite there and it's going to make things difficult for me. Like yesterday he bought me some junk food as a surprise for me when I came home. So sweet! But hard, too. Once I reminded him that I was trying to eat healthier, he apologized. But I still have been eating those zingers, and that's my own fault. Dang.

    As for me--seem to be having a rough morning. Stressed out because my baby was up all night, not sleeping for more than 45 minutes at a time. My milk supply has tanked and I don't know if it's due to this new eating plan I've started or what. I don't want to switch him to formula, but at the rate we're going, I'll be running out of pumped milk before long. I haven't been able to pump enough while I'm at work to feed him while I'm gone and so we're using my stash up. I'm so so so sad about this and just don't want this to happen. So maybe I'll eat more today. For me it's just hard to do more without going overboard and binging. I at least tried making an omelet for breakfast to fill me up, but I am still just feeling the need to eat.
  • KristinaW
    KristinaW Posts: 42
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    A tip for your breast feeding. You still need to be consuming at least 300 extra calories each day in order to produce adequate milk flow. Don't worry, if you have to increase your daily goal, you wills till loss the weight.
    Also, breast feeding has a lot to do with emotion. if you are stressed out, or feeling separated from your baby it will cause you to dry up. so when your home put you baby directly on the breast when ever possible, also do the skin to skin bit when ever you can.
    and while at work if you feel like your unable to pump like you should, try breast message. (of course try not to be seen.lol) but the pressure and movement of the breast can mimic the way your child touches you and stimulate the milk glans to produce more.
    and keep in mind, your employer is required to allow you to pump as much as you feel necessary. but dont over do it- if the nipples crack it could have the opposite effect.

    about the junk food. my bf loves junk food- ever where i turn in this house there is sugary cereal, chocolate, something! i avoid the issues by keeping a well variety of special k cereal bare around. they are only 90 cal. and sweet enough to curve any craving i may be having. they have a chocolate pretzel bar that is to die for. and if u want just a candy bar- try kudos. they taste so much like snickers, mmmm. delicious for only 100 cal. and if you really need them zingers- keep in mind that portion is everything. try to just eat half of it, do a little exercise walk around for 10 min with your son counts for great exercise- and then eat the other half.
  • raelbee
    raelbee Posts: 219
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    Hi everyone, I'd love to join your group for support and to connect with other moms :)

    I have a 2 year old girl and recently met my weight loss goal. I didn't start trying to lose the baby weight until my daughter was about 18 months old, so didn't have to worry too much about milk supply.

    Like justsurviving21 said, you should make sure you're adding 300-500 calories to the daily goal MFP suggests in order to keep your milk supply strong. Also, when I started back at work, I found that pumping 3x a shift really helped keep my supply up. I did this for the first few months, and then eventually dropped down to 2x, then once per shift. I stopped pumping at work when my daughter was 18 months and we were able to wean her from the bottle.
  • seearainbow
    seearainbow Posts: 57 Member
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    Thanks for the tips ladies. I added in 500 calories to my day under the food section with a negative calorie entry someone made for beastfeeding moms. I only get to pump once at work and I work 12 hour shifts. I'm a nurse and although I am "allowed" to have 60 min total break time I only have been able to use my 30 min lunch because I can't leave my patients unless someone can relieve me and my patients are often unstable and even getting a lunch break is a challenge. I had been compensating by pumping before and after work and that had gotten me enough milk until this past week. I also had to start a new medicine that could decrease my supply. Work is what it is and I just have to accept it.

    Also, I work nights which sucks and is really hard on my body. Between tonight and tomorrow night I'll try to get a few hours of sleep, but my baby likes to be awake during the day. Everything is worth it for him though!
  • KristinaW
    KristinaW Posts: 42
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    Would it be possible for you to switch shifts, or get another person to stay with you.
    If you end up switching to formula dont fret to much. I only managed to breast feed my son for 5 months and he has turned out a strong and very smart little boy.

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