If I wean my baby will it be easier to lose weight?

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  • mommymeg2
    mommymeg2 Posts: 145 Member
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    There is research to show that breastfed children are better psychologically adjusted and healthier. Mom's benefits continue on as well-the longer a woman breastfeeds, the lower her chances of all female cancers--cervical, uterine, and breast.


    People like you make those of us who were unable to breastfeed feel like s**t! Thanks!

    I have Micromastia (Hypoplasia which of course leads to IGT...diagnosed by a plastic surgeon and more than one LC) and CAN'T exclusively nurse and she did not make me feel like any form of feces :) The times when I am hurt by nursing stories and comments are when I choose to be upset by it. Thankfully I'm in a better place now regarding the situation but I"m quite confident that upsetting people was not her intention. :flowerforyou:
  • shalinimunjal
    shalinimunjal Posts: 192 Member
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    Don't wean just because you want to lose weight. Wean when the baby and you are both ready.

    *This
  • Flemstica
    Flemstica Posts: 65 Member
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    I've gained 15 pounds since weaning my youngest a couple months ago :-( I say nurse as long as possible! LOL

    *edited to add*
    I just read through all the responses and am thrilled to see so many positive comments regarding breastfeeding! Woo!
  • Mama_CAEI
    Mama_CAEI Posts: 235
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    I have Micromastia (Hypoplasia which of course leads to IGT...diagnosed by a plastic surgeon and more than one LC) and CAN'T exclusively nurse and she did not make me feel like any form of feces :) The times when I am hurt by nursing stories and comments are when I choose to be upset by it. Thankfully I'm in a better place now regarding the situation but I"m quite confident that upsetting people was not her intention. :flowerforyou:

    Well said.
    And cases like yours are very rare...the number of women who are medically/physically unable to nurse is very small. Most women are not successful because they don't have the right information or support...because the marketing people who work for formula companies are experts at making moms second-guess themselves.
  • mistersister913
    mistersister913 Posts: 1
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    I nurse my 11 month old but only at night before he goes to bed. He self weaned most of the time but once he's a year old ill fully wean. Seriously, 4 years old, sorry but that is just wrong. There is a reason children get teeth and that is to eat table food. Im for bf but there is a time to quit, and a time it becomes sad because you cant gov up the bf because of your selfishness. I feel sorry for those kids. But I had a 10lb 6oz baby and he's now the size of most two yr old kids. I gained 70lbs I hit 184lbs.. ive lost most but since he started self weaning I havr been losing weight. Size 3 pants are too big now :0 but im sure it depends on the person. I race motocross and am active
  • Josalinn
    Josalinn Posts: 1,066 Member
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    Don't wean just because you want to lose weight. Wean when the baby and you are both ready.

    ^^ THIS times a million!! Enjoy every precious moment. :heart:

    To an extent....I mean there was this lady in England who nursed her kids till they were 8 years old....
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    Don't wean just because you want to lose weight. Wean when the baby and you are both ready.

    ^^ THIS times a million!! Enjoy every precious moment. :heart:

    To an extent....I mean there was this lady in England who nursed her kids till they were 8 years old....

    Hey, if it worked for them, why not, it is the one substance specifically designed for human consumption. I'd be curious as to how the milk changed in nutritional content over that amount of time, I don't know any extended nursers who have gone that long.
  • AABru
    AABru Posts: 610 Member
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    I was like a camel and stored fat in the backs of my arms, my back and the tops of my hips (think shelves) while BF both of my children. Once I stopped, those fatty deposits went away, but weight has never ever FALLEN off my body.

    As for when you should stop and if it makes life easier for you, that is entirely personal. Sometimes life gets in the way of doing what is best for your baby, and no one should be made to feel bad about their choices.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    I don't know if this has been mentioned before but there are hormonal issues that affect body fat levels with pregnancy and lactation. Many women find that they actually lose body fat while pregnant (I did) because of the thyroid enhancing effect of the huge amount of progesterone that the body pumps out during pregnancy. But that obviously stops when the baby is born. Normally, progesterone production peaks at ovulation. Unfortunately, during lactation, ovulation is suppressed in most women and that means that the larger amount of estrogen that is present during lactation is unopposed (and estrogen LOVES to make and keep body fat--just as progesterone counters that effect). After the baby is weaned, ovulation returns and that is often enough to help shed the extra body fat that is put on during lactation (along with a proper diet and exercise, of course). As others have mentioned, it is important to wean when you and your baby are ready (but you shouldn't let others "guilt" you into continuing when you need to quit).
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
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    I don't think so... breastfeeding requires more food (an amount of food you should be eating anyway to avoid a plateau) and burns calories. I think you should wean your kiddo off when you think it's time to do so, not because you think it will help you lose weight faster.
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    I nurse my 11 month old but only at night before he goes to bed. He self weaned most of the time but once he's a year old ill fully wean. Seriously, 4 years old, sorry but that is just wrong. There is a reason children get teeth and that is to eat table food. Im for bf but there is a time to quit, and a time it becomes sad because you cant gov up the bf because of your selfishness. I feel sorry for those kids. But I had a 10lb 6oz baby and he's now the size of most two yr old kids. I gained 70lbs I hit 184lbs.. ive lost most but since he started self weaning I havr been losing weight. Size 3 pants are too big now :0 but im sure it depends on the person. I race motocross and am active

    Wow. Just wow.
  • Josalinn
    Josalinn Posts: 1,066 Member
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    Don't wean just because you want to lose weight. Wean when the baby and you are both ready.

    ^^ THIS times a million!! Enjoy every precious moment. :heart:

    To an extent....I mean there was this lady in England who nursed her kids till they were 8 years old....

    Hey, if it worked for them, why not, it is the one substance specifically designed for human consumption. I'd be curious as to how the milk changed in nutritional content over that amount of time, I don't know any extended nursers who have gone that long.

    The kids looked like "babies" still in the face and had a creepy attachment to their mom's breasts to the point that they named them.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,014 Member
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    You're nursing a baby that has teeth? You're brave.

    Millions of mothers throughout the world have breast fed babies with teeth ( including me)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,014 Member
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    I nurse my 11 month old but only at night before he goes to bed. He self weaned most of the time but once he's a year old ill fully wean. Seriously, 4 years old, sorry but that is just wrong. There is a reason children get teeth and that is to eat table food. Im for bf but there is a time to quit, and a time it becomes sad because you cant gov up the bf because of your selfishness. I feel sorry for those kids. But I had a 10lb 6oz baby and he's now the size of most two yr old kids. I gained 70lbs I hit 184lbs.. ive lost most but since he started self weaning I havr been losing weight. Size 3 pants are too big now :0 but im sure it depends on the person. I race motocross and am active

    Wow. Just wow.

    Double wow.

    What an ill-informed post.

    Why is the time to quit for everyone the same as the time when you want to quit - and how is anyone's decision to breast feed for a different time to you more selfish than yours??
  • oiseau17
    oiseau17 Posts: 142 Member
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    I nurse my 11 month old but only at night before he goes to bed. He self weaned most of the time but once he's a year old ill fully wean. Seriously, 4 years old, sorry but that is just wrong. There is a reason children get teeth and that is to eat table food. Im for bf but there is a time to quit, and a time it becomes sad because you cant gov up the bf because of your selfishness. I feel sorry for those kids. But I had a 10lb 6oz baby and he's now the size of most two yr old kids. I gained 70lbs I hit 184lbs.. ive lost most but since he started self weaning I havr been losing weight. Size 3 pants are too big now :0 but im sure it depends on the person. I race motocross and am active

    Since this was your first and only post, I highly doubt you're going to comeback and read any responses, but I just have to say you are horribly misinformed. The normal biologically weaning age worldwide is anywhere between 2.5 - 7 years old. The first set of teeth are often called "milk teeth" for a reason! It is biologically normal and healthy for a child to breastfeed until they lose their milk teeth. Full term breastfeeding and allowing a child to self-wean is the absolute opposite of selfish.
  • Fiery_Vixen
    Fiery_Vixen Posts: 795 Member
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    I was losing weight until I stopped nursing. Then I gained all the weight back. It's because producing milk actually burns calories, so once you take that away...it's like stopping a daily exercise routine :frown:
  • lilndnfeather22
    lilndnfeather22 Posts: 40 Member
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    OH MY GOD! Women take this breast feeding REALLY damn personal! Who cares what other people think about breast feeding! Jeez! If you feel a certain way about breast feeding then more power to you. If someone else does not feel the same then KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF" that's my thoughts on the issue. Its not like you will actually take those others people's thoughts on the issue to heart anyways right? So why do you expect them to even care if you disagree and state your ideas back at them? GOSH!
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    your decision to wean your baby should be about what's best for your baby



    regards weight loss - some women find it easier to lose weight while breastfeeding. Others find it easier to lose after stopping. Some don't notice any difference. One thing is true - weight loss is difficult whether you're breastfeeding or not.

    I'm in the "didn't notice any difference" category - I was still feeding my 2nd daughter when I started losing weight due to being obese. Before I was lean again, I stopped, because i was working evenings for a short time and my daughter at that time was only having a bedtime feed, which obviously the babysitter couldn't give her. I really didn't notice any difference before or after.

    My advice is don't bring weight loss into your decision about when to wean your child - it's unlikely to make a huge difference.

    BTW @ the thread - nothing wrong with breastfeeding kids up to approx 5 years... that's the natural weaning age for human children. Other mammals wean their babies around the time the milk teeth start to fall out.... modern people can only get away with weaning kids before this due to widely available dairy products and baby foods. (though in spite of these babies still need either breast milk or medically approved infant formula for the first year of life, and must be the right one for their age) Modern hunter-gatherers breastfeed their kids on demand up to age about 5. You don't have to breastfeed that long if you don't want to and if you have dairy products (or suitable equivalents) to give your kids to eat, but don't tell women that choose to breastfeed longer that it's wrong or unnatural. It's actually very natural. It's only western society that has this stupid hang-up about breastfeeding. Humans are mammals and mammals feed their babies with milk that comes out of their mammary glands until around the age that the milk teeth fall out. That's why they're called milk teeth and that's why mammals are called mammals (mammal and mammary come from the same root word).


    ETA: where I said "nothing wrong with breastfeeding until approx age 5" - this doesn't imply that breastfeeding 6 yr olds is wrong. Just that 5 is approximately the age hunter-gatherers in the tribes I learned about at uni tend to stop breastfeeding their kids.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    your decision to wean your baby should be about what's best for your baby



    regards weight loss - some women find it easier to lose weight while breastfeeding. Others find it easier to lose after stopping. Some don't notice any difference. One thing is true - weight loss is difficult whether you're breastfeeding or not.

    I'm in the "didn't notice any difference" category - I was still feeding my 2nd daughter when I started losing weight due to being obese. Before I was lean again, I stopped, because i was working evenings for a short time and my daughter at that time was only having a bedtime feed, which obviously the babysitter couldn't give her. I really didn't notice any difference before or after.

    My advice is don't bring weight loss into your decision about when to wean your child - it's unlikely to make a huge difference.

    BTW @ the thread - nothing wrong with breastfeeding kids up to approx 5 years... that's the natural weaning age for human children. Other mammals wean their babies around the time the milk teeth start to fall out.... modern people can only get away with weaning kids before this due to widely available dairy products and baby foods. (though in spite of these babies still need either breast milk or medically approved infant formula for the first year of life, and must be the right one for their age) Modern hunter-gatherers breastfeed their kids on demand up to age about 5. You don't have to breastfeed that long if you don't want to and if you have dairy products (or suitable equivalents) to give your kids to eat, but don't tell women that choose to breastfeed longer that it's wrong or unnatural. It's actually very natural. It's only western society that has this stupid hang-up about breastfeeding. Humans are mammals and mammals feed their babies with milk that comes out of their mammary glands until around the age that the milk teeth fall out. That's why they're called milk teeth and that's why mammals are called mammals (mammal and mammary come from the same root word).


    ETA: where I said "nothing wrong with breastfeeding until approx age 5" - this doesn't imply that breastfeeding 6 yr olds is wrong. Just that 5 is approximately the age hunter-gatherers in the tribes I learned about at uni tend to stop breastfeeding their kids.

    That may be true today among hunter-gatherers because of the uncertainty of water supplies but in at least one ancient group of hunter-gatherer/early agriculturalists, (the Israelites) we know that they weaned their children at about 2 years. They even had celebrations when the male children were weaned. Apparently, it signified that the male child was leaving infancy and entering the male domain.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    OH MY GOD! Women take this breast feeding REALLY damn personal! Who cares what other people think about breast feeding! Jeez! If you feel a certain way about breast feeding then more power to you. If someone else does not feel the same then KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF" that's my thoughts on the issue. Its not like you will actually take those others people's thoughts on the issue to heart anyways right? So why do you expect them to even care if you disagree and state your ideas back at them? GOSH!

    I'm not sure who you are lecturing here, but when someone bumps a post from 2 years ago just to attack other users for making the personal decision to breastfeed for an extended amount of time, people are going to take it personally.

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