breast-feeding need to add calories?

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8Nuya8
8Nuya8 Posts: 30
in Getting Started
Hey there I am new to this and I have a question.
I have a 3 months old baby and am still breast-feeding. The last two days I have been eating below my calorie goal. I dont feel like I need to eat anymore. A midwife however told me that I should add 500 to the daily amount estimated by the program since breast-feeding burns UP TO 500 a day. First of if it burns up to 500 a day and not definetly 500 how do I know that 500 is the correct estimate for me...
I mean I certainly dont want to harm my baby by having too many toxins set free from the fatty tissue into the breast milk. But hmmm... what do you think? Anyone have experience?
I still have to wait almost 4 weeks until my doctors appointment. I will ask her then, but for now I am a bit unsure how to proceed.

Replies

  • sarahwinder78
    sarahwinder78 Posts: 36 Member
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    A fabulous resource for all things breastfeeding is www.kellymom.com They cover this subject thoroughly. Hydration and nutrition are key for nursing mothers. Your body will take from YOU to make that liquid gold for your babe, so make sure you are eating as nutrient dense as you can with your allotted calories. Same with fluid intake...lots of water. You do not need to worry about toxins passing from losing fat/weight in your breastmilk. Simply does not happen. Best of luck with your journey and congratulations on your baby! And hooray for breastfeeding (4 1/2 years and counting of breastfeeding for me...in total, not continuously:-) )
  • Jodsmission
    Jodsmission Posts: 130 Member
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    Never ceases to amaze me that women can be so hard on themselves.
    Sorry...yes you need added calories while breast feeding and truthfully should try to diet while doing it. You have lots of time to lose the baby weight. You have a very short window to breast feed this child. You gained weight while you were pregnant for the baby now just focus on healthy eating while you breastfeed.
    Give yourself a break. NO one expects you to lose all your baby weight immediately!!!
  • Debssssssssss
    Debssssssssss Posts: 84 Member
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    Im still breastfeeding my 7 month old. I usually eat slightly below mfp's recommended intake, and have not had any adverse effects from doing so. My supply is still the same, I feel fine, not hungry doing so, don't have any less energy etc. Every one is different though, so probably best to up your intake at least half way (250cals) until you've seen your dr :-)
  • PeanutButterLover1984
    PeanutButterLover1984 Posts: 17 Member
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    I have noticed that my friend is logging breast feeding on here as exercise and putting the calories burnt on?

    I also found this article

    http://www.ehow.co.uk/about_4598063_many-do-burn-day-breastfeeding_.html

    "Breastfeeding burns an average of 500 calories a day, with the typical range from 200 to 600 calories burnt a day. It’s estimated that the production of 29.6ml. of breast milk burns 20 calories"

    Perhaps you could try and work it out?
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    I was wondering the same thing. For me, rather than add it as an activity I adjusted my activity rate in the diet profile to accommodate BF'ing (active-very active). I think as long as you eat when you are hungry and drink lots of fluids it should not affect your supply, again everyone is different and you just have to monitor based on intake to find your "sweet spot".
  • ishtar163
    ishtar163 Posts: 25 Member
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    Honestly, I have nursed four babies for over a year each, and I have never had supply issues from calorie adjustment. Then again, I always gain quite a bit while pregnant. Pregnancy weight gain is your body's stored insurance for breastfeeding. You only need to add the calories if you don't have adequate body fat. The most important factors in milk production are hydration and rest, I've found. That said, if you are having trouble with low supply, you can slowly up your calories to see if it makes a difference, and you should not set your calories ridiculously low to begin with. Also, make sure the calories you do eat have a high nutrient density. As far as the issue of toxins, you most likely will not be losing weight at such a rate that it would become an issue.
  • 8Nuya8
    8Nuya8 Posts: 30
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    Thanks for all the good ideas and information! :) its really helpful to hear from people who are already more experienced as well with breast feeding as with this site :)
    I might try somehow adding it in as "exercise" and see how this works for me. (Although it seems like it is more my boy who is exercising while breast feeding than me :D )
    The only problem with that is that I dont know how much the little one eats. But I will estimate.
  • MommeeRN
    MommeeRN Posts: 7 Member
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    Under the snack category, type in breastfeeding, and it will give you options to add it back in to your calories. It gives it a negative calorie value instead of a positive one.
  • 8Nuya8
    8Nuya8 Posts: 30
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    Oh wow ok thanks great I will have a look at that! :)
  • rebeccaisafish
    rebeccaisafish Posts: 87 Member
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    I used to track it as 300 calories a day under exercise to add that back in. I didn't do that until my daughter was much older than your baby though, so things were much more established in breast feeding. I didn't bother trying to lose weight before then. Now my daughters getting close to 2 years I don't bother tracking it at all.

    If you're having any difficulties at all with breastvfeeding then don't worry about trying to lose weight for now. If youre going strong with the breast feeding and not having any trouble then just go with how you feel. As someone above me said your body will take what it needs from YOU before your baby starts missing out (which is why people in third world countries and the like with poor diets can still feed their babies), so if you start feeling tired (well, worse than normal with a three month old!) or otherwise unwell then you should increase you calorie intake, or if you have reason to suspect your milk supply is dwindling. Just find the level that works for you.
  • mklove1984
    mklove1984 Posts: 3
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    Even if the QUANTITY of breast milk is not affected (effected? I never know which one to use) by not taking in enough calories, the QUALITY will be. Like someone else mentioned, your body will take from you what it needs to make the breast milk have the perfect blend of fats/nutrients for baby, however if your not getting enough you can get sick and eventually your milk won't have all the awesomeness that baby needs. Make sense?

    Also, most people's milk supply is best the first few months so you might not see it now, but if you continue to not eat or drink enough water there is always a possibility that your supply will take a hit. My son will be 10 months on Friday (sob!) and I definitely not a difference when I pump on days I don't eat or drink enough.

    Oh and it's recommended to continue taking a pre-natal vitamin while nursing!
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
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    You could start higher (eating an extra 500 calories) and if you start to see a gain you know you are eating too much and should reduce it. It depends on how important it is to you to exclusively breast feed. In the early months after baby is born your body will produce lots of milk then adjust based on what baby needs so if you are consuming too few calories you may not see a drop in milk supply right away. However, once you see a drop it is often hard to bring it back up. A lactation specialist would be a good source of info and support. You can try pumping extra now to keep your supply up and have a stock if your supply does drop. It can be frozen for 6-12 months. (http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/tips-and-solutions/11/breastmilk-collection-and-storage) If you don't already have a pump many hospitals or lactation specialists rent the hospital grade ones and you just buy your pieces to use with it. I rented a medela hospital grade pump for around $60 a month and Medela home pumps sell for around $300.
  • lisalsd1
    lisalsd1 Posts: 1,520 Member
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    I bf-ed 2 kids for 14 months each. My kids are now 3 and almost 6.

    Here's what I did...

    I didn't worry about calories in/out for the first 6 months. I just focused on eating healthy/nutrient dense foods. In retrospect, I was probably eating about an extra 500 cals with my son (he ate every 45 mins...and was still bf-eding up to 12 times at day at 10 months old). With my daughter (she is much smaller than my son), I was probably eating between 300-400 cals extra. She bf-ed on a much more "normal" schedule (every 2-3 hours). When I started to introduce solid foods to my kids, I did start to monitor my cals and was eating about 300-400 cals extra with both of them at this point. I just started to slowly cut back on cals until I weaned them. By the time each one of them was around 10 months old, I would estimate I was down to 200-300 cals extra. By a year, I was close to my normal calorie intake. I should add that I started exercising slowly at about 8 weeks postpartum.

    I lost all of my baby weight with both kids by 1 year postpartum. And by the time I weaned my son, I had lost the baby weight plus an extra 7lbs. This wasn't intentional...he was just a serious eater.

    The best piece of wisdom that someone told me was:"it took you 9 months to put on the weight, it should take you that long to take it off." I took this to mean: Don't rush the weight loss. It will happen if you do the right things.

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