Nursing mom

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gchiaverini
gchiaverini Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Is there anywhere on this site to add that I am a nursing mom. I dont want to loose to fast to effect my milk production. I know that with weight watchers they give you extra points/day to compensate...Any help is great!

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  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
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    You can either add 500 calories a day to your goal manually, or you can add it in as exercise OR food. Either way, you'll get those calories added to your daily goal. :)
  • laydeedancer
    laydeedancer Posts: 44
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    I would add extra calories (look on www.kellymom.com or www.llli.org to see how many calories nursing burns) to keep your supply up. Keep drinking your water and eating oatmeal too...that will help with supply.
  • jul21r
    jul21r Posts: 34
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    I actually went to see my doctor yesterday and this question came up. My doctor advised me to add 500 calories to my 1800 calorie diet and to drink LOTS of water. My daughter is 3 months old and I haven't had a problem with my milk production.
  • punkrockmama
    punkrockmama Posts: 142 Member
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    There are quite a few variables to investigate before being figuring out how many extra calories you'll need.
    500 is what is used to make milk for a newborn, but if your baby is older, then you would likely use less. An ounce of milk takes *about* 20 calories to make. So multiply that by the amount of milk your baby likely consumes and you'll have a good idea.

    Also, your body is made to make milk, so once your supply is established then it would be pretty hard to diminish it through diet and exercise. This is why women in third work countries are able to adequately nurse their babies despite their own malnourishment.

    With that being said, you still need to make sure you are getting enough food and nutrients to nourish your own body, so thereof don't deplete your own body.

    And I hate to be the naysayer of GOP's, but through my own experiences I haw discovered that VERY few of them have an adequate knowledge of breast feeding.

    When I spoke to a nutritionist and LLL Leader she recommended reducing my cals by 10% of my daily needs. (you'll have to do some research on that!) and another 10% could be burned off with exercise, without straining my body too much. This worked excellently for me with #1 and I lost all my baby weight PLUS a few lbs by the time he was 4 months old. (With #2 I developed some hormonal issues and insulin resistance as a result, so the #'s had to be reconfigured!)

    Remember this, though; Breastfeeding your baby is the #1 priority here. The longer you nurse the more benefits your baby has!!! And good job on nursing and losing the weight to begin with!!!!
  • punkrockmama
    punkrockmama Posts: 142 Member
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    Wait, one more thing:

    There is NOT a place to add in that you are nursing on this site. You can do one of a two things that I know of:

    1.) make up your own "exercise" labeled 'breastfeeding'
    2.) set your own customized amount of calories

    Oh! And I was of course also told to keep hydrated, as well as to consume 3 servings of low fat dairy, and to take a calcium supplement.
  • gchiaverini
    gchiaverini Posts: 2
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    Thank you all sooo much for this info!! I really appreciate it. Just the postings below have inspired and helped me and good job to all of us nursing mothers!!
  • laydeedancer
    laydeedancer Posts: 44
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    I love to see all the nursing related questions on this site! It makes me so happy.

    I nursed my daugter for 17 months, when she weaned on her own schedule. Breastfeeding was a great calorie burner for me and I often say it was the best diet I ever had. Of course, in addition to nursing, I was watching everything I ate becase it affected her, which I'm sure helped.

    Good luck, mama!
  • aisirc
    aisirc Posts: 4 Member
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    i just want to add that you should be careful to eat enough - i didn't lose a pound until my daughter started drinking less (around 10-12 months) and i didn't realize at the time that i wasn't eating enough to sustain myself and feed my daughter. i always made enough milk, but barely. now i'm eating the same way as i did when i was breastfeeding but finally losing weight.

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