Breast feeding moms! I need help!

ChampagneLaughter495
ChampagneLaughter495 Posts: 166 Member
edited November 28 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm trying to lose 10 pounds. My daughter is almost 11 months old now.I have been dieting for about two weeks now and noticed my milk supply is severly decreasing. I plan to stop nursing in or around 2 months (if my daughter can tolerate milk by then) , but in the mean time what can I do to get my supply back up?!

Replies

  • I have also just upped my daily calorie goal 200 more calories because of this.
  • larali1980
    larali1980 Posts: 162 Member
    Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Your milk may be decreasing due to the fact she isn't nursing as much anymore (not saying that's a fact but I'm just guessing.) As a mom who breastfed for a long time (two years for each of my girls) I can say that the only thing you can really do to increase supply is to keep nursing. There are things like "nursing cookies" and tea that is said to help supply but I think those things don't really work. The only thing that you can really do to increase supply is to keep nursing, but if the baby is ready to move on from breastmilk, then that's OK.

    I think mine only nursed once a day for the second year. I never worried about supply because it was just comfort nursing at that point.

    Congrats on the baby :)
  • Thank you!
    She is still nursing as much as she used too..
    Well she seems to be trying more now that my milk has decreased. She literally nurses all night long and several times during the day.
  • larali1980
    larali1980 Posts: 162 Member
    Hm, in that case, just drink a lot of water I guess :) Good for you for BFing. It is so good for both baby and mama.
  • galprincess
    galprincess Posts: 683 Member
    I nursed my 3 children and I found that my body held onto 10lbs its like an emergency fat store. As soon as I stopped it fell off so dont worry its natural.
  • chastity0921
    chastity0921 Posts: 209 Member
    I am a certified lactation counselor. You can message me if you would like. If you had recently cut your calories by a lot or added a lot of exercise, that could decrease milk supply. Dehydration may also decrease the supply.

    One common reason I see a decrease is because of the addition of alternative nutrition such as cows milk, formula, or complementary foods. Also, if you are mostly pumping, supply may decrease. The only proven technique for keeping milk supply high is nursing often. You could try taking a weekend or a couple of days and breastfeed as often as baby will allow, pumping in between feedings if possible.

    Good luck, and thanks for breastfeeding your baby!
  • KareninCanada
    KareninCanada Posts: 962 Member
    Look up "lactation cookies" - they are actually really yummy. Oatmeal for breakfast. More water. And once in a while, I found a bottle of Gatorade was exactly the thing I needed. :)
  • I am a certified lactation counselor. You can message me if you would like. If you had recently cut your calories by a lot or added a lot of exercise, that could decrease milk supply. Dehydration may also decrease the supply.

    One common reason I see a decrease is because of the addition of alternative nutrition such as cows milk, formula, or complementary foods. Also, if you are mostly pumping, supply may decrease. The only proven technique for keeping milk supply high is nursing often. You could try taking a weekend or a couple of days and breastfeed as often as baby will allow, pumping in between feedings if possible.

    Good luck, and thanks for breastfeeding your baby!

    Thank you for this! I did drastically decrease my calories. I have no idea how many I was eating before, but it was a lot lol and a lot of junk. I decreased it to 1200 for two weeks, but now I'm at 1500 and not exercising as much due to an injurery now.
    I will just take a couple days and nurse all day. She is not ready for cows milk yet, and will not take the hypoallgenic formula so it's important for her to have breast milk
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