Breastfeeding and calorie intake

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Jessica121706
Jessica121706 Posts: 19
in Food and Nutrition
The site shows that my dci should be 1200 but everything I've read about breastfeeding says I need more then that, I can stick to the 1200 but I don't want my milk to suffer. Anyone know if 1200 is ok or is there a way to up the guidlines on the site?

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  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    in your food diary, click add food and search for breastfeeding. select the one that applies to you and it will add calories to your day for you :)
    i heard that exclusively breastfeeding mothers shouldnt go below 1700 - but its been a while since i had my kidlets
  • TracyMichelle24
    TracyMichelle24 Posts: 16
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    I've read that an exclusively breastfeeding mom needs 300-500 extra calories a day above her pre-pregnancy caloric intake. Mostly, listen to your body. If you feel hungry, eat something healthy. I know when my daughter would go through a growth spurt while being exclusively BFed, I would eat like a truck driver. I felt ravenous! Unfortunately, I didn't always choose to eat the best things though. LOL I'm still currently nursing my daughter who is 23 months old. She's nursing only about 4 times a day, so I'm not adding extra calories on purpose. Just following my body since since she eats regular food and isn't soley dependent on my milk for nutrition. I'm supposed to eat around 1700 calories a day according to MFP to lose 1/2 lb a week and I didn't log in that I BF or anything. Didn't know that was possible. I make sure to eat my exercise calories and don't feel guilty if I go a little over at all since I didn't figure in BFing.

    I know a BFing mom should NOT go below 1500 calories a day at the minimum and preferrably between 1800-2200 calories a day to maintain an abundant supply. Make sure to keep your fluid intake up! How many pounds did you set it to lose a week. 1200 calories is definitely not enough for a BFer. How old is your baby? Is it exclusively BFing?
  • Jessica121706
    Jessica121706 Posts: 19
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    My daughter will be 2 months tomorrow and we are ebf'ers, I think i set my goal at either 1 or 2 pounds a week since that was what is was losing consistantly before I really started trying
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    I wouldn't go below 1500 calories, I'd add 500 calories for breastfeeding and I'd make sure to eat all your exercise calories.

    I'm exclusively pumping for my daughter and I'm pumping 25-32 ounces a day. According to what I've found, an ounce of breast milk equals 20 calories burned. So I'm adding 500-600 calories per day just for breastfeeding.
  • TracyMichelle24
    TracyMichelle24 Posts: 16
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    Using MFP's guidlines by adding it to a meal like rockerbabyy said, it wants you to add 500 calories to your DCI as an EBFer. Surprisingly, it still wants me to add about 300 calories for what I do. Woo Hoo! BFing lets us eat more food! hahaha
  • Jessica121706
    Jessica121706 Posts: 19
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    Using MFP's guidlines by adding it to a meal like rockerbabyy said, it wants you to add 500 calories to your DCI as an EBFer. Surprisingly, it still wants me to add about 300 calories for what I do. Woo Hoo! BFing lets us eat more food! hahaha

    there are so many benefits for baby, but it is nice to get a mommy perk out of it too :)

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