Breastfeeding for almost a year... when should I stop loggin

pkksmama
pkksmama Posts: 58 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Who here has breastfed for over a year and still accounts for the calories. 3/31 Peyton will be 1 and I was planning to stop logging them. Or should I cut it in half for a few months? I still pump once at work and get 8-12 ozs and she nurses 2-3 times after work and at least once at night most nights. I log it as food currently so I always ensure that I eat back the calories and have logged it as 300 since I started my journey here 9 months ago. I have never had supply issues but I am afraid that if I stop logging it too soon I will not be giving my body enough calories.

Replies

  • poustotah
    poustotah Posts: 1,121 Member
    My baby girl is 8 months and I quit counting the calories a long time ago. If I get hungry, I eat something. The difference being that now I eat something like a piece of whole grain toast with some peanut butter or some fruit whereas before I would eat a candy bar.
  • KareninCanada
    KareninCanada Posts: 962 Member
    If you're still nursing 4x or more a day, you should still give yourself some extra calories. But by that point I had stopped paying attention - I just ate when I was hungry, drank lots of water, and kept up a bit of exercise. The weight kept coming off.

    (I nursed DD#1 til 19 months and DD#2 til 23 months, didn't gain anything until after I stopped.)
  • andrearaquel48
    andrearaquel48 Posts: 102 Member
    If you want to keep breastfeeding, keep eating the extra calories. Let me say that getting 8-12 ounces from one pumping session is FANTASTIC!! Since your baby is still nursing 3-4 times a day you probably don't want to mess with the calories or you will risk affecting your supply. You look great and I say don't change it if it ain't broken.
  • Mama_CAEI
    Mama_CAEI Posts: 235
    I stopped logging my breastfeeding calories when I noticed I had hit a plateau. My baby was about 14 months old at the time. It didn't help, so I concluded I'm at the point where I can't lose any more weight simply by eating fewer calories (i.e. time to start exercising!!) I didn't notice any supply issues when I stopped giving myself the extra calories.
  • hotmama1174
    hotmama1174 Posts: 109 Member
    Hi there-my daughter is almost 18 months old and nurses occasionally. I have not logged nursing in MFP since Jan since she only does it occasionally. Once I stopped pumping I stopped logging it in MFP. I am of the mindset that I will stop when she is ready to stop. she only nurses in the morning when we wake up or at night right before bed. My son stopped at 18 months so I am thinking she may be stopping soon.

    Hope this helps.
  • Schnuddelbuddel
    Schnuddelbuddel Posts: 402 Member
    Maybe reduce the cals to half? At a year old, she doesn't eat that often off you anymore as she did as a newborn. And make sure you keep oats and other 'milk-production-supportive' foods on your daily list :)
    I currently log mine as 500cals, but I'm his only food source for now (except the odd spoon of carrot or apple!) - once he takes one little meal I plan on reducing it to 450, then 400 at 2 meals and so on. Once he only takes the morning and evening feed (least that's how my other three ended up feeding off me!) I'll probably drop the extra cals.
  • AmyJo527
    AmyJo527 Posts: 90 Member
    Hi! My daughter just turned 1 on 2/17 and I am still logging the 300 extra calories per day. E nurses 6+ times per day, and I pump a couple times per week while at work. I will probably stop logging them when she has dropped a few more nursings, but for now I am still loosing weight while eating the extra calories, so I am pretty sure my body still needs them. I would say keep it up as long as you are happy with your weight loss! GL
  • sbrBirdy
    sbrBirdy Posts: 224 Member
    I wouldn't change what you're doing unless you're not happy with your results, and even then do it really slowly. Personally, I was always starving while breastfeeding, and always held an extra 5+ pounds until I stopped.
  • pkksmama
    pkksmama Posts: 58 Member
    Awesome! Great thanks everyone! I think until she stops nursing so often I will stop logging it than. I have cut out one pumping session at work and only get the one in now and she takes two bottles at the sitters and eats 3-4 small meals a day. I do not think she is nursing as often and a lot is comfort nursing or to put herself to sleep so I was unsure of when to stop accounting for it. I do 30 DS almost everyday and try to get in at least 25 minutes of working out and once it gets warmer I will be running more outside. I am hoping to BF until she is ready to stop or until we get pregnant again which we are going to start trying end of summer. Thanks again everyone!!
  • mhsrnmz
    mhsrnmz Posts: 86 Member
    When I started MFP the first time I was nursing toddler twins and lost 35 lbs in about 7 months. I did not add additional calories though I did make sure to eat my exercise calories. No problem with milk supply and my girls continued to nurse occasionally until they self-weaned. I think that the calories used with breastfeeding peak @ 4-6 months after birth, then gradually decrease as baby eats more solids. HTH.
  • kristinL16
    kristinL16 Posts: 401 Member
    My youngest just turned 5 months old yesterday and I add 500 extra cals per day. With my others I notice that I started gaining weight around their first birthday, probably because I didn't adjust the amount of cals that I was consuming. This time around I will pay more attention to that and probably cut the calories in half when I stop pumping (around his first birthday) and see how it goes. I would focus on paying attention to your body--your milk supply and whether or not you are gaining/losing weight.
  • londongirl2012
    londongirl2012 Posts: 149 Member
    Hi its not just calories but extra protein calcium and phosphate and other nutrients your body needs too a good source of these would be low fat dairy/ alternatives such as milk, yogurt or cheese as a snack/ with meals as well as the extra fluid to replace losses
  • Nerdybookgirl
    Nerdybookgirl Posts: 105 Member
    My son is 16 mos. and still nursing. I have recently decided to cut out the nursing calories. For one, he is mostly comfort nursing a few times a day. I also make sure I eat back my exercise calories, take my vitamins, and drink loads of water.
  • woodmetal
    woodmetal Posts: 72
    I nursed my children until they quit! And they continued until they were three! That said my daughter who is now 19 had severe food allergies and was not even on solids at two! I was on a restricted diet as she could not tolerate food even if it went thru me. Milk, soy, pork, red dye, corn were all taboo. We both did fine and I ate when I was hungry and so did she! Your body will pull it from your reserves and body fat for her. Don't worry!
  • wurgin
    wurgin Posts: 241 Member
    if you are not providing you bay's primary source of nutrition you are not really needing to log the nursing, in my opinion. I have been bfing for 2.5 years, but once my girl was on three meals a day plus nursing then I am not exclusively bfing and the production goes down. make sense?
  • amyrobynne
    amyrobynne Posts: 64 Member
    I read somewhere that an ounce of breastmilk has 20 calories, so someone who is pumping could figure out how many calories to add.

    My son is 19 months and nurses at nap and bedtime and throughout the early morning while we're sleeping. I put myself on active instead of lightly active and I think that gives me an extra 150-200 calories, which is probably about right.

    If you've been logging breastfeeding calories as food, I'd probably decrease the number as the baby nurses less.
  • peacemongernc
    peacemongernc Posts: 253 Member
    It can be really hard to calculate just what extra food you need when you are nursing for several reasons... one is that your body can actually produce more calories of breastmilk than it takes from you to make. I KNOW! That's crazy!! It doesn't make any sense, but studies have shown this to be the case... it isn't a huge difference, though. Also, unless you are exclusively pumping, you really don't have any idea how much you are producing. Babies/toddlers nurse with varying degrees of efficiency.

    Also, it is unlikely that you would eat few enough calories that it would reduce the amount of milk you produce unless you are severely dehydrated. Your body will take from anywhere it can find it to make enough milk for your baby... but this includes pulling calcium out of your bones and all sorts of unhealthy things. Eating enough to keep yourself from getting really hungry is a good idea. And many moms find that just figuring out how to avoid eating when they aren't actually hungry is a huge help in weight loss.

    Two things I wish I had known when I was breastfeeding:

    a) Many moms who nurse a long time, and who have either been losing weight or maintaining, will find that if they don't adjust their food consumption that sometime around the baby's 2nd birthday, or maybe around 30 months, they will start to gain weight. I don't know why that happens... if our bodies become more efficient or if milk supply drops off or if milk becomes less calorie dense or what. But based on moms that I have known who have nursed beyond toddler-hood, you most likely could keep going the way you are in terms of counting calories until closer to the 2nd birthday, assuming your child doesn't wean before then (most kids will nurse at least 2 years if nothing distracts or prevents them from doing so).

    b) For the most part, the nutrient composition of breastmilk is fairly consistent, regardless of what you eat. The amount of protein, carbs and fat stays about the same. However, there are a couple of things that change often. One is that the TYPE of fats you eat influence the type of fats in your milk. If you eat lots of trans fats, there will be lots of it in your milk. If you eat lots of unsaturated fats (which help build brain and such) you will have lots of unsaturated fats in your milk. The other is water soluble vitamins. Fat soluble vitamins are fairly consistent in milk, as long as you get a decent dose of them from time to time. Water soluble vitamins need to be in your diet regularly in order to show up in your milk regularly.

    Just FYI.

    I hope this helps.

    Shannon
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