Breastfeeding mums-what do you eat/portion sizes? Baby 5 weeks

[Iwantiwantiwant]

Hello, my little man is 5 weeks old today and is doing really well,putting on average 2oz a day. I was just wondering, as I have seen on other boards, has anyone lost all there baby weight yet? And if so, what do you eat in an average day and what is your portion sizes like, as there seems to be a lot of people back to per pregnancy weight already.

I put on approx 2 stone when pregnant, I was quite fit, walking 4 to 5 miles a day through pregnancy ( even the day before I went into labour) and before I got pregnant I weighed 8 stone.

before i got pregnant I had to watch what I ate quite a lot, but maintained my weight at 8 stone, I cycled and ran loads as well as doing weight training. I now eat slightly more but all healthy stuff, and can't get the scales to budge from my initial weight loss was after having little one, I am now 9 stone. This is what I eat, please someone tell me if its normal portion sized:

Breakfast- 1x packet oat so simple made with water and a dash of milk.

Snack- apple

Lunch- half a sandwich made with tuna (low fat mayo), low fat shape yogurt, walkers baked crisp.

Dinner-cottage pie, corn beef hash etc (hearty meals) about 1/4 plate full and remaining plate with LOTS of veg.

Snack after dinner- small choc bar

Drinks- lots (and i mean LOADS) of tea made with milk and 1 or 2 sugars ( sweet tea craving?) water etc.

I work out every day (walk, weight training) on weekends I do have cake biscuits etc.

I am ebf, does anyone else seem to be stuck at a certain weight? And what are your portions like? Sorry to go on, I'm just wondering if I can easily get rid of this stone? And does anyone find it comes of when little one is a certain age e.g 3 months when they take more?
Oh I'm 5ft 4
Thank you

[poocatcherchampion]

I can't add anything to help as that weight seems fine - you need extra reserves to feed a baby so don't try to lose it. I'd actually suggest you need to eat more in the day.

I'm really posting to comment on your tea drinking - I'd also suggest that you should limit your caffeine intake a bit - either switch to decaf or have fewer cups over the course of the day?

[EauRouge]

Blimey, he's only 5 weeks old- cut yourself some slack :) Only celebs with personal trainers say they lose baby weight that quickly, and most of them are lying through their teeth and sucking their gut in when they get papped.

You can safely diet and BF, you don't need to eat extra calories to make milk. It's advisable to wait a couple of months so that you can get feeding established and you can recover from the birth. Some weight loss clubs take BF into account (I think WW and Slimming World do, I'm sure someone else will know for sure). There's some info here about dieting and BF.

TBH the portion sizes don't sound very much for all the exercise you are doing! Please take care of yourself, it really is very early to be thinking about getting rid of all the baby weight.

How much tea is loads? Some info here on caffeine and BF. Some babies seem to react more to it than others.

[noblegiraffe]

Suspect the sweet tea craving is because you aren't getting enough calories from the rest of your diet. Bfing can make you really hungry.

Also, 9 months to put it on, 9 months to lose it. Expecting to have lost it by 5 weeks is unhealthy.

I found that I had an extra half stone that wouldn't go at all till I stopped bfing at 17 months.

[5madthings]

At 5 4 your weight of 9stone is a healthy weight!!

Plus your boobs will be bigger heavier as you are feeding, trust me I weighed mine once on a digital scale!

Your diet sounds fine if anything not enough.

RE tea you might want to try de-caf as it may affect your babies sleep.

Honestly your baby is five weeks old give yourself a break!

[TripTheLightFanjotastic]

9 months up, 9 months down is my mantra, which was exactly right for ebf DS1. I'm ebf 12 week old (DS2), and have found I've stayed about the same weight for the last month, but my jeans are slowly falling off me as my body shape (especially hips/pelvis) returns to normal.

Just keep eating healthy, and you'll be back to pre baby weight in no time.

[Iwantiwantiwant]

Thank you so much for your comments, I am a first time mum and (as stupid as it sounds) have read a few post and a lot of mums seemed to of lost their baby weight already. I will make sure I eat more, I just didn't know how much you should eat, I have been eating to my hunger although maybe my exercise has masked some of the hunger. Thank you r.e the tea drinking, I read some where that caffeine doesn't go through your ilk. Obviously this is wrong and I will stop immediately.

[comeonbishbosh]

Lol at weighing your boobs 5madthings!

Another vote for the long term view on weight loss. I certainly ate/eat more throughout BF. I find a mixture of pram pushing walking and cake eating my kind of balance. In fact, eating more cake is one of the significant perks of maternity leave IMO.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

At that stage, whatever I wanted.

Iwant there is no evidence to suggest that caffeine does go to your milk - I drank gallons of tea when mine were little, I still do.

I would eat bigger portions but stick with proper food for the most part. You will find that when your baby has a growth spurt you will be starving, and you should just eat as it helps your body keep up.

You sound a healthy weight to me, you were at the low end of your healthy weight range before you got pg. Always take what other people tell you that they or their babies have done with a pinch of salt - are those the same women whose babies are sleeping through already and showing signs of wanting to roll over?

[Snazzynewyear]

I ate like a horse during breastfeeding as I was always ravenous. Ironically, I was losing weight as even with my appetite I was burning so much of what I was taking in. That got rid of my baby weight in the first year - not that I have done so well at keeping it off since However, I have seen two schools of thought about how breastfeeding affects women:

1. they burn calories really fast and it actually helps them lose weight (the NHS are keen to push this one, for understandable reasons)
   
   
2. the weight from pregnancy pretty much sticks because the body is hanging onto calories as a way of fuelling the needs of breastfeeding, but then becomes easier to lose once breastfeeding ends
   
   Zoe Williams's book on pregnancy and motherhood has a chapter about this where she says that for her the weight wouldn't shift at all, and then when she stopped breastfeeding it suddenly did, as if her body was suddenly aware it didn't need to store up for that reason anymore. I think her verdict was that if she'd known that all along, she would have just eaten what she wanted while feeding and not worried.
   
   So, I would be fairly relaxed about the whole thing for the next few months. You may find that it all slides off magically (5 weeks is very early; it was over a longer period for me) or you may not but think you may as well leave it a bit to start losing in earnest when bfing is over. Either way don't be hard on yourself. People who've lost lots of the weight early are, in my opinion:
   
   

• just lucky with it (this was me. I did no exercise)
  
• have expensive personal trainers, dieticians etc (celebs)
  
• lying and have good 'fat pants'

[McBaby]

I think I eat about 3 times that as always starving :) any excuse for more cake. I put on 3.5 stone while pregnant and back to normal by about 5 months. I would not worry about it and find that if there is a day or two I don't eat much it really makes you feel exhausted as the baby is taking so much from you.

[ceeveebee]

I actually found that I lost weight after I stopped feeding at about 11 months. Although it also coincided with my going back to work so not sure whether I was just eating too much at home . I think maybe my body was holding on to its reserves!

I was 9st before pregnancy, went up to 13.5stone (twins) and gradually got down to 10st over 11 months, and now at 14 months I'm finally back to 9st. So it just takes time. And in fact you are already at a healthy BMI so don't rush

If you do want to lose more, one of my friends lost a lot of weight (2-3 stone I think) on WW diet, they allowed an extra 500cals a day if BF.

[Moominlandmidwinter]

Your weight is fine, although I can understand you wanting to get back to pre-pregnancy weight. One thing I will point out, you haven't said exactly how much tea is loads, but if you had 10 cups of tea with two teaspoons of sugar in each, that's 300 kcal per day just from the sugar alone, and empty calories. If you cut out the sugar, it could equate to an extra pound lost roughly every 12 days.

However, although your baby is doing fantastically well in gaining weight (well done to you!), if you do try to cut down too much, it could affect your supply. My DD is 4 months now, and I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight a month ago. Recently, her weight gain has slowed a lot, and she's dropped from above the 91st centile, to just above the 75th. I've suddenly started feeling a lot hungrier, and whilst I'm reluctant to put any weight back on again, I've had to go with it and up my calorie intake as I think DD needs my milk supply to increase.

Your baby will grow so fast, and before you know it, breastfeeding will be a memory. There is no rush to lose that last stone, don't feel pressurised by reading about others.

[nickelbabe]

I basically eat wgenever I want and whatever I want.
when dd was younger, and constantly feeding, I would make sure I had food and drink ready whenever I sat down to feed her.
usually juice or water and sandwiches, crisps, whatever I could eat with one hand.
it's a good idea to make or get dp to make foods that can be put in the fridge to eat or heat in the microwave. pasties, cakes etc.

and if you find you hardly ever get time to makesomething, then a flask of hot drink is very useful to keep by you.

[nickelbabe]

sorry, only replied to half of your op.


I have been bfing for 13.5 months and weigh a stone less than my pre-pg weight.

i'd got down to 9 stone by about 10months.

it will take a while for you to lose the weight but please don't think about food.
exercise how you can/want and don't eat too much jynk.
but your body knows it needs good fatty food for the milk and will take it from your nutrition so it will work itself out.

[Loislane78]

Wow - what you're eating would be a diet for me when not BF although I am 5,8.

I won't list what I eat in a day would be a long post but I haven't deprived myself one bit and over indulge whenever I fancy and I've lost all the pg weight (at 5 mo, but it went before that).

[scarlettsmummy2]

Hi, I breastfed and used myfitnesspal. I stuck to 1800 calories a day and walked three miles three times a week. Lost all baby weight in 12 weeks. It is doable but you have to be strict with yourself.

[Moominlandmidwinter]

Just another thought, looking at what you're having in a day, apart from the tea, you're only getting roughly 1300-1500 kcal per day, and you're obviously using up a fair amount of calories through breastfeeding and exercise. If you eat too little, your body goes in to starvation-mode, and your metabolism slows down, therefore making it harder to lose weight. If I were you, I'd actually increase your intake of healthy food (maybe a full sandwich at lunch, a banana and a slice of wholemeal toast at breakfast- that sort of thing).

Oh, and congratulations on your baby, btw!

[scarlettsmummy2]

Also- you probAbly need to stick to 1800 calories to ensure you can produce a good supply of milk.

[nickelbabe]

I would starve on what you eat though.

1800 calories a day is right

[nickelbabe]

just trying to work out what I eat now, which is a lot less than at 5 weeks.


weetabix 2 with milk and 1 sugar.
orange juice

snack, satsuma or apple and a tunnock's tea cake

water on the go all the time.
lunch is usually a cheese and pickle sandwich.

I like to have a donut or bag of crisps in the afternoon but that never happens :(

cup of tea + 1 sugar

dinner is proper dinner. tonight it's chheese and tomato pizza with spinach , peppers and mushroom
then ice cream or piece of cake.

I usually leave about an hour between food.
and ifi'm particularly hnugry I'll have a biscuit.

[MrsHuxtable]

Sounds to me like you're not eating enough.

I also put on 2st when pregnant and still have a couple of kg to loose and DD is 1 this week.

For me it was like this. Lost some weight after birth but no matter what I did couldn't get to a for me comfortable weight. I was frustrated as I always read that when you bfeed the weight just drops off you. Well, it didn't off me. So I gave up making any effort and just ate what and how much I wanted.

I started weaning DD at just over 6 months and at 9 months I suddenly felt slimmer, at 11 months I fit into my old jeans. This happened without me doing anything. No dieting, no exercise.

My conclusion is that my body held on to the extra fat to feed my baby and once she was feeding less, there was no need for that anymore.

The couple of extra kgs I have now are because I'm so tired looking after DD, I need a cake pick-me-up in the afternoon. If I was to eat as healthily as I did before DD, I'm sure I'd have been back to my pre-pregnancy weight by her 1st birthday without any effort! Now, my droopy boobs, that's a whole other story.... ;)

[ellangirl]

I eat whatever I want at the moment -DD is 14 weeks. I am only a couple of pounds above pre pregnancy weight, but that happened really quickly after I had her. I have no idea why, I deserve to be seriously huge given what I'm eating. My BMI is about 24 at the moment, so I could do with losing a few more pounds, but honestly if I eat less I feel awful- really shaky and weak. I think I need to focus on nutrition more than calories, as most of the snacks I eat are pointless calories- biscuits etc.

[mrscog]

At 5 weeks in I was still eating whatever I liked whenever! I put on 3 stone on total during pg. I lost 1.5 stone at birth/over the first couple of weeks, then about 1/2 stone v slowly and at 4/5 months began to feel a bit :( about the extra stone but then, over time it just melted off (even though I was still eating a pile of crap) and by 8/9 months I was (and still am) smaller than Pre-pg. :)

[Isandri]

I have a 10 week old and am 4 pounds above my pre pregnancy weight. I'm in Denmark and they say to eat an extra 200 calories per day.

Today I've had a big bowl of yogurt with a crunchy oat type cereal on to.
Some caramel sweets.
Beans on toast 3 slices with lots of butter.
A quarter of a lemon cake. Homemade cream, not low cal.
Tonight I'm having steak with salad, gurkins, pepperdew peppers, parmesan and red wine onion chutney.

I've had more sweet things today than is normal. Usually I'll have rice cakes or rivitta with cheese or peanut butter instead of the sweets.

I also rode my bike for 40 minutes.