Bf & fasting?

[Myboy354]

What are peoples thoughts on breastfeefing while fasting for ramadam?

[alteredimages]

I know lots of people who have done it fine, but babies have all been taking pureed food and supplements of bottles or water.

Personally, I won't be fasting this time. I did it when DD was 11 months and in hindsight I really wish I hadn't. She was very slow to take to solids and she lost weight while I was fasting, which led to her being given special formula. To this day I can't understand how I was so thick as to not realise that she needed the breastmilk to keep her going. I think I was just a naive first time mother and thought that food was more important at that stage than breastmilk, which is completely not the case.

I think that there is a dispensation from fasting for breastfeeding mothers for a reason, and that it is telling that the exemption is based on the mother's evaluation of the risks to her child's health and wellbeing and not anyone else's.

Kellymom has some more fact based information on fasting and breastfeeding here. The consensus seems to be that it is fine as long as you are drinking lots and they means LOTS at night, and it has more implications for maternal health than for the child, but I personally don't feel the need to risk it, and don't appreciate it when others pressure women into fasting on the grounds of "we all did it and it was fine".

[Myboy354]

This will be my 1st time fasting as i am a recent revert! My son is 9months old, & all i can think about is when he has a feed he'l be taking all the last bits of energy/food i have, & also wont leave much for him as its 20hrs without eating

[alteredimages]

Yeah, none of the studies covered fasting in the summer. I think they were based on a 14 and a half hour fast.

I tried fasting single days when DD was 8 to 9 months to make up the previous Ramadan and I nearly passed out.

I am a convert/revert too.

Do whatever is best for you and your child, and don't beat yourself up if you choose not to fast. There is plenty to keep you in the Ramadan spirit without the fast itself!

[PretzelPrincess]

DS will be 4 months and EBF so I won't be fasting. I started 'dieting' around a month ago and Definatly noticed a drop in supply. Once I started eating normally again it was ok.
I think if he was on solids aswell as bf then I would be fasting.
It's a difficult one though! I feel guilty already!

[LissieD]

No experience of fasting but I've had a couple of nasty tummy bugs in the last year while bf dd which resulted in me not eating/drinking for a couple of days. I kept on feeding throughout and both times my milk supply dropped dramatically and I took a lot longer to get better than dh. My dd wanted to feed all the time as I think there was hardly any milk there. I wouldn't fast and bf. It sounds too exhausting and unfair on the baby.

[kaykayblue]

I think it would be foolish - the dispensation is there for a good reason. You need calories in order to keep up your milk production, and you definitely need to drink a lot of water, else you will make yourself ill.

Ramadan is wonderful, but fasting is not the be all and end all of it.