If you are BFing, could I ask...

[ParkerRocks]

what do you eat on the average day? on an average day I eat:

Cereal, such a sultana bran, weetabix etc
A sandwich of some sort for lunch, today was ciabatta with ham, rocket and Mayo. Juice and an apple or some dried dates, apricots etc. Sometimes I'll have soup instead.
Usually cup of tea and biscuits when back from school run, or homemade cake if I've had time to make something!
Dinner is general family food as we all eat together, eg, chilli con carne, rice with mixed salad, or like today, baked cod, buttered new potatoes with peas and fine beans.
Most evenings I'll have a bowl of cereal, piece of toast or similar to get me thru night feeds!

The reason I ask is because I'm constantly being told I don't eat enough considering I am BFing, by friends and family, but I think I eat plenty and I'm not hungry! just wondered how much everyone else is eating?

It's a well-known myth that you need to eat more while BFing - or indeed eat healthily while BFing. Your milk will not change - it will not be "better" quality if you have a healthy diet.

If you eat and drink to hunger and thirst you'll a) be doing better than many who grab a piece of toast between nappy changes and feeds and b) be fine :)

Sounds like you have an enviably good diet there though :)

If you're not hungry, then that's fine.

I think it's average of 500 calories extra for bf exclusively, not a huge amount.

Sounds similar to what I would eat:

Toast for breakfast
Sandwich or similar for lunch, maybe fruit or a yoghurt
Hot family meal

And then a few snacks mostly biscuits and crisps like fruit or crackers.

I'm a firm believer in listening to your body, I think if you needed more calories you would be feeling hungry.

I have had a crap diet today because we actually have no decent food in the house and what there is I gave to DS

Toast with nutella for breakfast
Ham sandwich for lunch then DS's leftover spinach and goats cheese tart
Some more toast mid afternoon
Pizza for tea

Lots of water and OJ

I should go eat some carrot sticks or something

That's actually fairly accurate though, just with added fruit and veg, sometimes cereal for breakfast and usually rice/pasta/polenta with meat or fish for tea.

Sounds very similar to my diet. Monitor your weight and so long as you're the same weight or losing not more than 1lb a week, it's fine.

I think my weight is pretty much stable, I lost all my baby weight in the first 6 weeks and although I've not actually weighed myself in a while I doubt I've lost any as all my clothes fit as they should.

I think I read somewhere that some woman need extra calories and others don't. It all depends how effectively your body makes milk.

I used to eat loads more when I started BF. To the extent that when I was staying with my parents my father couldn't believe it when after a large family meal, 2 hours later I went back and raided the cupboard for a sandwich. He asked my mum all concerned what was wrong with me.

Now though I pretty much eat the same as I did pre-baby. DD is 8mo nearly though and on solid food too. I eat better now though, not so much crap in my diet as my DD likes to share my dinner.

I agree with the others on here who say listen to your body. I used to go through a lot of bread and sandwich fillers as high carb food seemed to keep me full for longer and it was quick and easy to make. Brioche with jam was a nice snack :)

If you are producing milk and feeling fine then why worry?

I personally find that if I dont keep up the calorie cake intake then my milk supply dwindles, and I feel sick and weirdly hormonal. I am personally putting off all considerations of weight gain until I am done BFing.

I think my body is still stuck in pregnancy demanding mode.

I'm glad you posted this. I am only on day 4 of bfing but I am not feeling very hungry at all. In fact, I'm feeling hormonal and nauseated all the time. I have been forcing myself to eat at least a biscuit or two at every feed as this is what a MW told me to do last time. I've also bought some flapjacks which I force myself to eat. Other than that I am eating a piece of toast for breakfast, small sandwich for lunch, and small dinner. Really not big portions. But really happy to hear others say I don't necessarily need to be eating loads!

1catherine1 is was exactly the same when I first started breastfeeding! I ate amazing amounts of food, but as DD has got older I need less, so eat less. This is what I have explained to everyone when they've commented. I assumed my body had regulated itself. I too am eating as I did before pregnancy. I think everyone being of the same opinion made me second guess myself though!

I am very hungry and eating loads!
Dd is only 12 weeks though and feeding lots so I expect it will adjust as she gets bigger

banana I ate barely anything for 2 weeks. I think my stomach was recovering from being unsquished and my body was readjusting. Then I got a serious attack of the munches which has lasted for 6 months! I've become a carb monster.

Organic - have you got any links to back up the claim that "It's a well-known myth that you need ...to eat healthily while BFing. Your milk will not change - it will not be "better" quality if you have a healthy diet. "

The possibility that this is so (contra to the Sears' view) wld cheer me up no end since I seem to live off Kettle's Crisps and cheese sarnies. And tea.

Have a very healthy kid, as far as I can tell.... but do think my diet sd be improved... I go thru waves of planning ;) to eat a diet nearing the health-fest he gets...

Loads. Not breastfeeding related though, just cos I am a pig

Hmmm I had THE RAGING HUNGER for the first 3 months and ate loads. Stayed fat.

Since then the HUNGER has gone I've eaten what I did pre pregnancy and not lost a bloody pound

Most annoyed....

It's true, I think it's a myth too, that diet is so important for the baby's milk.

I've suffered malnutrition during breastfeeding, but my son was absolutely bursting with health taking all the milk from me!

I was in hospital on a drip, because my hands seized up because every part of me even my bones had ran out of calcium (I didn't drink milk).

My son was lovely and healthy exclusively breastfed, and still is.

If you want to eat well, it's for yourself.

i dont buy that 500 extra calories thing

everytime i breast feed i eat my normal pretty lowish calorie diet and my body does not lose an inch of fat flab or flubber until i stop

your diet sounds great op

Sounds like a decent diet, Op.

Your milk is fabulous whatever your diet. Even marginally nourished women in severe poverty in the developing world make fabulous milk.

Providing you feel well and aren't going up or down in size, sounds like you have the right calorie intake.

a baby is like a parasite from conception, you will pass out in hunger before the baby even begins to be affected.
As long as you drink water, your body will suck the calcium from your bones to make sure the baby gets what it needs. Then your body will tell you somethings real wrong so you can get it fixed. That's nature.

I am bf 8 month old DS and until very recently have been unable to shift a single pound. I lost only his weight plus the placenta and so on, giving birth. No matter how much or how little or what I eat, my body was hanging on to the extra weight.

I have noticed that since he has started (very slowly) to drop feeds, I am (very slowly) dropping weight.

Eat what satisfies you. Certainly no need to eat more because others think you should :-)

zumm no, unfortunately, but there are a variety of studies around which I'd spend time looking for you but I'm afraid I'm tried up on a job at the moment.

Originally the idea of "x" many additional calories came from working out how many calories a nursing baby took on each day, then assuming that a mother would need those additional calories each day. More recently it's been found that for many women their metabolism just adjusts to create the additional milk without needing more calories.

Not all - some mums get ravenous when BFing! Which is fine too.

Mums in starvation situations, or, oddly, malnutrion situations, make perfect milk for their babies. This is still very clearly seen in many African countries in areas where the adult diet is very limited and there is a terrible jump in child mortality when the child is weaned onto solids and suddenly their nutrition drops to very poor levels.

Mothers who are low in iron when pregnant can have babies whose iron stores are a bit low, and I recall something about mums with low Vit D intakes not passing on Vit D to their nurslings but that's a vague recollection which I can't back up.

However. Nursing DOES take a toll on a body which has just grown a new person as well so really it's a good thing to aim for a good diet for general all round health. But if you can't eat your fill of cake and chocolate when you've just pushed a bowling ball out of your vagina or have had major surgery, and are single handedly growing a person who is growing at a faster rate than it ever will at any time in its life, when CAN you?? And eating curly kale instead of chocolate (both of which are good for iron ) won't change your milk in any way at all.

Saying that, I did once have a discussion with hubby about whether my eating extraordinary amounts of chocolate would mean that I made chocolate milkshake. I was up for the experiment but he decided that the weekly shopping budget wouldn't take it. :(

Wow, I wish I could eat that little or that healthily - but I ate loads before bf, so I can't really put it down to that.

I agree with organiccarrotcake that eating / drinking to hunger / thirst is what you should be doing.

I eat

cereal for breakfast.... fruit and fiber / 2 weetabix (a huge bowl full)

mid morning... toast / muffin / crumpet with peanut butter and / or banana + maybe satsuma

lunch: sandwich.. 4 slices of bread with ham / houmous / cheese spread + salad
yogurt, piece of fruit

throughout afternoon. a cereal bar. a penguin / kit kat, a few biscuits

early evening a handful of nuts

a proper dinner and a pudding (normally yogurt / muller rice)

something in the evening + a hot chocolate or large glass of milk