Is it true that breastfeeding makes you fat?

[vanillacremebrulee]

The NCT postnatal course leader says that breastfeeding mums have trouble slimming down because nature tells your body to hold on to all the extra layers of fat - just in case, you know...
It sounds a bit bollocks to me! If anything shouldn't breastfeeding help to slim down because you're burning more calories? I've put on an enormous amount of weight with the pregnancy and it's a bit depressing to know that I've got no chance of losing any for the mean time!

Anecdotally* it would appear that the above is true for about 50% and the weight drops off the other half.

*from reading to much mn

DD sucked the fat off me with feeding

However, me eating crumpets and chocolate spread and copious amounts of cake kept my well upholstered!

Food (too much) makes you fat.

BF nourishes your baby.

Nothing else is really very important in the grand scheme of things.

Some people lose weight BF, some sit and eat cake all day and put on weight, others lose weight the minute they stop BF. Some stay about the same (me)

I kept about an extra stone on whilst feeding - but I was so hungry so just put it down to eating!However once I stopped after about 10 Mths that stone just fell off. Same thing happened 2nd time round, even though I ate better & did more exercise.

Hth

Not for me it's not!

I enjoyed plenty of hot chocolate and cake and the weight dropped off me both times

Hope you're in the same boat as me op!

Weight fell off me but I wasn't overeating either.

BF made me hold on to one or two pounds, that I lost after I stopped, BUT the weight fell off me post birth each time, despite eating so much chocolate and cake I feared for my teeth. I was back to my pre pregnancy weight within a month of DC1 and that was the longest it took me. With DC3 I was below my pre pregnancy weight within 2 weeks.

Agree with the earlier post though, it seems some people can't keep the weight on, and some can't get it off with BF.

First time I lost all my weight and some really quickly. This time I'm a bit heavier BUT I eat like a frickin' horse, and that's not all because I'm BF, so I;m sure if I wasn't bf then I'd be a fair bit fatter than I am now!

Pretty much everyone I know who bf lost their baby weight pretty quickly.

Nope, stuffing my your face with cake on the premise that you can eat what you want when BFing is what makes me you fat!
You only need around 500 extra calories a day iirc. It's very eady to go over that in unhealthy snacks. Also, thirst Is often mistaken for hunger. If, once your baby is here you feel hungry, drink, and if still hungry, then have a healthy snack.
And lots of walking with the pram!

I gained weight and stuck there whilst bf, but lost it within weeks of stopping with no effort. I think it varies though, I know some people who had a similar experience to me and others who shrank before my very eyes whilst feeding. Tis individual, innit?

Weight fell off me while feeding. Sadly put most of it back on when i stopped....

Apparently there is a link to sleep deprivation and the body's storing of fat. No idea if that's true or not, but seems to make sense. And bf or ff, I think that most parents of young children are sleep deprived!

I agree with Daisy - get out there pushing the pram! Especially now the weather is perking up. Did wonders for me, I'm now 2kg lighter than before my first DC, since I moved and got into walking with some of my new neighbours. DD2 gets lots of fresh air, sleeps beautifully when she's outdoors, I get a good gossip and we rack up several kms a week.

Breastfeeding makes me hungry, I still lost a bit of baby weight while feeding but with DS1 the last half stone didn't come off until I stopped. I'm still feeding DS2 and seem to be following the same pattern.
I was back in my normal jeans before I'd lost all the weight though, it's just my bras that are still enormous.

As the others have said, it's highly individual. I'm about half a stone lighter than pre-pregnancy and I eat absolutely whatever I like. I actually think it's quite irresponsible of the course leader to present it as a likely consequence of BFing, as it might put some mums off even trying.

God, an awful lot of people I know would say the opposite - it is hard to keep enough weight on when breastfeeding and not end up haggard.

Completely anecdotal, but I'd say its the people who b/f long term (a year plus) who really seem to lose weight. There was a point where I swore that every pound dd put on she got directly from me, she got fatter and fatter and I got thinner and thinner!!!

I've always gained weight while breastfeeding, it doesn't bother me too much though, I know I can lose it when baby has weaned. I wouldn't consider not breastfeeding because of it, hell pregnancy wrecks your body, sometimes you look a bit better having a little extra weight afterwards. When I got back to my ideal weight after a baby my stomach looks minging!

Plan is to stop eating cake and shoving a chocolate in my mouth every time baby needs me but otherwise carry on eating as I want. Is it going to work? Oh I couldn't face a proper diet, no way!
Walking is a good idea except my lovely 7 week old is going through a phase of only sleeping if held and today I ended up carrying him for half an hour while pushing an empty pram! And people were giving me the look of commiseration!!

I b/f for a year Takver and didn't supplement with formula (DD wouldn't take a bottle and just spat out formula when I tried it in a cup, so I didn't bother as it was too expensive to waste). I was still a big fat lump until about 3 weeks after I stopped, when I randomly lost a stone pretty much overnight and without warning. Twas bizarre.

Do you have a sling, vanillacreme? I feel your pain - possibly my thin-and-haggard-ness was not helped by the fact that dd was a rotten sleeper and I did an awful lot of long walks/dancing to mad music etc etc with her in a sling for several months . . .

emsyj, I think it is probably really random, just depends on you/your baby I guess.

I went to Weight Watchers while breast feeding and the weight dropped off me. Extra points value for BF Mums which I think was approx 50% more. Easiest diet I have ever been on, and dropped 3 stone of pregnancy weight easily.

God no! The weight dropped off when I was BFing. I called it my breastfeeding-and-eat-cake-diet

I've been a size 16 for years now, rising to and 18 just before I got pregnant. Within a few months of EBF I was a size 14, joy :)

Sadly I kept up the eat-cake bit of the diet - should have stopped than when DS started weaning! Am now a 16 again, damn!

What a stupid thing for an NCT person to say.

My mum found breastfeeding made the weight fall off her - lost all her baby weight in 6 weeks.

I gained a stone in a year of breastfeeding!

I've been 8-8.5 stone all my life, and while I love to exercise, I've never had to watch what I eat. Seven months of breastfeeding DS and I'm nine stone, and the weight won't shift. I can't get enough of chocolate and bread drenched in jam, while I'm confirmedlyor at least I wasa savoury food fiend.

My body while breastfeeding is rather like my body on the pill--a fraction zaftig, and a teensy bit bloated, but I rather like having a bit more va-va-voom.

To add, I was back to eight stone within a week of having DS, but the weight has crept up while breastfeeding.

I ended up underweight wondering if I had thyroid problems. I can't get my head round the quantity of food I ate - enormous meals and a lot of snacks, even meal replacement drinks! I did a lot of walking for my sanity, and had a brilliant sling - Moby stretchy wrap. I also had a Phil and teds cocoon that ds3 pretty much lived in for at least 4 months.

I thought your body stores extra during pregnancy ready for BF?