Calories burned breastfeeding - 6 months +

[ImGoingForATwix]

DS is nearly 7 months and we have been weaning now for 4 weeks and he is on three (small) meals a day. He has only really dropped one milk feed, and not every day (although I have no idea if he's taking in a smaller volume of milk), so that's still 6 or 7 breastfeeds a day. I'm trying to lose weight and currently allow myself an extra 500 calories a day because I'm breastfeeding. Does anyone know if I should reduce this now? And approximately how many calories does breastfeeding burn at around 12 months?

You don't need to allow extra calories for breastfeeding - honestly, you don't :)

You do need to eat in response to your hunger, but this is not normally anything like 500 extra cals.

Yes, calories are used in breastfeeding. That's why you lay down extra weight/fat in pregnancy.

My one year old still feeds several times a day and night but for a shorter length of time and he is on 3 meals a day. Ive only been losing weight for 3 months buy just eating to hunger. Usually little and often, and I walk alot too. Not sure why I didnt lose any weight before then. Everything I ate my body seemed to holdonto ti make milk. Not sure if its true about needing an extra 500 cals though. Maybe just try reducing your portion sizes and see how you get on

Most official sources suggest an extra 500 cals, but don't really talk about weaning... I know its not an exact scence but I've been losing on average 2lbs per week for 2/3 months now using MFP (and eating 500 more cals a day). Keeping track of what im eating and how much exercise i do keeps me in line. Eating to hunger could go dreadfully wrong! I'll just drop to 300 extra cals a day I think and see how I get along. Thanks for the advice.

I agree with tiktok. No need to eat extra calories. You might require extra calories but they can come from your fat stores.

I ate when visiting was hungry...Honestly never entered my head to eat more because I breastfeeding!

I think the OP means 500 calories on top of her calorie controlled diet allowance. So if your normal requirement is 1,800 per day, then you could keep eating that and burn off your baby fat. Or you could eat an extra slice of toast every day and burn it off a bit slower. Or one slice less and lose it quicker. What you shouldn't do is eat the 1,200 calories that would otherwise be your dieting intake because that's really not enough.

Dunno about the weaning allowance though.

Really? I'm bf and starving all the time, I could eat far more than normal.

interesting article

Thanks ILoveYouBaby. I always forget about trusty old kellymom.

Yes aintnobody, should have explained better. Baseline is 1200 calories and I add 500 so daily intake is 1700.

The kellymom article is not one of the best on the otherwise good site. It's confusing, and unclear about when it is talking about making an efficient and sufficient milk supply or maintaining the mother's health or maintaining the mother's weight.

A woman may use X amount of calories making milk - X can vary hugely, with the amount of milk her baby is taking as just one variable. But lets leave it at X :) That X does not have to come from her diet (or not all of the X) ....and for many women, if X =500 calories a day on top of a normal diet, they would end up gaining weight.

The X can come from her own body fat.

Does this help?

This is genuinely the most gutting news I have heard all year.