Extended breastfeeding ending..Will I finally lose weight ?

[mum2boys1504]

So I've been breastfeeding my 3 year old and he's definately weaning now. I have not been able lose any weight for 2 years and my hormones have been all over the place...my question is has anyone lost weight AFTER WEANING? Like my body has just held on to the weight this whole time and I know alot of people lose weight while breastfeeding but will the last 10lbs come off once I stop producing milk? Hope this is right place to post ? Thank u

Mine did! I held onto a stone for two years and then a couple of months after I stopped feeding my LO it just fell off. I think some people just do hold the weight whilst they bf, not sure why! I’m sure you’ll find the same thing happens ☺️

Me! Didn't do extended feeding, but I fed DS for 6 months and couldn't lose an ounce, it was SO frustrating. Then as soon as I stopped, I lost a stone in less than a month - changed nothing except I stopped breastfeeding.

worked for me, fed until 3 years and a stubborn 8lb stayed on. Disappeared in a couple of months after stopping feeding, EVEN in lockdown!

Oh god I hope this is my experience too! Hoping to wean my 2.5 year old soon. I put on nearly 2 stone since pregnant and no matter what I’ve tried I’ve barely shifted a few pounds 😂

It’s a myth that breastfeeding makes you lose weight. It tightens up the uterus after birth that’s all. Weight loss is about calories in calories out.

It was the opposite for me, lost a stone BF, stopped at 26 months and put on 2 stone!

Surely if it's calories in calories out, stopping breastfeeding would make you put on weight, as you're using less calories by not feeding?

It can't be as simple at that, I would guess some kind of hormonal function tells your body bigger fat stores are needed and once that hormone stops being produced by the milk stopping, you drop it.

Interestingly I got really really underweight while still BFing DS1 - probably stress and not eating - but between DS2 and 3, even though I lost some weight, I put on loads more with DS3 and I think it's because I was still BFing when I got pregnant. So will be interested to see if it drops off again. I'm about 15kg heavier than I was before this pregnancy (or before both. Hard to tell what I was in between).

I dropped 2st when I stopped breastfeeding. Probably because breastfeeding made me really hungry, every time I breastfed my blood sugar would drop and I’d feel sick and hungry and would reach for a snack. After I stopped my blood sugar stabilised and I just wasn’t hungry any more.

I fed till 20 months my weight stayed exactly the same the whole time, I’ve lost 2stone since stopping. But I did over eat because I was starving as he was an all night comfort feeder.

I'm praying this be me. I lost the initial weight but after trying EVERYTHING I just can't buge the last stone. I have let him naturally wean but would like to speed the process up a little , but at the same time it's sad and feel like my baby is not a baby anymore lol (I know he's not) has it really been pointless this dieting and everything I've been driving myself mad thinking why can't I lose it ? So you've given me hope thank u

I lost about 3 stones after stopping breastfeeding after over 3 years. I did some reading around it at the time and there was some scientific reason behind it, but can't remember what it was now

You've given me hope 😁

Thank you guys. Hope so! I'm only 5'2 and staying at 11 stone used to be 9 stone ! Would be happy with 10 x

Hoping this will be me! Four years and DC2 is very close to weaned. I know part of the issue is that I'm exhausted and on/off 'medicating' that with my sugar addiction, but I hope the weaning will have at least a small impact on both hormones and physical exhaustion and that'll help me drop a stone.

I lost so much weight while breastfeeding!! I ate nonstop too.

Piled it all back on when stopped bf and forgot to eat less 🤦‍♀️

I am sure I lost weight after I breastfeed my first. Hoping the same will happen this time but I am 8 years older now too 😂

This happened to me. Breastfed both DC for 4.5years (just over 2 years each, back to back). Kept 3 stone of pregnancy weight on the whole time. Stopped feeding a year ago and have lost over 3 stone with not very much effort. It’s hard to explain and I wouldn’t have believed it if it didn’t happen to me but some women’s bodies just seem to hold the fat stores while feeding.

I couldn't lose any weight while breastfeeding, only after I stopped. Breastfeeding just made me constantly hungry, my appetite was huge. Most of my close friends however lost weight breastfeeding but they said it didn't increase they're appetites.

I would be interested to know which of these anecdotes relate specifically to extended breastfeeding.

With both of my children, I lost weight very quickly and effortlessly after birth (impossible to know whether I'd have lost it just as quickly without bf obviously). However, between month 12-24 it gradually crept back up. I think everything over those couple of years is largely explained by calories in / calories out, although I note that there are many women who find that even when their bf children are still babies their body seems programmed to 'hold on' to fat.

But after 2 or 3 years, the caloric demand of bf is so much smaller, and it's very gradually declining. So what's happening at this point (and subsequently as the body adjusts to the end of bf) is surely different, and i don't think we can generalise from experiences of breastfeeding or weaning at a younger age when it's calorie-intense.

I am clinging desperately to the hope that I will be less knackered when DD properly weans (as surely she's depleting some of my minerals/vitamins - that's what's most concentrated in my milk now?) and also that hormonal shifts at that point will make it a bit easier to lose weight.

I stopped at 26 months, one thing I notice was I ached less. The whole time I was BF my joints hurt, but I stopped noticing it after a while. But I really noticed it improve when I stopped.
The hormones seem to get everyone differently, in my case I lost weight feeding and piled it on when I stopped. But my hair and skin also picked up again, I itched and had worse eczema when BF and it’s back to good again now.

Dandelion, it might be worth taking a multi vitamin for pregnancy or nursing mothers? I do tend to think they area bit overkill and bunkum but a friend of mine who had children fairly close together and feed both for a couple of years each absolutely swore by it and recommended it to any breastfeeding mother.

You could of course get a vitamin deficiency check done by your GP, if you can get an appointment. But the multivitamin covers everything (except b12)

Thanks, I might do. I go through phases of being quite good at taking various supplements and then forgetting (when I'm not pinning my hopes to weaning fixing my exhaustion, I nurture this hope for whatever latest vitamin instead ). She's so clearly on the way out now (probably feeding 3-4x a week?) that I'm not sure whether I've maybe missed that boat. But I could at least get back into the habit of taking the vitamins i most recently decided I need.

Maybe I'm just run down from everyday work/motherhood stuff. But I have now been bf for eight of the past ten years and I sometimes wonder if I'm a bit depleted by that too...

Wow some really positive responses thankyou all ill still keep watching this post do hope so and will update .. x

I realise this is quite an old post but I though people might be interested in an update. I lost lots of weight eazily after birth for the first 6 months (64kg to 55kg) when I was breastfeeding but as soon as I started weaning at around 6 months it came back on and over the next 2 years my weight went back up to 62kg.

I finally fully weaned at age 3 and I am now managing to lose weight again. I am restricting calories however I also tried this a year ago when breastfeeding and it did not help.

I think when a baby is fully breastfed it does help in weight loss but as soon as weaning starts the impact of hormones and the reduction in milk the baby is taking causes weight gain.