Is it important to eat 3 meals/day for breastfeeding supply?

[Joppi]

I’ve been told it’s important to have 3 meals/day for supply but would like to skip breakfast occasionally in order to help get weight down (had GD in pregnancy and trying to avoid t2 diabetes later)

any experiences/advice on this please?

I am tandem feeding a toddler and a newborn (well, he's 12 weeks now), and I never eat breakfast given I do the 16:8 diet - I eat lunch and dinner only. Hasn't impacted my supply at all (and two kids need a lot of breast milk!), so no, you don't need to eat 3 meals a day. Maybe try it and see how you feel? Eating this way has helped me get back to the weight I was before my first child with very little effort. I find once you get into the habit of missing breakfast, you don't feel hungry before lunch. It also allows you a bit of freedom to eat what you like in your 'eating window'.

Who told you it was important? If it was a health visitor, then you can safely ignore anything and everything they say as 99% of them are utterly useless!!

Thanks @sexnotgenders agreed, gives way more flexibility to eat more in the eating window!

And exactly right, it was the HV who kept saying about the 3 meals 😂

If you’re in the very newborn stages then it’s probably more important, but after that I didn’t notice any difference in supply. Just make sure you’re drinking enough water throughout the day.

Tandem fed my twins for 10 months skipped loads of meals even fasted a couple of days here and there, zero problems with supply. That's what the fat storage is for, as long as you keep well hydrated there shouldn't be any problems.

My milk supply struggled and my GP suggested I add an extra 500 calories a day, which I did. I actually added a second breakfast.

Having said that, if your milk supply is good and the baby is satisfied after a feed I think you're fine to eat as you wish but I would be careful to ensure you're getting a good nutritious intake for the meals you do have.

Thanks all - going to carry on with nutritious meals and lots of water and try skipping breakfast here and there and hopefully won’t have any effect