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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Breastfeeding - is it normal to crave sweet things?

65 replies

harverina · 23/06/2010 22:27

Hi there,

I have ben exclusively breastfeeding for 11 weeks now and have found that I cannot get enough sweet things, especially chocolate and lucozade. I could eat chocolate all day every day, even during the night.

Is this somthing that other people have experienced? I am not gaining weight...I lost over 2 stone within weeks of giving birth and have maintained my weight since. How I have managed this I dont know as my eating has been out of control. Any tips on how to help this?

Thanks

OP posts:

weasle · 24/06/2010 10:59

I am on about 100g of chocolate a day! plus biscuits.

i can't stop myself!

ds3 currently 5 weeks, and i am putting on weight. i was bad with the other 2 children too. am resigned to it a bit, i will loose it eventually, perhaps in a year or two?!

think i will try not to have any in the house as i have no self control when it is sitting in the cupboard.

Builde · 24/06/2010 11:15

When I BF my first (who got very big) I ate all day.

However, at about 9 months - when she was eating quite a lot of food - I stopped being so hungry and lost about a stone in about a day.

So, probably best not to worry about eating lots of stuff - just make sure there's some healthy stuff with it.

TakeLovingChances · 24/06/2010 11:19

builde you lost a stone in a day!

I live in hope!

withorwithoutyou · 24/06/2010 11:25

God I'm dreading this again.

Really need to lose weight and ended up putting it on last time I b/fed. Am at the people who can eat chocolate and stilll lose weight.

Might try the hot cross buns though. Also stocked up on those belvita breakfast biscuits - 200 calories a packet but supposed to keep your appetite stable. We'll see!

Alfiesmummy123 · 24/06/2010 11:40

I craved anything sweet and sugary all through my pregnancy and whilst bf, when I stopped bf the cravings eased but didn't disappear, luckily tho i hardly put any wait on whilst preg and have managed to maintain my weight since birth :D

LittleBlueEllly · 24/06/2010 20:37

I cant beat my cravings for sweet stuff, ive been breast feeding ds2 for 6 months now and I weigh nearly 2 stone more than pre preg. I plan to lose it once ive weaned him off the breast! I was also concerned about high sugar levels in my milk but looked into it & found out that the sugar you eat doesnt go into your milk.

marriednotdead · 24/06/2010 20:59

I thought I was the only one.
I went completely off chocolate when pregnant both times, used to eat at least one bar a day beforehand.
Once dcs arrived, no amount was too much. Remember eating 3 Cadburys cream eggs in one sitting when dd was a few weeks old but the thought makes me queasy now.

Original poster

harverina · 24/06/2010 21:43

Oh thank goodness Im not alone! Spoke to my HV about it and she said to increase the amount of carbs Im eating at main meals. She said its basically our bodies craving energy. I can feel myself putting on weight...my face feels fatter...maybe its psychological!!

Married...I could easily eat 3 cream eggs in one go, they are my favourite! At the end of my pregnancy my Dh and I bought a box of 48...not a good idea...if they were in my house now....

Going to try and up my carb intake and see if that helps. Cant see how an extra potatoe will stop me eating that mars bar!!!

OP posts:

Morloth · 25/06/2010 08:45

You just get soooo hungry. It is really really hard not to eat a lot when your body is screaming more more more and you are surrounded by lovely food!

marenmj · 25/06/2010 08:57

I hope it is! I was known to scarf a whole pack of caramel-chocolate digestives in one go! I just couldn't bear to COOK at four in the morning after another feed when I'm delusional from lack of sleep but my stomach is keeping me up!

I suddenly stopped being hungry around the 6-7 month mark too. I went from eating double DH's portion to 1/4 in a space of about a week. (we did BLW and this seemed to correspond with DD actually swallowing some of the food she had been nom-ing)

Totally weaned at 14 months and I know my weight dipped again at that time. I don't keep scales around the house, so am really only able to gauge by how my clothes fit and occasional curiosity weigh-ins at other people's houses

I do know that by 15 months post-birth I was about 20 lbs under my pre-preggo weight. I also know I didn't gain much during pregnancy due to unholy hyperemis, so perhaps that has something to do with being desperate for high-sugar, high-carb foods. Now I think I have balanced out around my pre-preggo weight. Probably. Perhaps I should pop round my mum's...

Original poster

harverina · 26/06/2010 10:59

marenmj...there is hope then!

morloth, it is so hard not to eat nice food when you have horrific cravings! Its not a normal hunger. Men just dont understand!

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 26/06/2010 11:13

My first few weeks of breastfeeding were powered by Jelly Babies. Bourbon biscuits also feature heavily in my diet.

Now he is 10 months old and not feeding that much any more, I need to realise that I can't just stuff my face with whatever I want. It's a hard habit to get out of!

AngelDog · 26/06/2010 12:54

I'm EBFing nearly 6 m.o. DS and eat a ridiculous amount of cake and chocolate. I've given up buying multipacks of chocolate as what I had planned on lasting me for a week gets eaten by the end of the day. I had a sweet tooth before I was pg but ate absolutely masses of cake/sugar/chocolate (apart from an utterly miserable spell when they thought I might have gestational diabetes).

I find that porridge with fruit / raisins, or oatcakes stave off proper hunger pangs pretty well, but no matter how many healthy carbs I eat, I still crave sugar. It starts just after breakfast .

I am dreading the point when I stop bf'ing.

Mind you, I think part of it is due to being up multiple times a night as well as due to the bf. Chocolate is the next best thing to sleep.

sheeplikessleep · 26/06/2010 13:06

Me too. I've been eating Alpro soya chocolate pud things. They're 3g of fat each one (I tried them when I was trialing dairy free and am now hooked!).

I also think it's sleep related. I feel so lethargic from being up 3 times a night, that I need sugar to function.

I am trying to not eat so many naughty snacks. Porridge for breakfast helps with the morning, but mid afternoon and through to evening, I eat loads. Fruit just doesn't cut it does it.

bronze · 26/06/2010 13:09

I am of the mind that if you crave something it's because your body is telling you you need it. I'm not a huge chocolate eater but crave it when bfing. In fact if I'm not careful now and have a day of salads etc (worse in summer) I can get quite faint by the end of the day which is soon sorted with some sugar

FionaSH · 26/06/2010 13:20

I can polish off a six pack of hotcross buns in about 15 minutes, or a 4 pack of tescos cheese topped rolls in about 6 minutes. DS was born in November and I could get through an 8 pack of mince pies in about 10 minutes. Oink oink. Thank god Tescos don't sell them all year round.
Fortunately I now weigh less than prior to conception (god knows how!!) but fear that now DS is dropping feeds (and currently on boob strike completely) my eating will remain the same and I'll balloon...

ray81 · 26/06/2010 13:47

Oh thank goodness i thought i was the only one. I crave chocolate ALL the time and can eat a whole pack of Foxs' extra chocolatey cookies in one sitting and have had to start trying to stop although DD is only 7 weeks today.

I feel so much better knowing i am not alone.

Morloth · 26/06/2010 14:47

It is weird too because I don't even like cake that much normally. Any sort of cake will do as long as it has a "cakey" texture.

Have actually been craving salad as well but only when drowned in olive oil and balsamic syrup. I ate two bags of salad the other day in one sitting, all too myself.

thumbwitch · 26/06/2010 14:50

I had a 100g bar a day habit of G&B milk and almond chocolate while bf'ing. AS it is said that you use 500 cals a day bf'ing, and said bar is about that, I was at peace with myself over it .

During pg I had put on 25lb, which according to my boss (an exMW) is the exactly correct amount (wow! I did something "right"!) and it had all gone 2 weeks later. I didn't actually put any weight on with my chocolate habit until I stopped bf'ing (didn't help that we moved to a country that doesn't do G&B milk and almond and I had to resort to Cadbury's which is way higher in sugar)

marenmj · 26/06/2010 18:59

'I am of the mind that if you crave something it's because your body is telling you you need it'

Yes YES. BFing takes an enormous amount of calories. I don't even like chocolate and I was downing it in droves. I am of the mind that as long as you are doing more than a couple feeds per day, your body will tell you what it needs and that food doesn't count diet-wise.

Porridge does help. I used to eat porridge for breakfast every morning. It's quite good if you make it with the cup of tea that you made yourself that has since gone cold on the counter while you attend to DC

It was the 2-4pm lull and the middle of the night that REALLY got me.

Original poster

harverina · 26/06/2010 21:56

sheeplikessleep - do the alpr puddings satisfy you sweet tooth? Might need to give them a go if they ae a bit better than chocolate!

Morloth I also crave salad big time! I can easily eat a whole bag on my own as a SNACK.

I am sad to hear that eating healthy carbs doesn really help the cravings. I'm scared to weigh myself. Last time I weighed myself I had stayed the same weight in over a month so the breastfeeding must use up all the extra calories...just cnt believe that I will be so lucky next time I weigh myself . Have been exclusively breastfeeding for 12 weeks now and feel that it must catch up with me sooner or later.

The middle of the night really gets me to - we have pack of blue ribbands in the cupboard and I have one during the night every night. Sometimes two. I dont even leave the kitchen to eat them!

OP posts:

marenmj · 26/06/2010 23:38

TBH, in your case I would just hide the scale and don't worry about it. It was at least six months before my body started to look like mine, and closer to nine before I was back to myself. Nine months up, nine months down. I remember at least twice crying in the middle of the night, while eating something I didn't even like the taste of, because it was close to hand and I felt desperate. It WILL get better. Greek yohgurt with a dollop of honey helps too, since it is nice and fatty.

I EBF for six months and it is wearing on your body. Give it a break. It needs some extra plump for the months ahead too!

By seven months DD weighed EXACTLY the same amount as what I had lost. The mind boggles at how much my body had to gut itself to provide that amount in lean baby, not even counting the inevitable wastage.

mjinhiding · 27/06/2010 09:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

fabangusmum · 27/06/2010 13:39

I was so pleased to see 49 replies - I am a chocolate monster. I start off with one strip and before I know the whole 100g bar is gone. I've also discovered multipacks in supermarkets - makes choc so cheap (25p for a chunky kitkat!) and of course easier to eat 2 or 3 bars a day.

MrsJamin · 27/06/2010 13:52

I too am addicted to chocolate (perhaps not in the present heat, but most of the time). I can't remember the last time I actually felt full - i.e. unable to eat any more. I could eat and eat and eat. I found that I lost a lot of weight when I stopped BFing DS1 and hoping the same will happen when I stop BFing 4MO DS2 (at probably a year). As long as you're not putting on much weight after losing it after the baby, I'm sure it's fine. I try to snack on the healthier side but sometimes only cake and chocolate will do.

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