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Original poster

I'm b/f and pretty sure I'm not eating enough. Give me some examples of how to get 2500 calories a day please?

57 replies

gaelicsheep · 20/10/2010 22:28

By way of example, before dinner this evening I had eaten, since dinner last night:

two rounds of white toast and honey
half a banana
the crusts off DS's teatime slice of bread
a few raisins
some crumbs of flapjack
two mouthfuls of DS's omelette

I'm sure this is pretty normal amongst mums, but I'm getting really tired with the b/f and I suspect this could be why. So please, food gurus, what can I eat throughout the day that is quick and easy to keep my energy up?

OP posts:
Original poster
gaelicsheep · 20/10/2010 23:23

ClimberChick - no, be blunt, you're quite right. Thinking about it, this is entirely a mental thing. Without wanting to spin a sob story, we have been quite short of money for some time, and I've been the main breadwinner. Over the years I have frequently skipped meals to make the food go further (I don't expect anyone to bring out the violins, it's just a fact). I'm sure we could afford for me to eat properly as well, it just became a habit to make the food last for as long as possible. Even after a recent pay rise (hooray!) it's a habit that's become hard to break. So now I reckon I'm used to feeling hungry, so I just allow it to happen - stupid eh?

Also, and this is really really stupid, I get this stupid thing in my head that I cannot eat, or drink, until I get everything done that's in my head to do. Except with a demanding baby and 4 year old, those things don't get done. They don't get done, I don't get around to eating.

I am so stupid. I must, and will, try to change this. It's no blardy wonder I'm so damned tired all the time!

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Original poster
gaelicsheep · 20/10/2010 23:24

And now you all think I'm a basket case. Sad

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PumpkinsandPotPourri · 20/10/2010 23:25

Have all meals and snacks with DS. You're making it anyway, so just make it for you too.

And buy loads of chocolate, fruit, hoummous and crisps/oatcakes/breadsticks to have ready for the nighttime marathon and eat one of them at every feed.

You really must drink alot when bf-ing, so as others have said, have a bit sports bottle of water and make yourself have the full bottle during a feed

PumpkinsandPotPourri · 20/10/2010 23:27

Gaelic - you're not a basket case. And I totally understand the whole having to get everything done before doing something for yourself. So link the eating to a chore that needs done. DS needs fed, so make the same for you and it needs cleared away for the kitchen to be cleaned, doesn't it? Best way to clear it is to eat it... That kind of thinking.

You'll feel so much better and more energetic when you eat properly, honest!

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 20/10/2010 23:35

Lots of "food" for thought there (Grin? - perhaps not). Thanks for saying I'm not a basket case - I sure feel like one half the time. I must get off to bed now to stoke up on sleep for tonight's feeding marathon. Perhaps I'll take a banana up with me. Smile

OP posts:
bluecardi · 20/10/2010 23:38

Do you need to eat more to bf? don't think so imho you just need to eat properly.

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 20/10/2010 23:40

I thought you needed 500 calories a day extra? Not that it matters really - eating properly would/will do me just fine. Smile

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omaoma · 20/10/2010 23:50

Eat WHENEVER teh baby is eating, and have a large glass of water at the same time. Keep cereal bars by the bed/nursing chair so they're always ready and you can have a bite even if it's midnight. I lived off toasted panettone with lashings of butter, and smoked salmon/cream cheese bagels, chocolate, cereal bars and loads of tea. don't worry about crumbing on the baby, they don't care (prob best not to do really hot food tho!) It's like the rule to sleep whenever they sleep.

ClimberChick · 21/10/2010 02:16

You don't NEED more, but it is sure useful. You should aim for at least 1800 though if your counting.

Bananas for bedtime feeding are a great idea and second the eat when your DCs are eating.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 21/10/2010 09:17

Bananas are good, flapjack, yoghurt (not low fat though, proper yoghurt that will fill you up).
DH used to do me a picnic and leave it in the fridge - cooked sausages, chopped up lumps of cheese, celery and cucumber chopped into sticks. Then it's very easy to just grab a tub of hummous and a slice of bread as you are about to sit down to do a feed.

Protein is really important. Tempting though it is just to shovel biscuits, they will only leave you shakey and hungry again very shortly after!

talkingnonsense · 21/10/2010 09:24

Try more calorific drinks, eg chocolate milk, drinking yoghurt, ready made smoothies- quick and at least semi nutritious!

OhYouBadBadGhostie · 21/10/2010 09:28

the thing that strikes me instantly is where is your iron intake? If you are lowish on iron you can end up with a depressed appetite.

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 21/10/2010 16:23

Well I had my iron levels checked a couple of weeks after giving birth when I really wasn't eating at all. It was really good apparently Hmm.

I should stress that yesterday was exceptionally bad, which is what prompted me to post. I'm doing better today I think. Smile

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OhYouBadBadGhostie · 21/10/2010 18:32

good :) hopefully, if you can manage to eat better, it will become easier to eat better.

fivelittlebunnies · 21/10/2010 21:10

While it's really important to eat well while we're breastfeeding I think the main thing to remember is that bf is really exhausting in itself. Producing all that milk makes you really tired. I know this because i've done both. Breastfed my first two children for a year each and with the second one I got so tired that I could hardly function. We had twins when number two was two and I only bf them for a week. Very upsetting to begin with but I soon realised that getting up to feed them in the night with bottles wasn't so tiring. I found the first year with twins on the bottle much less tiring than bf my second child. I've just had number 5 baby (the last one!) and I only bf for 6 weeks this time and have enjoyed every minute. When I stopped bf the fog lifted and I felt more rested (despite getting up in the night to the older kids sometimes). It's bf that's making you tired not what you are eating in my opinion. Good Luck!

MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 21/10/2010 21:22

Speaking as someone else with a baby and older child & who knows where you're coming from re finding time to prepare and eat food, one thing that might help you is to put the baby in a sling/baby carrier (we even use a hiking backpack now ours is a bit older!) when you want to prepare food, or for that matter you can use it for various types of housework too. Generally if she can watch you cooking she will be content and (usually, in my experience), QUIET, which means you feel like you can get yourself something in relative peace.

If things are really bad, you could also try making a chart, like a kids' reward chart - put on breakfast, lunch, a snack or two and several drinks throughout each day, and make yourself tick off when you have had each one. Maybe promise yourself a treat of some sort if you do well, or decide you have to tick off one box before each chore or something? Sounds silly but it might help?

OmicronPersei8 · 21/10/2010 21:32

Has anyone said cake yet? You can make/buy something like banana bread, full of walnuts too, then slice it and freeze it. Take out a slice and it will defrost quite quickly (I used to do this as a student - in the end I quite liked them frozen Blush). Anyway, get a slice out, put it on a plate. Wander into the kitchen later and say 'Wow! Cake, I'll have some of that.'

Cake while breastfeeding is one of the great treats in life, I think. Lots of cake. Cake. Cake. Mmmmm.

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 21/10/2010 21:49

Ohh, when someone says put baby in a sling, I just want to cry. We've tried three different ones now (Baby Bjorn, ring sling and now a Moby wrap) and without exception she's OK the first couple of times and then starts to scream blue murder.

fivelittlebunnies - I totally agree about b/f. I gave bottles in the night for the first 12 weeks because I was so exhausted night and day I could not function on any level, and I would crash out during feeding in the night so deeply asleep that anything could've happened to DD. But I've been exclusively b/f again for the past 5 weeks - it was an important goal of mine - and whilst still very tired it's not like it was. But you know, ask any b/f guru and they will completely deny that b/f itself makes you tired. I beg to differ. Although I accept that not eating properly won't be helping.

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Original poster
gaelicsheep · 21/10/2010 21:51

Omicron - you know, I think of cake and I don't even think "yum", I just don't fancy it. That's just weird right?

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Original poster
gaelicsheep · 21/10/2010 21:55

Anyhow, to show progress following my tellings off last night I have had today:

bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes with ss milk
slice of pretty dense (breadmaker) bread with cheese and a tomato
flapjack
pasta carbonara (with DS as I was preparing it for him Smile)
raspberry yoghurt
another flapjack (I made flapjacks with DS yesterday)

Four instant coffees (probably four too many), glass of orange juice, some water - obviously I need to work on the drinks!

Last night I took to bed a bottle of water and a banana.

So I am trying!

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ClimberChick · 21/10/2010 23:02

good stuff

flapjacks are great aren't they, they're soooo cheap to make

It doesn't take long for it to become habit, but it does require active thinking and effort for a few weeks.

Porridge is another cheap one chuck in some raisins (if your're still on the student mindset, know I am Grin)

When someone says this too shall pass, I just want to punch them.

PumpkinsandPotPourri · 22/10/2010 20:48

Yay! Great stuff. Keep it up a few days and you'll know you've done the right thing cos you'll feel so much better. Go girl!

Original poster
gaelicsheep · 22/10/2010 21:59

Not so good today unfortunately Sad. Around lunchtime I got into that vicious cycle again of being so so hungry but completely unable to eat anything. That's been the story of my life for months now. Anyhow, eventually I managed a slice of toast and butter and felt better. Had cheese and ham on toast for tea and the last flapjack Grin. Now eating some crisps Blush. I'll try to keep forcing myself and hope I have to force it less often.

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OmicronPersei8 · 23/10/2010 10:39

I know if my mum hadn't come round and fed me I wouldn't have eaten much after DC2 was born. There just wasn't the time to cook or eat. Can you and DH do a bit of batch cooking together? Make a big pot of something and freeze in batches so you can easily pull out a filling meal as and when needed?

Or for quick meals: cheese on toast, scrambled eggs, beans on toast?

I used to throw a load of veg, potatoes and some chops in the oven and have a sort of tray-roasted meal. And make enough for leftovers the next day.

Try and aim for one solid meal a day? Or is this too much? The main thing I guess is that you are aware that you need to remember to eat - holding on to that is probably more helpful than lots of suggestions of what to eat.

Acanthus · 23/10/2010 10:50

Force yourself for a few days and it will get to be normal. You did well yesterday. You know you'll be a better parent if you do it.

I used to have tuna pate on toast, hot cross buns, cereal, bananas as snacks (as well as meals!). BTW I am tall and slim with a fast metabolism, not obese in case you have a fear of fat. You do need to eat a bit more when you are BF and short on sleep.

Does it help to think of yourself as the producer of milk for your baby - if you want it to be the best milk, you have to put good fuel into your body. If it were a machine doing it, you'd put good stuff in, wouldn't you.