Low carb affecting milk supply?

[VikingLady]

I'm huge (not Tonga, but not far off) and need/want to lose weight. I have had enough of always being the fat friend. DD is 4m and I am still ebf. I know cutting out a lot of the crap won't do her any harm, but I've seen comments on a couple of threads that low-carbing can reduce milk supply. Is this true? How?

I was actively encouraged to eat much more protein to improve milk quality early on by lactation consultans as ds had issues gaining weight, Although I wasn't low carbing then, I did find the increase had a great effect on my supply.
As for low carbing as a means to shed the baby weight, I have been following BIWIs bootcamp thread and found it excellent and am now much lower in weight than i was before pregnancy, although I really was a bit chubby back then too!
I found that as long as i kept getting carbs from vegetables I was able to shed the weight fairly easily and it didn't have any effect on my supply. I really struggled for the first five months after having ds, it was as if the weight was stuck to me like glue and to be honest I felt very frustrated and down about it. I completely understand your point about always being the fat friend, I have been there and was insanely jealous of friends who were back in their old jeans in two weeks

Also have a read through BIWIs threads. As far as I know there are a few ladies there who are breastfeeding and sem to be getting on fine with it.
Hope that helps and best of luck

I'm bf 18 week old and have been low carbing for 5 weeks. My milk supply seems fine. Just make sure you eat when you're hungry and you should be fine. Article by Dr Briffa here - bit about bf at the bottom.

I don't see why it would. Milk production is prioritised by your body, you can actually be starving and still be producing milk. Lots of leafy vegetables, lots of fat, and plenty of dairy and you will be fine.

Thank you so much, all of you! I couldn't really see why it should reduce milk supply or reduce it's quality since carbs are essentially empty calories/bulk without any nutrients that you can't get elsewhere. I'll look at the BIWI threads.

I am bigger now than before I got pregnant and it is affecting my mood badly. I don't want to be a fat cow! I'd rather be slim (not skinny) and happy! And yes, size DOES maker a difference to my life.

Thanks very much.

I'm doing the veggie low carb diet and breastfeeding my 6 mo DD. I don't think it has affected my milk supply, but she's also just started crawling, so is a bit more hungry generally.

I've lost 8lbs in less than three weeks, and have another 10lb to go to get back to where I want to be. It's great for me as I'm not hungry and not having the carb slumps which used to lead me to eat cake

Cool. Well, 2 days in and I'm not hungry yet! DD seems perfectly happy with my milk.