Nervous about weaning...

[ainsleymom]

DD (just turned 1) has naturally moved down to 3 nursing sessions a day AND STTN. I never thought we'd get here. Next week I'm going to eliminate one of the daytime sessions since she never asks for it I just offer and stick to morning and night for awhile.

I don't have plans to extended BF unless she really resists losing the morning and night. Even the morning session she's not as into as she once was. So I see the end in sight. And frankly I'm nervous about how total weaning is going to affect my metabolism. I hear some people lose some weight and some people gain because they keep eating the same.

Any experience/thoughts?

[ncuneo]

Congrats! I weaned around 14 months and it really didn't have a huge effect on my weight loss. I just started to maintain and then to start losing again I had to start calorie counting. I'm not sure what you are doing now as far as diet goes, you may need to decrease your cals a smidge or increase your exercise, but your body will adjust. Are you eating a lot extra for bfing?

[ainsleymom]

Originally Posted by ncuneo

Are you eating a lot extra for bfing?

Not anymore. In the beginning I definitely was. Now I'm eating a healthy varied diet with reasonable portions. Some days my calories are fairly low and some days they are high. It just depends. I'd say I average out at 1800 calories a day. So my loss has been very gradual. I didn't get down to prepregnancy weight until she was almost a year old!

Not looking forward to counting calories! But I think to lose the vanity weight this is a must. At least I haven't been exercising while breastfeeding, hopefully I can start and the increase in metabolism will make up for the loss of milk making metabolism. At least I hope.

[Gale02]

I lost weight when I weaned my son at around a year old. I think if you aren't eating a ton of extra calories for bfing (which it looks like you aren't) you shouldn't start gaining weight. Especially if you start exercising, you may not have to decrease them at all.