My little man is 6 months old, and he is slowly weaning himself off of me and onto formula - apparently I'm just not producing enough milk for him. He also eats solids around 3x a day.
My question is, how do I figure out how much to eat now? I've been calorie counting and sticking to around 1700 calories a day, and even then I'm not losing very fast. (I've played around with the same 3 lbs all month. Ugh.) Are there any guidelines for decreasing calories as you wean?
TIA
Most women produce enough milk, but adding formula and solids will reduce your milk further. A lot of women think they do not "make enough milk," but that condition is extremely rare.
That said, if you are happy with the weaning, I would reduce the calories to 1500 per day and see how that goes at first. I did not start losing weight until my son was six months old, and then I "magically" lost 15 lbs in a month. Hang in there. Your body is still full of all these strange hormones... which reminds me: have you had your first post-partum period? When my periods returned, so did my ability to lose weight!
If you do not want to wean, there are many things you can do to easily increase milk supply. PM me if you are interested.
Hang in there, girl. I know it's hard. You will lose the weight!
Thanks so much for the reply! I have fully weaned my boy onto formula, since he got teeth and started biting. Ugh. Unfortunately my appetite is still high, so I'm ending most days around 1700-1800 calories when I should be around 1500. As far as Aunt Flo, nothing yet. Which isn't suprising since I don't normally have them.
i have read that women burn 500 calories a day from nursing but I think there are caveats. I don't think you come out the gate at that figure. 2-3 months pp its probably more like 200-300. Then if you are a smaller shorter person with smaller shorter babies, they won't take much which was my case. I started at like 1800 calories, but now am around 1400-1500 and am finally losing and have a great supply for my 3 month old. So I would say you don't need the extra calories. 1700-1800 maybe pretty high if you are not exclusively nursing.
Whether or not you need the extra 500 calories a day is going to depend on your baby's appetite, and your milk supply.
Someone who has a small 5 pound newborn might find that their baby doesn't eat as much as my 9+ and 10+ pound newborns with humongo appetites. I needed MORE than 500 extra calories a day. Whether or not the baby is nursing exclusively, and the age of the child is going to vary as well. A 3 month old nursing exclusively is going to be taking in more milk (more calories) than when they were a newborn. It all varies.
Because of my big babies with big appetites, 500 wasn't ENOUGH.
Thanks so much for the reply! I have fully weaned my boy onto formula, since he got teeth and started biting. Ugh. Unfortunately my appetite is still high, so I'm ending most days around 1700-1800 calories when I should be around 1500. As far as Aunt Flo, nothing yet. Which isn't suprising since I don't normally have them.
I forgot about those "biting" days until I read your post just now. Yeah, I "feel" ya. Not fun. Sharp little "puppy" teeth.
Some women do not get their first PP Period for many months -- my friend's did not return for 18 months. Others get theirs back within WEEKS of the birth. It does not mean you will be unable to lose weight; it just means that IF you have issues they MAY be hormone related.
Slowly weaning, unsure about calories
He also eats solids around 3x a day.
