Hello all!

My beautiful DD is 8 months old and nurses almost exclusively. She has maybe one or two "solids" meal a day, and although she enjoys it, it is still something of a novelty for her-- she'll only eat a few tablespoons at a time. However, she's got a good appetite (maybe 25-30 oz milk a day, plus whatever solids she'll take) and until recently she's been great at sleeping through the night...

In the last two weeks or so, I've started aggressively doing whole foods, cutting out the processed junk and I've really gotten serious about journaling. As a result, my overall daily calorie intake has dropped to the 1600-1800 range from probably something like 2200-2400 (those walnuts really add up! ). With careful journaling, I have found that I am completely sated in the 1600-1800 range and I really don't "need" the extra calories to feel satisfied...however, with the recent spate of night-waking (to feed) from my DD, I'm wondering if I actually DO need the extra calories and that maybe she is getting shortchanged (less rich hindmilk or something?)...or might this be a growth spurt for her and the timing was just coincidental?

Today I thought I would try an extra 20oz of 1% milk to bump up my calories closer to 2000 without stuffing my face. It might sound stupid, but I like the "pattern" of my eating right now and I don't want to disrupt it if I can help it! Obviously, if it's not working for DD though, I'll have to change things.

Thoughts?

I don't know if it's calories. Eight months is prime time for nightwaking. What developmental stuff is she going through? Has she recently started to crawl, or stand, or get a new tooth? Anything like that I'd expect to be a more likely culprit for nightwaking. If your nutrition is good, then your breastmilk is great, so it's not that you are suddenly lacking something. She might also simply be going through a growth spurt. Honestly, I'd be very surprised at an 8mo who wasn't eating during the night. My 16-mo still nurses at night.

Hi Sabra, thanks for the reply!

I am lucky that DD appears to have the "sleeping gene"! I can count on my fingers the number of times she has been awake at night since she was 3 weeks old, so her abrupt change in pattern was a bit of a shock to me.

Since it started literally the day after I changed my calorie intake, naturally I wanted to correlate it with that. But you're right-- it can be any number of things with babies! I just wanted to make sure she wasn't getting shortchanged by my desire to cut some calories.

Thanks!

Steph

Hmmm, what would your normal calories be if you were not BFing for losing weight?

Besides things like cheese- you might think about oatmeal cookies as a treat at night. The great part about those is it's also great for your supply!

Congrats on your weight loss so far AND for your 8 month BFing relationship.

I have a pretty good metabolism and I am pretty active, so I can still lose in the 1800-2000 calorie range when not BFing. However, I have been less consistently active since I had DD (shame on me), so where I really used to be able to pack it away (does anyone else try to match the hubby bite for bite?! Jeez, what a terrible habit! No wonder I've gained!) because I knew I would burn it off, I now find that I am less likely to make it to the gym or to get the mtn bike out on a consistent basis, so I have to tread more carefully.

Having said that, I have come to realize that if you choose your calories wisely, 2000 calories is a TON of food. With my newfound awareness and careful planning, I can eat all day and still just top the 1600 calorie mark-- including a nice serving of black cherry gelato!

I can definitely get behind a nightly oatmeal cookie!

Anyways, thanks for the advice-- seems DD and I have worked it out -- she has gone back to her reliable sleeping schedule for the most part and I am careful to at least top 1600 calories every day (and aim for 1700).

I gotta say though, BF has been great to me! I was lucky in that DD is food-oriented (like mom & dad ) and is a professional nurser. Made it a lot easier!