[lovinlifex2]

Johnathon is now 10 weeks old and is still nursing great. My milk supply has been fabulous and I was able to stock pile quite a bit while I was on maternity leave. Now that I am back to work I still pump twice a day and am full again by 5:00pm. Luckily as soon as he sees me he is ready to nurse...oh how I love my "booby baby".

The only problem is that I am STARVING all the time. I eat more now than I did while I was pregnant with him. I nursed my 2 other kids for 10 months each and don't remember this insatiable appetite of mine.

Has anyone else experienced this or is it all in my head? Is there a way to get this in check?

[newleaf123]

Congratulations for your new baby!

Maybe this baby needs more milk than the others did, so your milk production is up, which would mean you would need more calories than you would have with the others... That's all I can think.

Also, you didn't say whether you pumped with the other two. I pumped for one baby and not for the other, and found that my milk supply (ie, my need for calories) was much greater when I pumped than when I didn't. In fact, when I stopped pumping for a week-long vacation, figuring that my nursing baby would take the equivalent of what I would have pumped, I actually started drying up and the weaning process began. My baby was 12 months old though, so it was okay, but that was when I realized that the amount that I pumped was not equal to the amount that my baby normally drank. Which explains why I had a freezer full of liquid gold!

[lovinlifex2]

Now that you mention it I didn't pump much with the other two kids. I was a SAHM and so never did unless we were going somewhere and I wanted to take a bottle with me. That may very well be the difference. Johnathon does seem to nurse more than the other two did, but that was 8 and 10 years ago so my memory may be a little foggy. As long as my milk supply stays up then I guess I will just go with the flow.

I am hoping to nurse him until at least 6 months and then see what happens. It is so much harder when you are working and my work is less than thrilled that I take 30 min 3x a day to pump. It is only 30min more than I would usually take anyways. I get an hour for lunch and just take 30 min to make up for the 30 min that I pump in the afternoon.

Speaking of "liquid gold" I was reading something on the internet that was talking about professional athletes paying upwards of $10 per ounce for breastmilk. They were saying about how it is supposed to help heal torn muscles twice as fast as normal with all the "perfect" amount of vitamins/acids to rebuild the muscles. Joe was teasing me that maybe I should just stay home and pump, as much milk as I have had this time.

[newleaf123]

Too funny about your career move - athletic lactation support!

I was fortunate in that I worked from home so pumping wasn't a problem. I'm sure it's very difficult in a professional environment - kudos to you for sticking with it!

[sweetandspicy]

Good for you. I just stopped nursing as my son is now one. It was difficult to pump at work but as your child gets older and eats more babyfood you will have to pumpless. I got to where I only had to pump once at lunch time and that was so much easier. Keep with your baby will benifit so much. I know all of mine did..

[Ami12345]

Hello! I have a 9 1/2 month old son, who still nurses once a day, and I can remember feeling the way that you do now. The extrememly increased appetite will get substantially better (less) when solids/rice cereal are introduced (sometime around 4 months usually)... or atleast it did for me... Other than that I just tried to eat smaller amounts of food, more often -- about every 2 hrs -- so that my blood sugar levels didn't drop to where I felt so hungry I was prone to make poor decisions... also, I made sure to exercise! A brisk walk with the stroller can do wonders ;-) Good Luck and Conratulations on your new baby!!!

[tenshi]

I am nursing too and hungry all the time. Especially when I wake up at night to pump. I know it's awful to eat at night when I'm just going back to sleep but it's so hard not to eat - it's usually the only time I can eat sitting down too!

I've been trying to get more protein into my morning meals so that I can last longer between eating. Tuna salad and omelets are easiest. Also, I try to keep some healthy snacks within reaching distance of my nursing chair so I don't have the urge to eat processed snacks. Dried cranberries are a fave!