Baby Fat and Milk Production

Don't worry about milk production!!! As long as she's gaining as she's supposed to, she's fine. The cool thing about breast milk is that you don't produce more and she doesn't need to take more, it changes as she grows! She will continue to tak 4-8 ounces as she has but it becomes higher in fat, calories, and protein. How cool are our bodies?! I don't know what to tell you about losing the weight, but I do know that as long as you are breast feeding, you don't want to diet too much, it will affect the nutritive value for your baby.
Go to Wild Oats or Sunflower Market and ask for natural ways to increase milk production if you really are worried. If you pump, do you get 3-6 oz out of each side? You are fine! But there are some good natural ways to increase milk supply without needing drugs :)
Good Luck:)

P.S. Check out yahoo groups for local mom's groups: http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/dir/Regional/U.S._States/Indi...
Here's the one I started:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BroadRippleMama/

The best I can tell you is stop worrying about it. I used to diet myself to death and the weight would never go anywhere. I gave up and decided to just accept myself the way I am. I had been wearing alot of sweatpants so I never noticed any weight coming off or anything until one day I needed a pair of dress slacks for a christmas party. I went to the store and picked up a size 22 (well that's what size I was in when I was trying to lose weight and they were tight)and to my amazement, they were enormous...I tried a 20...same thing...18...still to big...16...really baggy...14...finally a fit. The best I can figure is that the constant worry and frustration over wanting to lose weight must have some how slowed my metabolism and since I gave up and started eating normally and stopped worrying, it must have sped back up again...and I don't pay attention to how much or what I eat anymore.

Are you sure your milk production is too low for Elena? If her weight is good and has been following a normal curve (on the growth charts) and she has enough wet/dirty diapers a day, she should be getting enough from you. Could it just be that when pumping, you can't get as much as she does when she is directly nursing? This happened to me and I've heard MANY others with the same scenario. Here are a couple suggestions:

1. If you pump frequently, rent a hospital grade pump for a month or 2 to see if you can get the pumped supply up. I know, more expense - but they truly are better than even the more expensive personal pumps you can buy.

2. Try a "Nurse-In". As a friend described it, spend an entire day (yes, 24hrs) doing nothing but resting in bed, allowing your daughter to nurse frequently. The combination of rest and frequent feeding helped her get her supply back when it had seemed to diminish.

Good Luck . . . and from personal experience, the more you can relax about feeding/amount, etc, the better it will be!

Hell K.,

I understand how you feel about the post-baby weight. I had just lost 20 pounds and got pregnant right after! Oops! :-) But right after my son was born I dropped some weight and I figured that would be all I'd lose so I bought a bunch of new clothes. I was still breastfeeding and no one told me that I would lose more weight (and not to mention all of my boobs!) once I was completely done. I know that everyone is different but that is how it happened for me. Hope this helps you out!

Thanks!
A.

I do know that if you do not eat ENOUGH calories while nursing you will NOT lose weight. Seems like it should not be true, but it is. If you don't eat enough, your body will hold onto as much as possible to store. If you are giving your body a steady supply, it will know that it doesn't need to store as much. I think it would be best for you to worry less about losing the weight right now, and enjoy your baby and nursing. Before you know it, it will be over and you might really miss it. You have all the time in the world to lose the weight.

Sorry that you are struggling with your milk supply and weight loss. If you travel as much as you do, do you pump a lot? I've heard that pumping milk can make your supply a little less because it doesn't mimic a real suck close enough to send the signal for more milk to be made. I know when I pumped my milk after having my twin surrogate babies that I could never get more then an 2 ounces at a time and nothing I did increased that much. As far as weight loss, WW does work! At least for me. I would be sure you eat all your nursing points (if your baby is only getting breastmilk) and use some of those flex points! I used WW after my 3rd baby and lost 43 pound with it. The weeks I ate less I seemed to lose less. My body needed more calories to stay out of that thought of "Oh no, we aren't getting enough food so we better slow the metabolism down" A lot of people do better with weight loss when they eat more! It's hard to accept but try eating all your points. You should never drop below your Target points. You need to at least eat that amount every day. If you are exercising also I would go ahead and eat your AP's also or at least some of your bank. I always ate my target points, my AP's and my whole flex bank when I used WW. Try different combos and see what helps. Good luck to you! If you need any help with WW you can message me. I worked there for almost a year, before getting pregnant again, so I know some tricks and rules :)

K.

About the milk production issue, I went through the same thing. Try checking with your OB or your general physician and ask about getting REGLAN. It is a prescription medication that as a side effect gives you MILK!!! :) Trust me, it sure does work. I am on my third month of it, 3 tiny pills a day and they produce so much milk! Sometimes they will only prescribe it for 10-12 days, but it didn't work after I stopped taking it, so they prescribed it for me "full time" for 3 months (the longest you're allowed to be on it). Now, as for the losing weight... don't worry so much. I just stopped weight watchers---not that it didn't work b/c it does. It's just my self-discipline is not there yet. When you nurse you want to eat eat eat. That's the way it goes. If you know the program of WW, then you know what right choices to make. Now, when I am done with breastfeeding I plan on talking to my physician about getting on meridia, a prescription med used to help suppress your appetite. It works! I used it a few years ago just to help get a jump start on losing weight (give me a motivator)... I also went to WW at the same time. After losing my first 20 lbs. on the meds, I went off them and continued the WW program--losing a total of over 50 lbs. So, needless to say you wouldn't have to take the meds very long, just use them as a jump start to get you where you are comfortable taking over! If you aren't one for meds, disregard my whole entry! :) Take care no matter what and happy holidays to you.

OH--and P.S. Reglan is used for GI problems in the first place!

Hello K.,

You should not eat more...you should eat less amount but frequent meals, every 3 hours, no more than 4 hrs. When you starve yourself, directly or indirectly, your body try to "eat" whatever you eat because your body knows that you are not eating and it is trying to get the more it can, then your metablism slow down and you cannot loose weight.
The stress you are having because of that and your milk supply contribute widely in your weight. So..take it easy, and try to eat frequent meals, even on the go...(fruits, crackers,nuts no more than the size of your palm,water,smoothie, etc).and exercise. If you can work out at least 3 times a week, is good, is not, just try to walk very fast whenever you can, and use stairs, and do not use drive thru....
So...keep up and do not despair...I have been there..believe me..I just happen to love aerobics and that is the only thing that helps me to loose weight...but this time with my second baby has been harder than my first one..so I am working out harder and eating more frequently and drinking a lot of water.....It works!!!

Good luck
Alejandra