Extened BF'ing & LC'ing

[HollyAyott]

Martin is 16 months old and I am still nursing twice a day. I havent lost all the weight people claimed I would loose by BF'ing however I really need to get back to my strict LC diet. I am boarderline diabetic and I need to do something now.

Anyone else doing extened nursing and low carbing? I am not that concerned about my milk supply dropping in fact maybe that will inspire my little guy to give it up.

[dane]

I'm low carbing, and still nursing my 17 month old. He nurses on and off through the night, and a few times during the day. Mostly for comfort, though I'm still make plenty of milk. :)

[IvannaBFit]

My son is only 10 months old, but I want to do child-led-weaning, which means he'll be on the boob for a long time to come.

I lost 15 lbs in January, but the rest of the weight is taking its darn time.

I'm the unlucky one, though -- most of my friends lost their weight while breastfeeding.

[Helen H]

I did years of extended breastfeeding, on various levels of carb. I lost most of the weight while low carbing while breastfeeding, and I have it on the authority of my child that the milk still tasted yummy.

Being the paranoid type that I am, I actually tested my milk for ketones, and never got any. I've checked since with some experts and they assumed me that ketones do not pass into breastmilk.

[Blenders]

i'm still nursing my 1 year old and will continue to until he's 2. i started low carbing when he was 3 months and so far only lost 30 lbs. the weight is SLOWLY coming off.
i've noticed lately i've been SO hungry! I'm eating more than i usually do and while i'm not gaining, i'm not losing either. i just figured if my body says its hungry then i should eat. although, it's getting harder for me to stay low-carb. i'm more easily tempted to cheat.
i really want to lose this weight. would it be a good idea to cut calories without it affecting my milk supply? i have had issues with my milk supply (whether I'm dieting or not) and have needed to take fenugreek to keep it up. any thoughts?

[Helen H]

What about trying to increase your exercise rather then reduce your food? I found that I could exercise a lot without it affecting my milk in any way, so that might be the way to go.

Sonia O'Sullivan (Ireland's premier distance runner, and thin as a stick) breastfed both her children while training. www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/04/13/soniaosullivan_narrowweb__200x307.jpg

[wbethin]

My boy is 10 months old I am also still bfing, I would love to cut down to at least 2-3 times per day, but he refuses to eat regular foods (I make all the food he eats at home) unless the taste of meat. So options are limited......also he's starting to want to feed himself (doesn't work well with soup)....does anyone know of any good finger foods??

My husband was a premi and his mother bf him and his twin brother until they were 2. She told me that many weeks her nipples would be bleeding and bruised but she still let them eat....how she did that I have no idea. After my boy was born he had bitten a sm chunck out of one nipple and that really really hurt (the other was out of commission for the first 3 weeks) I am so glad that part is over, now comes the teeth he already has 2 on the bottom and 2 on the top, Does it get any worse????

[Helen H]

In the early days, BF can hurt like hell, you are not sure about what you are doing, too tired to make sure your baby is latched on right and there can occasionally be problems with tongue tie. But that period should be short.

Certainly, by the time you are counting age in months or years, your baby should have good nursing manners and you absolutely should not have bleeding or mis-shapen nipples. If you do, there is something wrong, talk to a Lactation Consultant or a breastfeeding counsellor (check out local BF groups).

Most babies go through a brief biting stage. You can either push their face into your breast so they have to let go in other to breath, or you can take them off while saying very firmly "NO BITING". Either usually stops the biting within a day or so.

Teeth are not a part of nursing, so just because your baby has teeth doesn't mean you will get bitten or teeth marks. It's still all about the tongue action and the roof of the baby's mouth.

I've breastfed toddlers and new babies at the same time, and I can say that the new baby is definitely much harder than the toddler. Much stronger suction, and no concept of "Wait a few minutes, I'll feel you when it's convenient".

Beth, does your baby eat at the table with you? I'd be inclined to put him sitting at the table with you for every meal time, and just leave food available for him to try. Let him eat or not as he wants, but while it's meal time, he doesn't get breastfed. Things like bits of banana, bread sticks or even suitable crusts, steamed carrots, or potato cubes, cheese cubes, the yolks of hard boiled eggs, small bits of meat or chicken, things like that which he can pick up and gnaw at himself.

[wbethin]

Helen it good to know that teeth are not going to be a big problem, this is my first so I just needed to know what to expect. My boy does sit at the table, and I do make food available/ give him tastes of different foods. He Loves cheese, meat, eggs, basically LC foods. He hates boiled/steamed vegies, if its fried and chicken, pork, or beef flavored eats a little bit. He is just a funny little guy I guess. As long as he is eating I guess that is the main thing. I also have started part-time EC (Elimmination Communication)(today). Does anyone else do or have done this? I didn't even know about it until my husband's family mentioned that it was past time to start. (I thought they were crazy at first really.) But then I looked it up online and was amazed that other people actually practice it.

[Helen H]

Sounds like he's eating fine. Much better than all those kids who seem to live on sweetened yogurt and baby rusks!

What is EC? I've never heard of it.

[wbethin]

Helen EC is pretty much early potty trainning for babies. Check out this web site if intrested www.diaperfreebaby.org, I have the hang of #1, haven't managed a #2 yet (almost, missed by 15 mins.). I was sceptical at first (very), but so far its going really well. On the site above they have hints about when to take the baby to the bathroom, getting started, etc. I only use a diaper at night now which saves lots of money! Some people on the site even started directly after birth, I can't imagine that though.

[Blenders]

I also have started part-time EC (Elimmination Communication)(today). Does anyone else do or have done this?

I was always interested in EC but couldn't grasp the idea with a baby. But now that my son will be 1 year old this month, i think it would be a good idea to start experimenting with it. Thanks for mentioning it, wbethin! I looked at the website and it gave me some good info to get started with. I think I'll try some diaper-free hours during the day and try peeing in the toilet in the mornings since he always seems to have so much pee right after we wake up. Let me know how it goes, wbethin!

[Melberry]

I am b/f my 14 month old and whilst I initially lost most of my gained weight, it has all piled back on again. For my first pregnancy, in which I was mainly LC I lost all my weight and kept it off (I b/f for 25 months). Pregnancy number 2 gave me sweet cravings which have continued.
I believe that it's because I stopped LCing before the pregnancy that I have had trouble this time around. I plan to fix this before I go for number 3!

[DazzlingMa]

I missed this post when I started my own yesterday. I am extended BFing (my son is 20 months) and just started back on LCing after gaining 60 lbs since getting pregnant/nursing and not watching what I eat. Nice to meet you all!

[wbethin]

Nice to meet you DazzlingMa welcome to the forums. I lost all of my gainned weight plus some after mine was born, but breastfeeding and not watching what I ate brought it all back (well almost all, minus about 10 lbs.), but LCing has gotten it on a downward drift now.

[GypsyClare]

I'll just put in my $.02 -- I lost about 25lbs (all I wanted to lose at the time! Ah, those were the days!) doing LC starting when my youngest was 9 months. She breastfed throughout the time I was on the diet, and while I stayed pretty decently in maintenance for a year or so after that (I breastfed all mine til they were about 3).

Never had any difficulties with milk supply, milk tasting different, or any consequences to her either. She is 9 now and though she is sensitive to sweets (they make her weepy) she is normal weight, healthy and loves a wide variety of foods.

I think it was easier to lose weight then than this time around. This may be because it was the first time I tried LC, it may be because I was younger, but I think that the extra calories I burned (even while sitting down!) because of breastfeeding helped too.

[Melberry]

There could be something in that Gypsy. The first baby I breastfed used to feed for hours and hours whereas number 2 is a quick drinker so maybe I'm not using up as much energy now.

[abbykitty]

Hi all. Well I'm back after being gone almost 2 years. Brief history. Weight issues all my life, a month before my wedding I started lc and eventually lost about 30 lbs and kept it off for 4 years. Yeah! Then got pregnant. Fast forward, I'm now about 15 lbs above prepreg weight, bf'ing my one year old just morning and evening and just now starting back on lc. I kept toying with the idea of lc while bf'ing but I always had supply issues (was able to feed him exclusive breastmilk for a year by pumping seems like all day and night long - 3 times during work and would even wake up in the middle of the night even if baby was sleeping just to get enough. Not to mention the many work trips out of town). I was scared that I wouldn't be able to keep up with supply if I lc'd so it was a convenient excuse. Well now he's a year and while I want to bf as long as he wants to, it is now more about comfort and I'm not concerned about supply anymore. I have no more excuses! Anyhoo, sorry for the long windedness, but I'm kind of scared bc I have a closet full of clothes that used to fit and I really want to get back into lc'ing bc it was the only thing that worked for me. I want to wear my clothes and be proud of myself again. It will kill me if this doesn't work this time. I heard it's harder the second time. . .