Induction & Breastfeeding

[2006shanna]

I want to hear the success/failure of induction while breastfeeding. I know it is not reccomened and that many people's opinion is to start lcing after breastfeeding is done, but I'm looking for real life guinea pigs who have tried it.

I have done Atkins twice and stopped both times while pregnant. I want to start lcing now (my baby is 2 1/2 months) because I am gaining weight rapidly due to sugar cravings. I figure that I will be eating more healthily while lcing than not. Just to clarify, whenever I did induction I did prety much unlimited lc veggies and whole proteins, so that I was never hungry.

I know that I could lc slowly, and not do the induction phase, but since this is my third time I understand that it's likly going to be tougher to loose the weight than before. I feel the need to do induction properly and not slowly. I am eating non stop and want to begin to live more healthily and the only way I have ever done this is lc.

I plan on bfeeding for a couple more months and am not going to begin lc just yet but am interested in hearing from those of you who tried it, especially in terms of milk production.

[DazzlingMa]

Well, you're right, "they" don't recommend it. Having said that, I am currently consuming induction level carbs AND breastfeeding, but I am nursing a 20/mo toddler. I drink tons of water, and watch him very closely. I have noticed NO changes in his behavior/urine output/appetite/etc., nor has he complained of a change in taste. I have had no problems with supply, either. I did test my milk with a keto stick, with a negative result. My personal opinion (simply based on what I would do, not what I think you should do) is that ANY kind of "diet" should wait until at least 6 months when you are BFing- it's so hard in the beginning to know whether they are being affected by the things you are putting into your body since they can be sensitive to almost anything, or just spit-up for no reason at all. At that age I found out that LO was allergic to beef proteins which meant I couldn't have dairy, or any beef. I also had to hold off on caffeine, diet sodas (fake sugar), and several other things to keep his tummy from getting upset. I tell you that for two reasons; one because I am a firm believer that what you ingest (or in this case, don't ingest) WILL affect babe, even though some people will tell you otherwise and two because if you are set on LC and you have to start cutting things, dairy/beef is usually the first to go. That would be hard on me in this WOE.

I ramble a little (ok, a lot) but I will end by saying that as a lactivist (woot! yay for breastfeeding) I would love to see you stick with it, even if that means giving induction a try now. Just watch babe closely. Also, if I were going to try to start that young, I may consult with LO's pedi beforehand just to get an opinion.

HTH!

[DazzlingMa]

Wanted to add, I am losing fairly quickly (this is second go-round, so not as quick as I'd like) and I've been (re) at it for almost two weeks now.

[ReginaW]

When I was breastfeeding, I simply ate controlled-carb - usually under 100g a day, and virtually everything within that was vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, fruits and dairy - I didn't really consume grains, peanuts or peanut products when I BF and didn't eat any "junk" like candy or cookies.....just really good-for-ya food (and yeah, lots of meat too)

I did have some issues with volume initially and that's probably because I dropped too much weight too quickly - so I bumped calories up with fat to stop weight loss at 6-weeks after delivery.....I also took fenugreek to boost milk production, along with an increase in fluid intake.....and combined that seemed to work well.....although the fenugreek makes you smell like maple syrup! After DS weaned I resumed weight loss....and then plateaued for a while, then got back to pre-pregnancy weight.

[Blenders]

I agree with ReginaW: fenugreek is great for milk supply issues. I think more moms need to know about this herb. I was not producing enough milk from the beginning (before low-carbing). Fenugreek made all the difference in the world. However, if your milk supply is being affected by low-carb, I suggest you make some dietary changes first (i.e. more calories) before you rely on an herbal supplement.
As far as induction during breastfeeding, I think it's fine. I, personally, did not start induction until breastfeeding was well-established and my DS was getting nutrition from other foods as well (around 1 year old).
I would not worry about whether you are in induction or not. I'd be more concerned about the rate of weight loss. You don't want to lose too much weight too fast because of the toxins that will be released from your fat cells will wind up in your breastmilk. Here's some info on it at Kellymom:
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-weightloss.html#toofast
I think the recommended 1-2 lbs/week is a good guideline.

[peteranac]

I agree that fenugreek does increase milk production but be vary as everyone has hormones. Within 24 hours of taking fenugreek (suggested by midwife) I started to suffer post pardum depression. I finally realized it was the herb an then asked my midwife is I could stop. 48 hours after stopping depression was gone!

[girlbug2]

I breastfed while starting LC when my son was 1 year old. I wasn't sure how it would affect the milk but I knew that 1 year was the minimum standard recommended time to bf, and he had been starting solid foods already so he hadn't been totally dependant on the breast milk for a while. I felt comfortable with it at that point, and I was more overweight than ever before in my life, so I was very eager to start!

I think that the LC did affect the breast milk somewhat. It's been a few years now but I seem to recall that it was watery-er than before, it never seemed to reach the stage where the thicker fattier breastmilk came down (you know how it always starts out as mostly water and then a few minutes into feeding the fat ratio starts to increase) . Perhaps my ketosis was "hogging" all the fat for my metabolism to burn, lol. In any case my kid didn't complain and he continued to bf the whole 6 months I did Atkins and lost 4 dress sizes.

So I have no idea if it would have been bad for him if I had started LC earlier than that, but it was fine at that point. I was mainly concerned that nothing mess up my plan to breast feed for a minimum of 1 year (and actually, that child ended up bf for a total of 2 years and 3 months altogether).

[bella_meow]

Has anyone checked out Sparkpeople? I think you'll really like it. I finally got a good amount of calories in today! And about a gallon of water...

Calories=1136 Carbs=19 Fat=70 Protein=100
I think that's a good breakdown of food, and can you believe that is DIETING! lol