My wife has been breast feeding for 5 months now and would like to go a year. She is wanting to lose weight and would like to cut carbs, but does not want to risk the babies needs or risk her milk drying up. Does anyone have experince in this matter or know where there is info to be found?

Thanks, Mike

Hi there Gord,

If you check Dr Atkins' book, you'll see where he says breastfeeding or pregnant mums should only go on maintenance levels of a low carb eating plan.

Rosebud

Kudo's to your wife for breastfeeding!! Your baby's lucky to be getting the best, er breast!! ok, that was my lame attempt at humour. *grin*

Y'know, it's kind of funny, but i think that i probably eat a lot better now that i'm low-carbing than i did before. I mean, before, i'd fill up on carbs and the few veggies in the fridge would just sit there. Now i'm eating TONS of veggies which are such nutrient dense foods--and all of those nutrients are going straight into my son's breastmilk.

This is an article from the LLL that talks about low-carbing. http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/lowcarb.html At first glance it seems to be unsupportive of low-carbing, but does give some pointers that were helpful to me.

There was another link from something that the eades said about breastfeeding and lowcarbing. I'm pretty sure it said something about not going too low with the carbs. I'll post it when i find it again. **found the link but it's a dead link now, here's one from Atkins instead http://atkinscenter.com/helpatkins/...mens/index.html **

I think the key is to keep drinking lots of water to help keep up supply. There are some other ideas here for increasing a low supply if that becomes a problem. I didnt have any problems with my supply dropping when i started low-carbing.

Hey Mike I hope you are still checking this forum, I just saw your message right now.
I just started lowcarbing about 3-4 weeks ago and I am still nursing my 9 month old. I am not doing induction or a specified plan. But I did read about different plans and bought the bood for The Swarzbein principle. I find her plan to be the best for me however I do my own version of it. She advices against Ketosis. I am losing weight and my milk suppy hasn't decreased much. Let your wife know that she can do it just don't stop taking her prenatal vitamins, drink a lot of water and to get some labs done if she can prior to starting.
I hope this helps

I realize this is a little late , and will probably get ignored largely. I just assisted with a freinds delivery (yay!) and want to evangelize Atkins to her-and wanted my ducks in a row before doing so.

I gotta tell you, it was nice to hear LC talked about correctly-most articles get it all wrong, and therefore cometo the wrong conclusions. That article from the leche leage was outstanding, talking about what you need, and how LC affects it. AND, most importanly, concluded by saying, hey its up to the mom there may be elements of lc you want to do, and some you want to leave behind.

Wow. No preaching. Im impressed.

I was hoping that some of us bf'ing low carbing moms could pull together for some support. I am wondering if this is going to slow the weight loss? With at least 70 pounds to lose I just want the weight to come of steadily.

Does anybody read this thread anymore?