Question for Moms Who Breastfed for over a Year.

I never actually got back to my pre pregnancy weight because I never really tried. I had twins the first time around and so it was hard for me to get out much. The second time I tried a little harder but then I didn't have a lot of time! The third time I started out at 160. After the baby was born I was about 160 again but it is starting to come off now and its been 2 months even though I don't have the advantage of breast feeding this time because he was still born. my pre pregnancy weight was about 135-140. I don't know what to tell you really except just keep working on it. Make sure you eat breakfast. I only eat two meals a day. sometimes with a snack in between. I exercise using Gilad's workouts from fittv. But its up to you.

The twins kind of weaned themselves. the third one I did wean. What I did was I just started skipping feedings that he didn't really care about. I distracted him by going shopping or something where it was no longer convenient. I think the hardest was the morning feeding where he would come into our room and want up with me. but I just kept saying you don't need it anymore and hug and rock him alot with out letting him have it. The last one was the one before naps. He cried but needed to learn to self sooth so i just rocked and loved on him alot and learned alot of patience!

I used to be a 36 B. when I was pregnant and nursing I went up to 38 D. Now I am 38 maybe 36 C. So have hope, it will go down some. However hubby may not be so thrilled! I know mine wished it would stay full of milk! I was so firm! Now I am a little saggy but he's getting used to it!

Have fun!

Oh and try some weight lifting and stuff. That gives you more muscle to burn of those calories and boosts your metabolism.

I can't answer #1.

#2 - start by eliminating one nursing at a time. Once you've gone a week without that one, then start the next. Save the most treasured time for last.

#3 - My boobs have shrunk completely. I was a 32DD or 32EE while pregnant... now I am back to 32D after having weaned a few months ago.

J.

1) Unfortunately, I did not lose much weight at all when I was breastfeeding.
2) I gained about 36lbs with my son, and am about 7lbs away from pre-pregnancy weight right now. He is 26months old. I wish I could say I have really tried... but I am very inconsistent when it comes to exercise. I also just had knee surgery within the last 7 months, so that hasn't helped with the exercise part.
3) I breastfed my son until he was 18 months old. At around 15 months, I started pumping less during the day, so after about a month I was only nursing him mornings and nights. Those were the hardest to get rid of.. he didn't hardly notice the others. He was too busy playing to worry about nursing during the day. (I work full time and pumped, but on weekends always used to nurse him every time). I first got rid of the morning feeding by immediately getting him out of his crib, changing his diaper/clothes and taking him into another room to play, or eat breakfast. Previously I would nurse him immediately (after diaper change) in the Lazy Boy chair in his room. It didn't take long and he was fine with that. The before bed time and the 'when he woke up in the middle of the night' nursings were a little more difficult. I never was able to do that and I couldn't bring myself to let him cry at night when I was there holding him or in the next room. It just happened to work out with timing that my parents watched him for 4 nights while DH and I went on a first lil vacation since he was born. He cried a bit for my parents at bedtime, but they gave him a sippy cup with Enfamil Next Step in it. Second night, he cried less. After the 4 days when we got home... he didn't even act like he wanted to nurse that first night. He did still want his milk (Next Step) at night though. So it worked well for us and the timing was perfect. Yes, I was engorged and had some pain over those 4 days... but it worked out for the best. We were both ready to stop I suppose.... just didn't have the motivation/courage to do it the hard way of telling him NO.
Good luck and enjoy it! Don't stress about the weight... just do what you are doing and it will come off eventually.

1) I never lost weight breastfeeding. Ever.

2) Even after weaning, my weight stayed on. I lost maybe 10 pounds. But that's it. If I exercise regularly, I do lose weight. But I am not regular about it.
I do not eat junk. I am active. But for me to lose weight, I have to actually EXERCISE... not just be active.

3) I breastfed both my kids until they self-weaned. My daughter self-weaned at 2.5 years old. My son at about 1 year old.
It was fine. It was natural. It was my choice.

4) Boobs. They will calm down. But give it time. It does not happen over night. So, you will have in your drawers, bras of different sizes. But don't spend mega bucks on bras for now... because your sizing will change. Mine did... and about 1 year later even. Even if my boobs shrank I did not get "saggy."
With my 1st child, even after she weaned... I STILL had milk in my breasts... almost up until a year later. It takes time, for the milk to completely disappear. So, I would not spend mega $$$ on bras for now.

all the best,
Susan

I did not lose any weight while breastfeeding. In fact, I'm at the same weight after having my second that I was stuck at after having my first.

I finished weaning my daughter at 25 months. It took a few months because we went very slowly. The last month we were barely nursing and the weight started coming off on it's own without me doing anything different. And then I got pregnant so so much for that. LOL

My son is 21 months right now and we're down to nursing about twice a day. I'm working on weaning him because I want to be done by the time he's two. So far the weight's not budging but I just returned to exercising and counting calories in addition to weaning, so we'll see what happens.

My breast seemed smaller after weaning my daughter (I went from a 32B to a 34 D after having my daughter), but I got pregnant right away so there wasn't too much time for any big changes to happen. I have a feeling it's not going to be pretty when I finish weaning my son.

I've written some responses on weaning so if you want to click on my profile and my answers you can see what I've written. I'm feeling a little too lazy to rehash everything. Plus, my son is a different sort of nurser than my daughter so we're trying some other things. I don't believe in abrupt weaning either.

Good luck!

Ok there is a lot here and I tend to talk too much so I will try to keep it short :)
1st I was 135 when I got pregnant with my 2nd 180 when she was born. I nursed her until she was a little over 2. I got down to 155 and have sadly not been able to lose more. I work out 4 times a week (a trainer told me more then that makes your weight plateau) don't eat anything but raw foods etc. The trainer I work with seems to think that my body is just content at 155 and I will probably maintain that weight as I have been trying to get rid of the extra for 3 years. Not what I wanted to hear but I'm learning to accept this as my mom body that gave me my 2 beautiful children. If nothing else it gave me an excuse to shop for new clothes.
2nd weaning was really easy for us. We just started skipping one session at a time. I would give her a cup of milk/juice/water instead of nursing her so she was still getting something in her belly though. I assume you could do this with a bottle if that's what you use too but I don't know as my kids never drank from bottles. After about a month we had skipped out all of the nursing and she was done. With my son he weaned himself. He bit me said "go outta here" and was done. I was heartbroken but looking back I realize how lucky I was that he did all the work.
3rd- Nope they will never be normal again. Sorry. I went all the way up to an F and was so scared they would stay that way. I have stayed steady at a DD since weaning my kids no matter what my weight. I thought if I lost weight they would lose too but not so much. Get some cute bras and enjoy your fuller breasts. Think of them as a trophy for the wonderful work your body has done. :)

I've nursed both my kids for several years each, and I've gotten back to pre-pregnancy weight both times with the help of Weight Watchers. It was great to have the extra points to eat since I was nursing!

I was still up 5 lbs and I breastfed for a little over 2 years. However, I didn't get regular exercise due to working FT, school PT and taking care of my DD. However there was a period when I did workout and ate pretty healthy and I was able to drop a few pounds. It's not unusual if you don't lose the weight while breastfeeding and I've heard that those who don't initially will lose it when they stop. I will never know since I'm now 15 wks pregnant =)

I had decided to start weaning my daughter after she turned 2. It was a really slow process for us as I refused to make it traumatic for her. What I did was take one feeding away - her after school feeding first. That one was easy as I could distract her with activities and snacks. Once she stopped asking me for milk after school (about 3 weeks), I stopped giving her morning milk and repeated the same process. During the whole process I explained to her that "mommy milk" was going away as she was not a baby anymore and didn't need it. We were at one feeding (night feeding) when my milk supply dropped dramatically (probably due to the pregnancy) and she knew and hasn't had any issues since. When I think back on it I guess it was pretty easy for us and I never had issues with my breast being engorged. I think everything was very well timed naturally =)

Now that I think about it there were a couple of mornings that she got upset at the "no mommy milk" but again I would distracted her with helping me make breakfast or picking out her clothes for school. But still not traumatic as other stories I've heard when others wean.

As for my breast, they went up to a 36 D when I was breastfeeding regularly and now I'm back to my 34 C, well, my bras are starting to feel tight again but that's being pregnant for ya. I hear that many Moms actually become smaller after breastfeeding so good luck!

I can't offer much, but I can share this, regarding question 2:

My friend who nursed her 2 boys until they were both around 3 said that she started by telling that big boys didn't need milk, and they would know that they weren't babies anymore when they were done nursing for good. She would talk about this with them, and explain that babies need momma's milk, but big boys don't.

This might be advanced for where your child is at cognitively right now, but maybe it could be adapted.

Regarding weight, I'm still nursing so I can't say much about weight loss. However, I've talked to several lactation consultants who say that it is normal to gain a bit of "padding" when nursing. According to them, each women is different; some get padding, and some lost weight instead.

I lost weight when breastfeeding but Im just wondering if you are eating enough. I know that might not make sense but your body needs alot of extra calories for milk production and if your not eating enough and exercising your body may think its "starving" and holding onto extra calories. I hope that just made sense! I sometimes cant explain things as well without saying it outloud! I did weight watchers after I had my middle child and currently with my son and one of the key things with them is to make sure your eating enough food! Just a thought and good luck!

One tip for slowly weaning that I used was to say "there's not any milk there tonight" and offer snuggle time as an alternative. If your baby is able to wait until you get home to breastfeed (like when you are at a grocery store or at a doctor's office), that would seem to me that your baby is ready to wean.

There are other signs to look for for weaning readiness. Make sure your baby is (or has started) eating solids and water (or other clear liquids). Tongue thrusting is a good sign as well as showing an interest in the foods on your plate. Being able to sit up on his/her own, etc.

Good luck. I didn't have any luck with losing weight after weaning my third (and last) baby. I blamed most of my bad luck on having too much "on my plate", so to speak. Too much work at the office and "high needs" kids. Oh well.

I breast fed my daughters for 18 months and 3 years. My oldest just chose to ween on her own. It was so natural and easy, I hardly knew it was happening. My yongest would have nursed forever, I think (she is now 3.5). The daytime nursing was easiest to stop, you can distract with other activities and give water in a sippy cup. Nighttime was much toughter. We really substituted reading stories for nursing and also a sippy cup of water. It took a few weeks, but it was pretty untraumatic. As for losing weight, I think you are forcing yourself to store too much fat by excercising too much. Figure out your base calioric need (many good formulas on line). Nursing adds 350 to 500 more calories to that total. Then you add running and other activities, I would bet you are running at a deficite, which is actually causing you to slow your metabolism. Start adding calories (protien and healty complex carbs) and you will fuel your metabolism. GOOD LUCK!