Help with Diet After Baby #3 - Orem,UT

My son is also sensitive to things like broccoli, nuts, beans and milk. My diet is honestly, terrible. I eat a Costco poppy seed muffin and OJ or water for breakfast. Lunch is usually a piece of toast and a diet orange soda with maybe a small serving of macadamia nuts or a Kashi bar. Dinner is anything from take out Chinese food to chicken and rice, or a steak or pasta. I'm still working on the last 5-7 lbs., it's hard!

Congrats on your VBAC!!
I had my third baby in August and I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight (which is able 5 pounds more than I'd like to be, and slightly reconfigured with a squishier belly than I had in high school, but we can't be 17 forever, you know?). I am also nursing, but have not had to worry about supply issues as you have.
I lost the weight by going to the gym at least three times a week to run/walk on the treadmill and do some weight work and skipping treats. I also drank only water, and a lot of it so I wouldn't have a treat snack I didn't need. I invested in a series of sessions with a personal trainer and it was really worth it. She motivated me to keep going and gave me ideas for things I could do on my own. I'm eating treats again (Christmas season is so full of treats!) but I'm still going to the gym three times a week.
You might really like the book "Lose Weight While Breastfeeding." I think that's the title. Your local La Leche League group probably has it in their library and you could borrow it for free. It has a lot of calorie and menu suggestions. There's a great LLL group in Utah county and I really recommend contacting them and attending a meeting and posing your question about supply/weight loss to the moms there. They are all experienced breastfeeding mothers and will have some insight into your dilemma. Plus, you would probably appreciate some validation for all your efforts to breastfeed your baby in spite of some speed bumps along the way (yay, you!). You can find your local LLL group at www.llli.org.
Lactation uses up about 500 calories a day, so many moms lose weight while nursing if they don't overindulge in eating too mnay extra calories, which is easy to do because many nursing moms are as hungry as they were when they were pregnant. Some moms find their bodies hang onto a few extra pounds while nursing, but most of the pregnancy weight can be lost with some effort. This has been true for me, but after Baby #3 I really did have to work at it.
A typical day for me includes a granola bar (100 calories) first thing in the morning on my way to the gym, then a bowl of cereal with Silk milk when I come home. Then, lunch at about noon is a sandwich with fruit and a scoop of cattoage cheese, or a piece of some leftover casserole or a bowl of soup or a bean burrito, always with some kind of fruit to accessorize. I often have a glass of orange juice around lunch time, too. Then, I have an afternoon snack when my oldest child gets home from school about 3 p.m., sometimes cheese and Triscuit crackers or hummus and carrots or a banana or tortilla chips and guacamole. There might be a cookie or two in there occasionally to keep me cheery when the late-afternoon blood sugar low hits. ;)Dinner is at about 6 p.m., and it's often some kind of soup, casserole or pasta, always with a salad and/or a big scoop of vegetables. I put balsamic vinaigrette dressing on everything. My family eats a lot of salsa, too, and I avoid using cheese as a spice. If I stay up too late and feel like I need a snack again, I have a bowl of raisin bran with Silk or maybe popcorn. I try to drink water most of the time.
As you can see, I'm hardly deprived because I get mean when I'm hungry so being hungry simply isn't safe for my family ;). I am hungry in the morning after nursing often through the night, but I try to limit myself to one generous serving of food at a meal and then stop, even if it's yummy. Whole grain foods are helpful at staving off hunger--I like Triscuits a lot now, and shredded wheat cereals are nice. Brown rice is a good friend of mine, as is the Barilla Pasta Plus kind of pasta--although it might have egg in it.
My first baby was severely allergic to all dairy so I was very strictly dairy free for the two years I nursed him. Honestly, I never felt better. For tasty dairy-free recipes, I like "Healthy Life Kitchen" from Marilu Henner. You might cruise around vegan Web sites too, since non-potato vegan recipes are likely to keep you and your baby happy. I got into guacamole when I was nursing my first because I wanted something creamy on my burrito but couldn't use sour cream, although there are a few decent substitutes, such as Tofutti's Better than Sour Cream and better than Cream Cheese. They are non trans-fat free, however. I also like a lot of Indian food, such as curries and masalas on rice. . . you live near a Bombay House restaurant, you know. So yummy, although you'll have to ask to choose a sauce made without cream. Thai, Chinese and Japanese foods are all also non-dairy, yummy, and can be low-fat if you choose carefully. I love pad thai and California rolls and I could live on hot and sour soup. . . .
Anyway. Hang in there. Setting a not-too-distant (like two months) goal has helped me a lot. My current goal is to be able to run a 5K in May. Be careful but don't bother starving yourself. Best wishes!

In order to make milk you have to add an additional 500-700 calories to your normal diet, so if you eat about 1000-1500 calories normally you add to that. Protein in any shape or form is a great milk maker.

Our body automatically holds on to about 5pounds of fat "just in case", so that we can make milk no matter what. I don't think weight loss should be a big to do until your baby is a little older, wait till 6 mos or so, that way your metabolism can change along with his eating habits because of the start to solids. Just stay active and be happy it takes 9months to grow a baby and it might take up to 9mos to be normal again. Good luck!

Hi A.,
Congrats on your son. Yes, losing weight after a baby gets harder with age and each pregnancy (at least that is my experience too!). Have you considered a more natural alternative to the meds you are on for milk production? Have you looked into fenugreek or blessed thistle? Here's a link if you want to read more about them: http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/milksupply/herbal_galactag...

HI A.,
Boy do we have ALOT in common! I am a WAHM of 5. I am currently nursing my 15 mo. old daughter who has severe milk allergies. I have been off milk for almost a year. Just lately retrying to introduce some dairy to see if she can tolorate it w/ out increasing her allergy to it.

I just started on an 8-week weight loss challenge 2 weeks ago & still nurse while losing 7 lbs already!!!!

Although I am limited on the diet aid I can use, I am using a product that is 100% VEGAN, so no dairy & no eggs! Yea!!!

I would love to tell you more & have a team mate to help encourage me & vice versa. Also have you tried Marshmallow to increase milk production? Or mothers milk tea? Feel free to pm me or call ###-###-####. Take care! G.

Hi there, I have had 2 sets of twins and really really really wanted to nurse them (my newest twins will be a year next month). After I had my first set (Aug 2005) I was pumping because they were still in the NICU but to no avail the milk was just not there--I was producing about 8 ounces a day----NOT ENOUGH!!! Well I talked to a lactation specialist and she gave me a homework assignment. Because the babies were in the hospital I had to pump every 3 hours. But for the 4 o'clock pump she suggested that I pump for an hour. 7 minutes on 5 minutes off. This on again off again stimulates your brain to think that you have a starving baby, therefore you produce more milk. I was so dedicated and did it everyday!!!!!!!! And within a week I went from 8 ounces to about 96 ounces a day!!!! It really was incredible!! I continued even after the babies came home--I would nurse them and then disappear for an hour and pump---I was able to nurse them with no supplement till they were 8 months. I did the same thing with my next set---And was able to nurse them till 8 months too. I chose to stop at 8 months because nursing 2 is ALL YOU DO!!! and with have other children I just figured that 8 months was good enough!!! : ) good luck!!!!

Hi A.,

I've had good luck with a diet I found online. It's pretty simple and easy to plan for and easy to plan around dietary restrictions.

Breakfast: eat one serving of a protein, one serving of a vegetable, and one serving of fruit

2 snacks - one in between breakfast and lunch and one in between lunch and dinner: one serving of protein, one serving of a vegetable, and one serving of fruit

Lunch: eat one serving of a protein, one serving of a vegetable and a side salad loaded with veggies

Dinner: same as lunch

It's a really simple plan to follow and you'll never be hungry because of all of the fiber and protein you're getting. Choose lean proteins, a serving of veggies equals 1/2 cup, and drink at least 1/2 of your body weight in ounces of water per day.

Here are some examples of what I eat:

Breakfast: Chicken sausage sauteed with spinach and a 1/2 grapefruit on the side; 2 whole eggs scrambled with yellow squash and a side of strawberries; greek yogurt topped with blueberries and steamed asparagus on the side

Lunch: 4 oz. of chicken breast on top of a salad topped with 1/2 c. broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots; 1 can of tuna mixed with 1/4 c. cottage cheese, celery, cherry tomatoes and craisins wrapped in whole romaine leaves

Snacks: 1 oz. almonds with 1/2 c. baby carrots and an apple; turkey sausage with sliced red peppers and a pear

Dinner: ground chicken or turkey burgers topped with Frank's Hot Sauce served with broccoli and a salad; ground pork roast wok-fried with carrots and cabbage and sesame seeds in lettuce wraps

It doesn't have a lot of carbs like bread and pasta, which makes it a lot easier to take off the pounds. If you can't live without them, then limit yourself to 1-2 servings per day, which is 1 slice of bread or 1/2 cup of pasta.

Good luck!

p.s. If you find that you're still hungry after starting with this, increase the amount of veggies and proteins until you feel satiated.

I so feel for you and I felt the same way regarding losing the weight after both of my children. I figured out that no matter what I ate or did not eat, my body held on to every last bit so that it could produce the milk that my baby needed. As difficult as it was, I just decided to wait on the weight loss until my son was done nursing and decided to just try to eat as healthy as I could and to workout--I do Jazzercise and it helped so much with releaving the stress that I was putting on myself for losing the weight. Sorry I cannot offer a diet plan for you, all though, weight watchers worked well for me, I lost 13 pounds in about 4 months and their plan is approved for breast feeding and they do tell you what you can eat if you choose that food plan. Best of luck to you!

Each diet is going to vary based on the person's body type and size. If you want to come in and see me we can do a body analysis which will get us your muscle, fat, to water ratio as well as your basal metabolic rate to put a meal plan together for you. Otherwise I usually recommend avoiding the white foods like white bread, white potatoes, and white sugar and getting as much whole grain, raw, natural food as you can because the nutrients will also be passed along in the breast milk. I hope this helps.

A.,
I went on a vitality for life plan, it has awesome shakes, sweet yummy bars, vitamins and simply fit foods. They are exclusive wellness products and you can buy all kinds of great environmental and household items with all natures ingredients and no preservatives. They cost much less than anything I had used before. Other tips are no soda, no transfat, low sodium products and of course watch the ingredients in what you do eat to stay around 2500 calories a day. gotgreennow.fourpointmoms.com

Have you thought about healthy snacks and monounsaturated healthy fat foods like almonds and avacado's! Breasfeeding burns about 500 additional calories thatn you normally need so really losing weight now should be easier! So if you are hungry eat healthy snacks, maybe some protein so you might feel fuller longer.

I'm kind of theorizing here, so bear with me...

I lost my baby weight (from DS1) really quickly, but then started regaining weight again after a few months. I think that my body had gotten used to nursing so I wasn't burning so many calories but I'd upped my intake quite a bit 'cause at the beginning I was always famished.

Anyway, I tried to lose weight by exercising & cutting calories. But guess what? I GAINED weight. (At a somewhat alarming rate, in fact.) Turns out that's not really the best method for weight loss 'cause you convince your body that it's starving so it starts to store everything it can. Once I learned that (and broke my foot so I couldn't go walking anymore) and made some minor modifications to my diet, I started losing weight.

So I'm wondering if your body is kind of confused right now. You've cut out some foods that you used to eat, you're nursing...even if you're not eating that many calories, your body may just be trying to store everything for the baby.

My suggestions:

--Read "Ultrametabolism" by Dr. Mark Hyman (just don't sign up for his online stuff unless you want to get emailed all the time!). You're pretty much doing his detox diet already anyway, so it should be easy to follow the rest of his plan. It's a well-balanced plan for eating, not some fad diet. And I found the book to be very interesting.

--Try the MOBI group on Yahoo or at www.mobimotherhood.org. They'll have lots of info about galactogenic (I think that's the right word) foods (oatmeal is one) you can eat to help with your production. I know you're taking domperidone, but you'll get some great info from this group.

--If you need support for the specialized eating you're doing for your son (I understand... I'm avoiding dairy, soy, egg, chicken and caffeine for my 11-month-old nursling) I'm in an awesome group on Yahoo for parents of kids with food allergies. It's called TerrificKidsWFA. Lots of info & support.

You'll get there! You are already doing an incredible amount for your son...he's so lucky to have such a dedicated mama!

Everyone is different, and every post-pregnancy is different. Before I had my 1st, I heard again and again how nursing would allow the pregnancy weight to just roll off. Imagine my disappoinment when it didn't happen! I had 3 kids, and never did lose too much of my weight until they were weaned. As disappointing as it was, I finally came to the conclusion that it was more important to keep up my milk supply, and that I could deal with the extra weight later. I managed to eventually lose at least most of the weight with each, usually within a few months. Good luck, and enjoy that baby!

I don't really remember losing a lot of weight until the baby was 6 months. I wouldn't worry about your weight at 3 months as long as you are getting some exercise 20 min a day.

R.

Weight watchers has an excellent program for nursing mothers, you need to cut calories, but not too many and weight watchers can help you to figure out just how much you should be eating to keep your milk supply and still lose weight. Good luck!

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After I had my second child, I was having a harder time getting the pregnancy weight off compared to my first. I got on a personalized nutrition program with Herbalife and dropped 5% in body fat percentage in 2 months and have kept it off for a year and a half. On top of that, I have tons more vital energy to keep up with my kids. I have more endurance when I workout.
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