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November 26th, 2007, 06:42 AM
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DansGoddess DansGoddess is offline
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Well, from what Ive read supply is only minimally effected by calories - however - YOUR health is affected by yuor caloric intake.

Some people simply eat more than others for starters, but we must consider that breastfeeding alone burns 500 ish calories a day. So - to maintain energy levels for YOURSELF you must account for that and try to consume more calories.

There used to be a lot of discussion about calorie intake (several years ago - think your mom & grandmothers generation). It was once thought that if you didnt eat well your milk wouldnt be rich enough. Well - thats not necessarily true. Your body prioritizes from what we know now and will first and foremost provide the baby with the milk & nutrients necessary to survive, sometimes depriving your body in the meanwhile though.

Women in third world countires who barely eat & are severely malnourished breastfeed & their supplies sustain their children far beyond what most mothers here nurse.

My suggestion would be to take a few days - get a general idea of how many calories youre consuming & take note of how you feel. Rather than trying to eat a lot at once, try to snack on things that are high in protein & calories (chicken, nuts, etc)... the general rule of thumb is 2000 calories give or take. You may just need fewer calories to operate esp if youre a small person - I"m not a fan of the one size fits all mentality on anything.

And heres a great article from kellymom.com - the site I trust the most: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-...ies-fluids.html

But it sounds like your little one is thriving just fine - the initial weight loss is absolutely normal & even expected. The new weight is absolutely perfect & says hes doing wonderful! Whatever youre doing seems to be working! And keep in mind -when you do those growth charts, they typically use the one for formula fed babies - ask for the breastfed baby weight chart if you do start comparing percentiles

Lala...[/b]
Wow your reply was VERY informative and made perfect sense! Your right, women in other countries barely eat and bf their babies just fine. And here I am stressing on counting calories and trying to force myself to eat more. Although, for Thanksgiving, I had no problems with getting a lot of calories, lol! But, what when ever I do eat I make sure its healthy and packed with a good amount of calories and I always drink lots of water, so hopefully that continues to work!

I love our bf relationship and the fact that he's gaining knowing that is all from me makes its soooooo much better, and just want to make sure it continues. And one other thing to note is, I'm not losing weight, my weight is steady, so maybe like you said, "What I'm doing is working."

Thank you so much for your reply, very helpful! Hope you don't mind me popping in again if I have another question. Thanks!
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Lynn, wife to my prince, Daniel and mommy to

Brandon 3-19-98
Austin 3-7-01
Madelynn 12-1-05
and our little prince, Hunter Daniel, is here!!!
Born October 10th at 7:40 am weighing 7 lbs 1 oz. and 20 inches!!!

WORKING ON NEW SIGGY!
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