Breastfeeding and Dieting

My son is 8 weeks old and I am worried about the effects my dieting is going to have on his breastfeeding.  I tried to hardcore diet and exercise when he was 3 weeks old and I passed out due to exhaustion and malnutrition.  I think I am now ready and he is now old enough that I can really drop calories down to 1000/day.  However, I would do nothing to jeapardize  the health of my son so I was hoping someone would be able to provide some insight as to the effects of such a diet on breastfeeding.  Is it ok?  Will my milk diminish?  Will I still have enough energy to take care of my son? 

Thank you for any thoughts you can provide.

1000 calories per day especially when you are working out AND breastfeeding is  NOT enough.

Yes, your milk supply will drop significantly.. (you need 300 to 500 calories alone just to produce milk).. leaving you unable to feed your baby..
And yes, you won't have enough energy to take care of him..

I totally understand the wish to loose weight after giving birth - my son is 10 weeks old tomorrow and I want to loose 25 pounds - but what you are planning is unhealthy and will hurt you and him.

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to be rude here, I am just concerned for you both.

Try this calculator to see how many calories you should consume (it takes in account that you are breastfeeding) and then subtract 500 calories to aim for a weight loss as it would be healthy.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/calories-b urned

I hope that helps..

First off, I completely second everything Haeschenhaar said.  But don't panic! Breastfeeding alone for six months without changing your diet will bring you down to your prepregnancy weight.  Drop your calories to 1600-1800 and you will lose even more weight.  And as they get older, their needs increase, so the longer you breastfeed, the more weight you will lose.

Don't diet while breastfeeding. It's what healthcare providers always tell you.

I didn't really try to lose the baby weight. I breastfed and ate well (not counting calories) and I was back to pre-pregnancy weight by 4-5 months postpartum. I could have been there earlier if I had exercised regularly. I ate roughly 2,000-2,100 calories daily and lost 1-3 pound per week after gaining 40 pounds during my pregnancy.

Eating only 1,000 calories per day without breastfeeding is considered a starvation diet. You cannot be healthy eating that amount of calories normally, let alone during lactation.

Please, increase your calories. Not only will you make enough milk to feed your child but you'll lose weight steadily as well. You'll have more energy and won't have to worry about passing out from malnutrition.

First, please do visit the calculator on the nutrtion data website:   http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/calories-b urned  Calorie Count has tools that you can use to help determine your calorie needs, but the tools do not include pregnancy/lactation in their calculator, so that link is your best bet.  Once you are no longer breast feeding, the calculator here at CC can suggest a calorie target to reach your goal weight. 

As the other poster's have said, 1000 calories a day is not enough.  The average sedentary woman needs at least 1200 calories a day just to survive.  Because you work out and breast feed, you will need more than that to sustain your milk supply, your body and your health.  Please know that Calorie Count cannot and will not support you eating less than 1200 calories a day. We consider this unhealthy and CC is all about HEALTHY weight loss or weight maintenance

Here is a brief reason why never less than 1200 from the Advice section of Calorie Count Plus, under the Q&A tab:

Why must I eat at least 1,200 calories a day when I want to eat less?

In order to get the daily food servings you need for a balanced diet, it takes about 1200 calories a day. With careful planning, you could have a balanced diet on 1000 calories, but the restrictiveness of a very low calorie level can lead to binging and weight cycling, which will take you further from your weight loss goal. What's more, very low calorie diets can cause excessive muscle breakdown and metabolic adaptations, which can drive down your calorie requirements. In the end, you'll need fewer calories to maintain a higher weight

Your body needs at least 1200 calories per day to survive.

Here is a very rough scientific break down provided by a dietician for a 5' 2", 19 year old female weighing approximately 100 pounds, sitting around all day and doing nothing:

-The heart needs 12% of the calories (144 cals)
-The kidney needs 12% of the calories (144 cals)
-The Liver needs 23% of the calories (276 cals)
-The brain needs 23% of the calories (276 cals)
-The skeletal muscle needs 30% of the calories (360 cals)

I know that you are not the average 19 year old female, but it just goes to show that you really do need to shoot for more than just 1000 calories a day. Hope this helps!

Try reading this:

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-calorie s-fluids.html

You should NEVER NEVER NEVER diet while pregnant or nursing. Your baby gets all it's calories & nourishment through you & what YOU eat. If you are depriving youself, which you are, you are depriving your child. Breastfeeding is the best thing you can do for baby & yourself but only if you are eating healthy. Eat normally, just don't go overboard & nursing itself will use up plenty of calories. I'm just glad you recognize that a healthy baby is more important than losing weight right now.

Okay, does anyone know if it's the lack of nutrients in the food that causes the problems or if it is the huge deficit that is the problem?  I mean, if you ate a lot but exercised a lot, is that still dangerous to baby?  Does that still affect your milk if you burn too much? 

Both lack of nutrients & calorie deficit would be a problem. you can exercise just make sure you leave some calories for baby! :)

Lack of nutrients is a problem while nursing which is why you're still supposed to take a prenatal vitamin while lactating. This effects the mother's health, not the milk supply, though.

Exercise itself doesn't effect the nutrient content or production of your milk. Having too great a deficit does.

From http://kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-weightl oss.html:

According to Breastfeeding and Human Lactation (3rd Edition, Riordan, pp 440), it is noted that fad or rapid weight loss programs should be avoided because fat-soluble environmental contaminants and toxins stored in body fat are released into the milk when caloric intake is severely restricted. I was unable to find a definition of "severely restricted" but I expect that it is significantly under 1500 calories per day (which they called a "modest intake"). I've included information on a study on this subject below.

Decrease the calories gradually
A sudden drop in calories can reduce milk supply. Some moms notice this during an illness, although dehydration and/or medication use could also be a factor in reduced milk supply when mom is sick. It has been hypothesized that a sudden calorie decrease can cause mom's body to go into "starvation mode" and cut nonessential resources such as milk production.

From http://kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-calorie s-fluids.html

An exclusively breastfeeding mother, on average, needs to take in 300-500 calories per day above what was needed to maintain pre-pregnancy weight. Since the recommended added calories during the last two trimesters of pregnancy is 300 calories/day, an exclusively breastfeeding mother will typically need either the same amount of calories she was getting at the end of pregnancy, or up to 200 additional calories per day. That's the equivalent of adding 1-2 healthy snacks per day.

Per Breastfeeding and Human Lactation (Riordan, 2004, p. 438), "The amount of energy needed by lactating mothers continues to be debated. The lactating mother need not maintain a markedly higher caloric intake than that maintained prior to pregnancy: in most cases, 400-500 calories in excess of that which is needed to maintain the mother's body weight is sufficient."

There's a lot more information about dieting while breastfeeding on Kellymom.com.