Posts by kristana

Lilojem,  Keep the faith.  The one thing to keep in mind, as I am sure you know with 5, is that this too shall pass.  For everyone of my DD phases, I have to remind myself that this will work itself out and she will grow out of it. 

We have just started the weaning process over the past month or so, and she is just now starting to even out.  I have been getting tired of the nursing and the pumping thing over the past few months.  She mangled my nipples making nursing painful and pumping is just a chore, so I decided, since she doesn't like bottles anyway to wean her off bottles at daycare and just nurse in the morning and at night before bed.  We will eventually wean off of those, too.  I did notice that the less I was emotionally into nursing the more she wanted to do it.  I think she felt like she needed to be closer to me and that I was pulling away.   She became very whiny.

So I decided that when we were home, I would nurse as much as she wanted.  I always offered something else first (the sippy cup is now her best friend), but if she wanted to nurse, I would cuddle her up and sit and nurse until she got bored.  My milk supply is dwindling, so boredom sets in a lot quicker now. 

At first she took me up on it.  For about 2 days, she wanted to nurse non-stop.  So I got nothing done but it seemed to be enough to bore her.  She is a very active 11 month old and to just sit still and nurse all day goes against the grain.  I also made sure to talk to her like she was a small baby when she was nursing.  Then when she would get up and play or eat supper or drink from her sippy I made sure to praise her for being a big girl. 

Now, like I said, we are down to twice a day and she loses interest in about 10 minutes.  I think she will wean herself off the last two nursing sessions by herself in time (or my milk will just go away). 

In the meantime, I have been able to lose the last of the baby weight since starting the weaning process.  A great portion of that is due to counting my calories per day (and making sure I am eating enough to reach my BMR) and exercising 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. 

So my advise, for what it is worth, is to give in on your own terms.  Just like you made a weightloss goal and a plan to get there, make a weaning goal and a plan.  You know your babies and there temperments so you know what will work best.  For my DD, if you tell her she can't have something, that will be the only thing that will satisfy her.  Maybe your babies are similar and you can get them to self wean by over offering. 

You will get your body and your independence back.  But I know how you feel.  There are some days where the outlook is dark.  Remember, this too shall pass and you will look back on the time that you spent nursing as time well spent.

Good luck.  Let us know how it goes and what you did to make it work.

 You are not alone.

Hello,

I just started my "Lose the Baby Weight" campaign last week.  So far, so good.  Lost 4 lbs.  My 9 month old still nurses on demand too but I have decided that I can do both.  You can too.  Just cause we're loosing the weight doesn't mean we have to stop nursing.  It just means we really have to make every calorie count, right?  I have noticed that I feel better just doing something about it.  The exercise has been giving me extra energy too.  You will notice this too.  We can do this together.  

My goal is to lose 10 lbs and get to my pre-pregnancy weight by my baby girl's first b-day and then lose the 10lbs I wanted to lose before I got pregnant by November 1st.  What is your goal?

 Welcome to CC.

I think you are doing fabulously!!  I gained 63lbs with my daughter going from 125lbs to 188lbs (day of delivery).  I gained 25lbs my first trimester (I quit smoking and started eating).  On the plus side, I lost 25lbs from my delivery date to the day I came home, 3 days later (that of course included my 8lb daughter and a lot of water weight).  I lost all but ten lbs by time she was 4 months old.  I credit it to nursing.  Now she is 9 months old and I am still wanting to lose that last 10lbs. 

I think you are on the right track to gaining just the right amount of weight for your pregnancy.  I also think that you should focus on making sure you are eating the right kinds of foods, getting some exercise and limiting your worry about the weight gain.  The worry can be detrimental to your special one.  I won't say don't worry at all, but if you are getting some daily exercise and are eating good foods you are doing all you can to ensure your and your baby's health.

One more thing about exercise.  I did exercise (stationary bike 5 miles a day 5 days a week) up until delivery and I do believe it helped get me prepared for the long workout delivery was.  I was in active labor for 18 hours and had 2 hours of pushing.  I don't think I could have done it without strengthening my heart and lungs.