Hello all!

New member here.  My name is Amanda, I live in Florida, I just gave birth to my second child 9 weeks ago and I still have 42 pounds to lose to get back into those size 4/6 jeans.  I'm breastfeeding and for some reason the weight just does not want to budge!  But I joined this site, started logging my calories religiously again (I lost 130 pounds 2 1/2 years ago) and in just 7 days I've already dropped 2 pounds.  Hallelujah!   Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself!  Good luck to all!!   :)

Hi!

I'm Julie and I'm also a Floridian - Northeastern FL.

I also have two girls who were breastfed.  You should be able to shed a lot of those extra pounds while breastfeeding.  I'm sure you've heard the lore that your body will want to keep an extra cushion of available calories as long as you are still lactating.  They say this makes it hard to lose that last 5-15 pounds.  I don't have any experience with that, though, since I never tried to lose weight until after I weaned my girls.

Congratulations on your amazing weight loss history!  I'm sure you already have the tools to make the baby weight melt away.

Good luck!

hi amanda- im shauna and i have been on here since jan - i lost 26 pounds to date- i was overwight when i got pregnant and now determined to get to 135- im 5'4 and i havent seen that since i was a junior in highschool!!!

things were going really well and i lost the 26 pretty quick- but im now at about 159 and have been stuck for a couple months-- i plan to breastfeed my son until he is one on nov 30th - wow time flies- so bfing has helped im sure! but now im unsure about things since i have slowed alot- ALOT

im eating 1800 cals- what have u decided on? i was eating around 2000 in the first my sons first 6 months

i only throw in taebo about 3 times a week for 25 min cause i cant go to a gym and im a sahm- who's kids hate it when i work out- so ya

but what about u?

hi!  i'm vanessa and am 38 weeks pregnant with my first.  I lost 30 pounds through intense cardio and healthy eating and then got pregnant - surprise -  I'm looking forward to kicking back into gear after she's born; but I know I have to start slowly.  Welcome to cc and best of luck to you!  this is such a great site for support and info on food. 

I'm def going to try BF'ing.  At least for the first three months; but when I go back to work; it's not feasible as they asked me to do it in a bathroom stall and I personally don't feel comfortable doing that.  We sit in a very open area-  only SVP's have offices (of course they have their own fridge in their office to pump and store!!)

Anyway-  just keep at it and I'm sure the weight will be lost.  it looks like you stuck through your first weight loss journey succesfully-  you'll do great!!

Vanessa,

If bfing works and you enjoy you it, you coud always consider sticking with the morning and evening feeds for as long as possible and the bottle feeding while you are at work.  It does work for some people and might be worth considering if you find you don't want to totally give it up when you go back to work.

Julie - Hello to my fellow floridian!  ;)  I'm glad breastfeeding worked for you, I hear theres "something magical" that happens around the 6 month mark when your little one starts eating a greater number of ounces each day.  Holding out hope that my body has just been adjusting for the last couple of months and the breastfeeding will work for me eventually!  :)  As for now I've had to cut my calories down and start exercising again (when permitted), but as long as my milk supply doesnt suffer I can't say that I really mind.  :)

Shauna - I was probably eating 2300-2500 for the first two months and I didn't lose an ounce, so since I joined a week and a half ago I've been doing 1700 calories for 3 days and then a maintenance day at 1900-2200, then I start the cycle over again.  The only exercise I'm getting is housework and swimming, I try to swim for 30 minutes a day but you know how that goes...  I do it IF she permits me.  Haha.  Some days I get the whole 30 in, some days it's 5, some days I don't get to swim at all.  At this point though getting into the pool is about the only exercise I can manage.  We've still got a yucky sleep schedule and I don't get much rest.  We go to bed at 12:30am, wake at 2:30 and 4:30 to feed and then my alarm goes off at 6:30am and I have to get up to get my 5 year old dressed and on the bus for summer school (he's autistic and attends a summer program).  So, most days when she's taking her late morning nap I have to convince myself to go out and get in the pool rather than passing out for a couple of hours (which is what I'd really LIKE to do).  lol  I seem to remember this newborn phase being a passing fad though and I'm sure that things will get easier with time.  I just keep telling myself the important thing right now is that I DO get some exercise and I DO watch what I eat (for my sake and hers) and that's just all I can do.  :)

 

Vanessa - I had NO intention of breastfeeding my daughter, I bottle fed my son and never had a problem with it.  But, Bella had difficulty drinking from the bottle from day 1 in the hospital and after she would eat she was fussy and restless in her sleep.  One of the nurses convinced me to give breastfeeding a try and I haven't been able to get her off the boob since!  She's like an addict!  If you try to offer her a bottle she gives you this look like she's trying to say "Are you CRAZY?  Why in the world would I want THAT?"  Hehehe.  She's soooo much happier being breastfed, she even stops nursing sometimes to smile at me while she's still on the nipple before going right back to eating.  I would definately reccommend giving it a try.  Although you may have some trouble getting her to take a bottle when you go back to work so I would start introducing her to it occasionally at 2 months before she starts to have a real preference around month 3.

Thanks for the welcome ladies!!  :)

Thank you all for your notes.   There are so many things that I will need to figure out!  I want to BF for sure the minute she arrives-  I'll just have to either bottle feed when I go back to work; and then BF when I'm home-  or pump a lot on the weekends and store it in the freezer so she has it when I'm away.  I hear it is painful if you don't pump during the day; and that you can get engorged and leak.  I'm already leaking at night and she isn't even here yet!!!

So much depends on the baby when you breastfeed.

My first was a "boob tick".  Wouldn't come off unless I forced her.  Any moment we were together she wanted a nipple.  Nursed while she and I were both asleep.  However, she would take a bottle with no problem when I wasn't around.

My second wasn't really all that interested in breastfeeding.  She was engaged in her surroundings and facing a boob for 20 minutes didn't appeal to her in the slightest.  I had to take her in a dark room and lay down to get her to latch on.  Even then it was sometimes a battle.

As a result, #1 breastfed for 20 months.  #2 breastfed for 6 months. 

HAHAHA "Boob tick"  That's hysterical.  I do believe that's what I have.  :)  They SAY at her age she should be spacing out her feedings to every 3-4 hours, but not my little one.  She is almost constantly on the boob.  I probably nurse her 15-20 times a day and sleeping & eating, Bella does that too.  She will ONLY sleep with me (I actually had to move into the guest room!) and she will only fall asleep on the breast, most of the time I have to sneak it away from her once she's out just so I can get some rest myself!  I was sleeping "over" her while she was snuggled up against me but I kept getting this kink in my neck that would make me absolutely miserable for the next 3 days. 

So now we nurse to fall asleep, I steal it from her and very sloooooowly scoot away a foot or two, get a couple hours rest and then we start again.  :)  She still wakes up every 2 hours all night long to nurse (probably because I'm right there), I have no idea how to break her of it.  They say you should break the co-sleeping habit between 3 & 6 months (and I would LOVE to be able to sleep with my boyfriend again, but every time I put her in a crib or bassinet she wakes up 5 minutes later and works herself up into a rage, then I have to nurse her to sleep and we start all over again!

At least it sounds like I can count on that 500 calorie deficit for quite awhile.  Hehe I keep telling my bf that she loves the boob so much I'll probably still be nursing her when she's a teenager.  LOL

yes... every baby is definitely different when it comes to feeding.  I only BF for 3 months because I had too many problems and ended up pretty much losing my supply due to two rounds of mastitis.  However, in hindsight, my daughter is not and never has been a big eater and was awful about latching on which is probably why I got the mastitis.  She is also built very tiny, so didn't gain as quickly as most babies. 

Vanessa, don't stress too much about it, you will work it out.  As for the leaking, everyone is different there too, the only times I ever leaked was when my milk first came in and when I finally weaned for good.  As for pumping, if you want to keep your milk supply up to be able to do all your weekend feeds, then yes, you will have to pump during the day, and even then, many women find that they are unable to maintain their supply by pumping (again, everyone is different, so you will need to see what works for you).  Also, chances are, unless you are one of those women who is a milk machine (my best friend was like that), it is highly unlikely you will be able to actually pump enough extra on the weekends for all of the feeds during the week.  My daughter had no trouble going from breast to bottle and back to breast (probably because I had to start her so early on formula supplements, much to my disappointment), but some babies do not like to do that.  By the time you go back to work, your bfing will be well established so you can work out what to do by then.  Also, if you choose just to feed morning and night, your body should adjust to that so that you don't get engorged during the day.  You may have to take a hand pump withyou to work at first just in case you need some relief, but your body should work itself out fairly quickly.

Good luck!

Original Post by vanessa1031:

Thank you all for your notes. There are so many things that I will need to figure out! I want to BF for sure the minute she arrives- I'll just have to either bottle feed when I go back to work; and then BF when I'm home- or pump a lot on the weekends and store it in the freezer so she has it when I'm away. I hear it is painful if you don't pump during the day; and that you can get engorged and leak. I'm already leaking at night and she isn't even here yet!!!

Vanessa I highly suggest you look into reverse cycling.  It has worked for some mothers and babies that work out of home.  I am one who feels like women are being discriminated against for not making a space for pumping. It takes 15 minutes ever two hours. one of the executives in a private office can move for that length of time. 

I was in situation where I might have to pump while I was in school. I talked to the main person in charge of every department I was going to have class. I didn't talk to my professor or some other no body. I talked to the person who made things work.  I was even offered the office of one department head.  I had heard from other women at the same university how impossible it was to pump ect ect.  I proved all of them wrong and was able to breastfeed my son 3 year 8 months. 

I also suggest looking into local laws. Some bigger cities actually have rules for breastfeeding moms in the work place. 

 

That is so unfortunate that the states are like that.  Had I been able to and wanted to continue BFing when I went back to work, there were protocals in place to allow me to pump and we have both a first aid room, or a room adjoining the bathroom with a chair in it that I could have used.  Also, my duaghter goes to daycare right on site so that I could have gone down to the center for feeds (which they are very flexible with and also have a nice quiet area at the daycare center to do so).

I think the US needs to take some notes from Australia I think when it comes to BFing, it is so widely accepted here, that it is nothing to see a women in a public place doing it and most malls/public areas have parent's rooms that have private areas with chairs for BFing as well.  I imagine many of the eurpoean countries are more accepting as well. 

 

The only thing I'm worried about; is; is that they'll come back and say "every other person pumps in the bathroom stall; there's a large one with an outlet that you can use."  So technically; there is a place I cam pump-  but seriously; I can't picture pumping and hearing someone going to the bathroom at the same time -  this is something my child is going to be ingesting!  I do know that other women do pump in the bathroom; but I personally am not comfortable with that.  I can store my milk in the fride that the office uses; and if our refridgerator thief (we have a very bad one) steals my milk for their coffee; they are in for a surprise....

I just had a mental picture of me on the subway; with breast pump, breast milk supply in a cooler bag; my laptop and my gym bag.  It's cracking me up!!

Amanda-

 my babes have both been boob ticks- in order for me to get them to sleep i had/have to nurse them to sleep and then they wake up if i put in a crib! With my first she ate all night bc of it but jord is a lil diff-we co sleep- if im next to him in bed he will stay asleep for 8 hrs sometimes but if i move then bam he is up after 20 min! irr frustrating but my daughter did that until i weaned her at one- and that wa sawful but after a week of torture she was good and forgot so it worked out-- jord is going to be harder bc he hates bottles so much but he 7 months so he has at least 5 more months of me, so maybe he will get better!!

Vanessa-

 i rarely ever leak, i dont know why but i have never had that prob , lucky me i suppose! But when i pumped it was lousy bc i would be in our lil mgr office w/ no lock and have to cover the windows and tell peep to leave me be for a lil while! I got walked in on so many diff times- ya embarrassing! i just hated trying to explain why i needed quiet to my 15/16 yr old workers ! Right now im a SAHM kinda happy w/ that bc my work just wasnt good for pumping!

while i worked one bottle of formula a day was substituted for my daughter but on days i was there i fed her all day- i never had a hard time w/ that! i feel like i must b empty when jord eats an eats but i guess not cause he never fusses!

everyone is just so different!