Did you lose weight by breastfeeding your baby?

mummy4monsters

SkintGypsy wrote: »

I have lost half a stone, and I was skin and bone anyway. My BMI is 17? and underweight, and I really didn't think I had anything to lose. The boy has quite literally sucked the life out of me.

SNAP! LOL! I'm exactly the same, I wish I could have held onto some of my pregnancy pounds! My Mum says to me, You are getting smaller and smaller and Sophia (my daughter) is getting fatter and fatter lol!

As previous poster says, breastfeeding does burn around 500 cals per day.

In the early days your uterus returns to its pre preg state more quickly if your are bf due to the release of the hormone oxytocin.
I think is theory yes it does help you to loss weight but what works for some won't necessarily work for all.

shirlgirl2004

I certainly didn't lose weight and I fed mine for 2 1/2 years each time.

[Deleted User]

Yes it made me lose a lot of weight, too much in fact.

Laurenbelle

I did lose weight with both my children. I will agree that you are hungrier and therefore you eat alot more and i will also agree that the easiest thing to reach for is junk and that can counteract the calories you are burning up whilst breastfeeding.
Ideally breaastfeeding whilst maintaining a healthy diet (definitely make sure you are getting enough calories - but not empty ones) is the key - maybe one day i will follow my own advice :rotfl:

pinkclouds

confusedmummy wrote: »

Just wondered how many mums lost weight from breastfeeding their babies? Is it a myth or do most women lose weight when breastfeeding?

I lost a *lot* of weight after each baby - I have two kids and regained or bettered my pre-pregnancy weight each time. At one point, I weighed about a stone less than my pre-pregnancy weight! Now that my second child is 20 months old, my weight has gone back up a bit - although it is still less than my pre-pregnancy weight. If you breastfeed, then once you've used up all the "baby" weight/fat, you actually need a little extra food to stop your weight from going in the wrong direction.

Perhaps I should point out that I am small by nature (5 ft 3) and am still breastfeeding. Oh, and I stay at home so it's easy for me to breastfeed long term a la the WHO guidelines.

squashy

My DD is just three and still has the odd breastfeed at bedtime. I am following weightwatchers (without the extra BF points as it's not nutritionally essential for her), and I notice fantastic weight loss on the weeks she has fed more!

I think to call it a "marketing ploy" is a bit cynical, there is no profit to be made from breastfeeding