Breastfeeding and HUGE appetite

[eh613c]

I've been breastfeeding for 9 weeks now and I have a HUGE appetite, more so than when I was pregnant! With DS1, I ate more than my usual daily caloric intake but with DS2, I'm hungry all.the.time. It's hard for me to lose weight because I'm just hungry. I've tried eating smaller meals but I end up eating constantly. I just have a bottomless pit. Is this normal?

[bubbaray]

Entirely normal.

[LMPC]

This was me exactly...ate so much that people commented! (okay my family commented but still...) I just figured it was my body's way of telling me that I needed more energy. Leveled off around 6 mos.

[momm]

Completely completely completely know where you're coming from. I ate more when breastfeeding than when I was pregnant. At 10 months, still breastfeeding, and although I'm still eating well, I don't feel like I'm going to eat my hubby out of hearth and home :)

Good luck! :)

[eh613c]

Thanks! DH has been speechless regarding my appetite. He loves to watch Man v Food, where the host takes on a food challenge. When the host loses, DH always comments that they should have a pregnant or nursing woman to take on the challenge.

Well, I feel better. Now where's my snack!

[momm]

Thanks! DH has been speechless regarding my appetite.

Yea! lol. Same here.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

yes, exact same thing happened (with DS) and is happening to me. DH commented. when i met DH, i swear up and down he ate 2x more as i did (he loves to eat). now it's t he other way around. i eat SO MUCH it's embarrassing. my dd was born a preemie and now she's enormous and bigger than term babies 3 months older than her. it's nuts. i eat all.the.time. now dh has learned to let me have first dibs on food and he gets the scraps. sometimes he complains but it doesn't bother...he's not growing a baby, sorry. lol

i don't lose weight either when i nurse. i just eat waay too much.

[twowhat?]

I wish they'd tell nursing mothers that your appetite while breastfeeding is far bigger than your appetite when pregnant.

Being so hungry all the time was honestly one of the worst parts of breastfeeding for me. I constantly thought about food and felt like I had no time to eat enough (what a cruel fact of nature!). I posted about food on FB. I felt like I was starving to death. It was literally ALL I could think about. When I got a chance to eat I'd scarf down 3 servings of dinner AND dessert and I'd still be hungry (my MIL bless her heart kept cooking and cooking...and she'd fix me a plate of lunch and I'd eat it over the babies' heads while nursing them). DH would wait for me to finish eating before he even thought about eating his own dinner...and I was selfish about food. I didn't care if I was taking the last helping I was soooo hungry. I'd throw a sheet of Coscto Nestle choco chip cookies in the oven - and I'd eat the entire sheet...DH would come in the kitchen and smell that I'd baked cookies and then look to get himself a couple but they'd all be gone...

It was so miserable to be that hungry all the time!!

[bw52]

I ate tons more when breastfeeding than I did when pregnant. (And I ate a LOT when pregnant). I had to eat about 2 or 3 in the morning every night for months or I'd get too sick. It's no fun waking up to feed the baby and then trying to go back to bed only to have my OWN growling stomach wake me up again!

[eh613c]

I ate tons more when breastfeeding than I did when pregnant. (And I ate a LOT when pregnant). I had to eat about 2 or 3 in the morning every night for months or I'd get too sick. It's no fun waking up to feed the baby and then trying to go back to bed only to have my OWN growling stomach wake me up again!

Yeah! Doesn't that suck? Sometimes after the middle of the night feeding, I'll have cereal.

[eh613c]

I wish they'd tell nursing mothers that your appetite while breastfeeding is far bigger than your appetite when pregnant.

You don't read that in any of the breastfeeding books. They just tell you to eat a bit more. I think they should put something like, expect to eat one week worth of groceries in 3 days!

[BayGirl2]

I believe the data is that you need on average 300 calories a day extra in pregnancy and 500 while breastfeeding. (varies by woman, obviously)
It makes sense when you think about it - in both cases you are providing 100% of the nutrients for the child. But now that child's caloric requirements have increased significantly since they were a little embryo, and they keep growing.

[Lupe]

I realized that a lot of what I thought was hunger was thirst
Specially with the summer heat, I should have IVF fluids, every time I finish pumping at work it is like I just came back from the desert. I wake up at night to drink water, I go through 3 full 16 oz glasses just during the night
BTW, once I made sure I had enough water I actually started losing weight

[lizzywednesday]

I got hit with both hunger & thirst. (I wasn't very good about eating when I was at home with just DD.)

For the thirst part, I would make sure I had all 3 of my water bottles filled - I have a 32oz, a 20 oz and a 16oz bottle - and that the filter pitchers were full in the mornings. It helped.

I also ate constantly for the first few weeks. I would get really cranky when I didn't eat enough!

[MissAndi]

Ooooh so hungry!!!! Im with PP on the water front. If I keep up my at least 80 ounces of water a day, I'm a little less ravenos. Also, everytime I nurse, I eat. I keep lots of trail mix that I buy in hulk and leave in plastic containers next to my glider, bed, couch, car, and diaper bag. I also have granola bars stashed in the same places. Add in a few glasses of milk, and that definitely helped curbing my appetite! Ooh! Oatmeal in the morning!! Not only does it help boost your supply, it's nice and filling!

Hmmm am now starving... :)

[BabbyO]

I realized that a lot of what I thought was hunger was thirst
Specially with the summer heat, I should have IVF fluids, every time I finish pumping at work it is like I just came back from the desert. I wake up at night to drink water, I go through 3 full 16 oz glasses just during the night
BTW, once I made sure I had enough water I actually started losing weight


Ooooh so hungry!!!! Im with PP on the water front. If I keep up my at least 80 ounces of water a day, I'm a little less ravenos. Also, everytime I nurse, I eat. I keep lots of trail mix that I buy in hulk and leave in plastic containers next to my glider, bed, couch, car, and diaper bag. I also have granola bars stashed in the same places. Add in a few glasses of milk, and that definitely helped curbing my appetite! Ooh! Oatmeal in the morning!! Not only does it help boost your supply, it's nice and filling!

Hmmm am now starving... :)

My appetite was huge when I BF'ed but I really found that drinking water helped ALOT. I always filled a waterbottle just before nursing and drank the entire thing while nursing. I also needed to eat about every 2 hrs while nursing. I made sure fruit/veggies and snack/granola bars were always available. I initially snacked on raw almonds quite a bit, but had to stop when DS was diagnosed with food allergies.

The hard part for me was breaking the cycle when I was DONE nursing at 1 year. I actually lost a TON of weight while nursing (I was smaller than I've been since HS when DS was about 6-7 mo old). I dropped 3-4 jean sizes.

Otherwise, I'd say it's totally normal...but please DO drink LOTS of water/fluids. Both you and the baby need it.

Oh, and I'll second the oatmeal. I ate it every single morning...

[wellyes]

I believe the data is that you need on average 300 calories a day extra in pregnancy and 500 while breastfeeding. (varies by woman, obviously)

I budgeted myself an extra 500 calories a day on MyFitnessPal while exclusive BFing, and probably could have gone over by a few hundred (!!). I dropped weight effortlessly during that time.

[PGTB]

I had crazy appetite the first 6 months of EBFing. I ate everything in sight, lots of high calorie foods + desserts, etc. I also snacked in the middle of the night and early morning (two breakfasts). Drinking lots of water didn't help curb my appetite, as a result, I could not lose a pound during the first 6 months. I had to wear maternity clothes the whole time until DS started solids. When he started solids, my appetite went back to normal and I started rapidly losing weight (20 lb in 6-7 months). I am back to pre pregnancy size/weight and my weight loss is stalled now. I want to lose more weight but i worried about going on a strict diet since DS is still nursing quite a lot (all night and mornings/evenings/nap time on weekends).

Sometimes, I wonder if I continued eating as much maybe my milk would have been fattier/more supply and DS would not become underweight... He was perfect weight in his first 6 months, then he stopped gaining weight at all and the doctor was worried about FTT. I was worried my weight loss and lack of appetite had anything to do with it, but I just could not eat as much as before.

[wellyes]

Sometimes, I wonder if I continued eating as much maybe my milk would have been fattier/more supply and DS would not become underweight... He was perfect weight in his first 6 months, then he stopped gaining weight at all and the doctor was worried about FTT. I was worried my weight loss and lack of appetite had anything to do with it, but I just could not eat as much as before.
I think it's normal for ebf kids to fall off in the second six months - mine both did (with DD there were FTT concerns as well). This was despite my continuing to eat like a linebacker. So, please don't blame yourself.

[Uno-Mom]

Totally off-topic but wanted to share: when this thread showed up on my smart phone today, all I could see was "Breastfeeding with HUGE..." Somehow I expected different content when I clicked on the link. :ROTFLMAO:

(I can also relate to the HUGE appetite thing, though.)

[babyfiorina1]

Totally! I ate so much that my hubby was speechless too. He was a bit shocked. I always have to eat some thing, including in the middle of the night after nursing. I'm trying to control my portion too, but like you said, I ended up eating all the time because I never feel full!!!

[Serepta]

I can relate! I am starving all of the time, and wake up in the middle of the night needing to eat. It really sucks because I'm on a really restricted diet because DD has food sensitivities, so eating is a real pain anyway. I've found that I need to keep allergy free snacks available at all times, which is difficult and expensive! But, despite my crazy appetite I'm actually losing weight, which is absoultely nuts to me.