Update on Fitness plan… 10 days in, 10 pounds lost!
(2 posts in the same day, thanks the baby sling I am trying to use more, now that Babygirl has a teensy bit of head control and less risk of suffocating in it. I can type with her in the sling, even as she is fussling away!)
I had to step on my scale four or five times to make sure I was reading it correctly. Ten days after realizing I had gained way too much weight in 2 pregnancies, bringing my once distance-runner-fit body to a BMI of 30 (Hello! Obesity!), I immediately started the South Beach Diet and a (gentle) exercise plan. I am also breastfeeding, and not really sleeping. This combo has seemingly resulted in an amazing amount of initial weight loss!
I have worried about dieting while breastfeeding. Even though the South Beach Diet is high on protein, and I have modified it to also include good fruits as well as veggies, and I am drinking tons of fluids, I worried that my milk supply would diminish or become undesirable (lactic acid can be unpalatable to babies).
But my milk supply seems to be unchanged, and Babygirl, while she is not a terrific sleeper, has not changed either.
I do wonder, though. She is 5 weeks old now, and should be starting to sleep a bit longer between feeds. Maybe my milk supply is not satisfying enough for her, and she would otherwise be sleeping longer?
So I have offered bottles of formula here and there. She sometimes takes an ounce or two, but more often than not, it ends up back on my shirt. (She rarely spits up breastmilk, and then no more than a trickle. Formula almost always ends up all over the place. )
Most of the time when I offer her a bottle, she suckles on it, but doesn’t take any formula. So, I suspect she’s getting enough breastmilk.
As far as exercise, this mild winter has allowed for some long walks, and a few solo ‘jogs’, with core strengthing fitness videos here and there. Nothing extravagant. I try to DO something, every day. Fatigued, or not.
Perhaps the combination of no-to-low carbs, plus a modicum of exercise, and breastfeeding has allowed this amount of weight loss. Whatever it is, it is very encouraging! My big belly is a bit flatter and my face is less puffy.
10 down, 30 to go!
That’s wonderful! It sounds like your body was ready to drop that weight, and you gave it a chance to do so. If you are eating all those healthy things, and not feeling hungry (except in the half hour before meals), it’s not going to reduce your milk supply. You just got lucky with Babyboy, and Babygirl is doing normal baby sleep patterns. Don’t believe Weissbluth. I don’t know where he got the babies for his studies, but I know a lot of moms, and I can only name 3 who had babies who settled into sleep patterns on the Weissbluth “typical” timeline. I so, so desperately wanted them to be true, but for my babies, it was more like 2x the guidelines, and they seemed pretty normal when I compared notes with friends.
Congratulations on your weight loss so far! Sounds like you are doing well by yourself and your baby. 🙂
Baby sounds like she’s saying, “no more formula, your breast milk is all that I need and want.” If baby is peeing, pooping, and gaining weight well, why try formula when Baby obviously doesn’t like it/ need it? Sleep with newbies, especially exclusively breastfeed ones is variable during the first 6 months. After 5 weeks my Little One was awakening to eat often as well and per my Lactation Consultant that’s PERFECTLY NORMAL! Also, expect more awakening during growth spurts (6, 12, 20 weeks), mine was up hourly but otherwise was fine. Babies aren’t meant to sleep through the night. Remember early infancy is 2% of childhood, this too shall pass 🙂 Signed, a Nursing Pediatrician Momma
I am really impressed/inspired by your diet/exercise success so early post-partum. Means my 4-month post-partum self has no excuse.
Re: the sleeping/supply…hang in there. I was getting desperate around 5-6 weeks when everyone else in my nursing support group was getting longer stretches…then suddenly around 6.5 weeks he started going 5, then 6, then 7, and than 9 hours, without formula or any changes (then it all went to hell again around 14 weeks…4 month sleep regression hoorah!…and has reverted to q3-5 hours every night, but that’s a whole ‘nother issue, with lack of self-soothing skills, not likely hunger)