I'm 40lbs over & nurse a skinny, yet healthy 22 lb, 20 mo that refuses ALL breast substitutes. Many problems..

Question

My pediatrician says that I will have a hard time keeping extra weight on her because she runs it all off and has been since she was 10 month old. I am tired of being fat and breastfeeding but she refuses cow milk, soy, rice and Pediasure as well as Carnation B-fast, milk shakes and syrups. I throw almost every drop away. She'll eat small amounts of the healthier foods I'm eating all day long. I end up eating the junk food I buy for her because she refuses it. She also gropes and tries to undress me. So, I want to lose weight, stop breastfeeding and put weight on my child. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I am sorry I don't have answers to all your questions. I don't quite understand why you are not losing weight with the nursing as that usually helps--it really helped me.

I want to tell you that my daughter is almost 20 months and she weighs about 22 lbs. as well. She is also pretty 'tall' or 'long.' The WIC nurses and even my latest pediatrician (we are Army and have been moving about for the last year) told me that my daughter was underweight. And you know what? I brushed it off. She eats at every meal--well. Meat, fruit, even veggies--sweet peas are her favorite! She is extremely active and smart for her age. She is no different than any other little girl her age. I think she is just a small person, I am small myself, barely 5'3, around 120 lbs. If she eats and is active and otherwise healthy I wouldn't stress so much about it.

I understand you are tired of nursing. When mine got to be around 14 months I was just ready to stop. it felt like I had a 20 pound weight attached to my boob all the time. Looking back now I miss the closeness terribly. But you know how that is. :) I don't know if this will help you, but I started pumping more than nursing-gradually. There are times when she would refuse the bottle 5 times and then finally take it. There were times when she would refuse the bottle 10 times and I would break down and nurse her. It was hard and took a long time but in the end everything turned out ok. I really believe that taking your time is the key. I wish the best for you and your baby and I also wish I had better answers for you.

Answer 2

Why are you buying her junk food?  Don't blame nursing for you not loosing weight.   Breastfeeding is great for loosing weight.  Let her continue to eat healthy food and buy some for yourself too.  Quit eating junk food.  There's nothing wrong with continuing breastfeeding her.  Breastmilk is the healthiest milk you can give her.

Edited to add:  Tell her not to put her hand on your other breast and hold her hand so she won't do it.  I know that really frustrated me when my daughters did that.  I hate having my other breast touched while nursing.  I either hold her hand or wear a neclace so that she'll play with that.

She's old enough to understand not to grab at your shirt as well.  One thing I did was to teach my oldest daughter the sign for milk.  So instead of her grabbing at me she signed "milk" when she wanted to breastfeed.  I was comfortable nursing in public, but this would give you time to find a private place to nurse if that's not something you're comfortable with.

As far as the growth charts, the standard ones in doctors offices are not based on breastfed babies.  They are based on formula fed babies.  My children were also very low on the charts for awhile.  Here are some copies of the charts that were put together by the World Health Organization. http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/gro...  They will be more accurate for your child.

Its great that you are willing to give your daughter the best in nutrition.  Hopefully this will help you.  Good luck.

Answer 3

breastfeeding didn't help me lose weight. I'm still breastfeeding my 11 month old but i've lost all my weight now through dieting. There's no reason why you can't diet while breastfeeding, I did and my milk supply is still fine. Your daughter won't go hungry so she will eat healthy food when she's hungry. when she sees you eating it i'm sure she'll want to copy you. Don't buy her junk food she doesn't obviously want it and the less you have in the house the better it will be for you. Just start eating healthily and the weight will come off. Take up a sport or exercise you enjoy too. As for the milk I think you should speak to your doctor again. Maybe if she refuses cows milk, give her lots of milky puddings like rice pudding, yogurt and custard. once she's weaned off the breast you can then introduce a cup of cows milk, if she's not having breast she may enjoy the cows milk. Good luck and i'm sure all will be fine in time :)

Answer 4

Nursing is actually a good way to lose weight because you burn a lot of calories that way. You don't really need to be eating more than normal to nurse, so you burn more calories than you take in. Maybe try nursing more and eating just what you would eat if it were you alone. You're also allowed to exercise while nursing.