Why gaining weight while breastfeeding

If frequent and prolonged pumping is anticipated, a hospital-grade, electric pump can be very helpful. Your baby should be weighed on a frequent and regular basis until he or she is gaining weight at a satisfactory rate. Digital scales are available that allow a healthcare provider or a certified lactation consultant IBCLC to get precise pre- and post-feeding weights to measure how much milk a baby takes in during a particular breastfeeding.

Although this can be helpful, babies take in different amounts at different feedings throughout a hour period. Therefore, a professional may recommend that parents rent this type of scale so a baby can be weighed before and after different feedings. They also may suggest recording only a daily or weekly weight, depending on the situation.

If your baby ever shows signs of dehydration, call your baby's healthcare provider right away. Some signs of dehydration in a baby include:. If breastfeeding is properly managed, yet the baby still is not gaining enough weight, it is likely that some other factor is affecting milk production or the baby's ability to breastfeed effectively. Always consult your own, and your baby's healthcare provider.

Check the schedule Watch for signs from your baby that he or she wants to feed. Latching and positioning Be sure your baby is mainly uncovered during breastfeeding. If your healthcare provider recommends supplementing Use your own expressed milk first for any alternative feedings. Alternative feeding methods include: Cup feeding A tube system with a special feeding tube taped to the breast or a finger Supplemental Nursing System, or SNS Syringe feeding An eyedropper Spoon-feeding Bottle-feeding Several methods require assistance from a professional, such as a certified lactation consultant IBCLC so you can use them correctly.

Maintaining or increasing your milk supply Pump your breasts after as many daily breastfeedings as possible, especially if you are uncertain whether your baby is effectively removing milk during breastfeeding. I'd already dropped an easy 15 pounds postdelivery, and my prepregnancy skinny jeans seemed within reach.

Fast-forward eight months, and against all mitigated expectation, I've put on about 10 pounds. I am still wearing maternity clothes, and because the extra weight has moved from my stomach to my hips, many of those garments are stretching even more than they did when I was nine months along.

To blame for this surprising, disappointing weight gain? Don't get me wrong. I'm a devoted proponent of breastfeeding — the benefits it has on the baby are innumerable — and I don't regret nursing. I'm still doing it and plan to for another few months at least. But I won't lie that I signed on to breastfeeding with an ulterior motive — that it would help shed those pounds by magically burning upwards of calories every day you nurse.

When I was pregnant, everywhere I looked, moms were singing the praises of breastfeeding's figure-slimming virtues:. And it wasn't just anecdotal. The message that breastfeeding was directly correlated with faster weight loss was propagated by my doctor, by the childbirth classes I took at the hospital, by every "baby's first year" book I read, and by the countless articles I'd scan online — even the ones in which some A-list celebrity shows up on a red carpet a month after having a baby and credits her flat abs to "just breastfeeding!

Whenever I read off a list of breastfeeding benefits for the mother , among reduced risk of breast cancer and diabetes, there was always, always a bullet point about weight loss.

A new mother is also likely to be totally exhausted, and studies show that sleep deprivation can also increase appetite. But it turns out that some moms hi there! Some of that can certainly be attributed to my already-large appetite, but I was also operating under the very wrong assumption that the pounds would just melt away the longer I nursed.

And I know plenty of women who ate like I did while breastfeeding, and still managed to nurse away the pounds. Looking back, though, most of them were tall and naturally thin. I am not. Most of them also had an easy enough time losing weight pre-pregnancy, too. Definitely not me, either.

What might be some of the issues? Some women develop low thyroid function during and after pregnancy, so if you're having problems with weight gain talk to your OB at your postpartum visit and maybe a thyroid test is indicated.

Women who are sleepless gain weight. A study found that women who were sleeping less than five hours a night, six months postpartum were three times more likely to have kept their baby weight and maybe even gained more. And lastly, being a new mom is stressful, and stress hormones can promote weight gain, and women are more likely to eat when they are stressed. So there you go, thyroid problems, sleeplessness, and stress contribute to postpartum weight gain.

So what do we do about it? Breastfeeding exclusively uses up about calories a day. If you're eating nutritious food and drinking lots of low or no-calorie fluids, you don't need to add these calories if you're already holding extra weight.

Eat well, but not for two. A study demonstrated that women who were taught how to eat well, avoided fatty and sugary foods, walked 30 minutes a day every day, pushed that baby carriage around outside, wrote down their food and exercise every day and wore a pedometer were much more likely to lose weight than women who weren't in the lifestyle modification program.

So why bother? You've got your baby, you're kind of happy, but maybe you're kind of stressed. Fifteen or 20 pounds here or there, what does that matter?