Boykinbaby Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 Has anyone done this? I was thinking of giving it a try, cutting my carb intake way back and getting them mostly through green veggies and less dense "starch" veggies and hardly any fruit. My girl is 9 months and still breastfeeding, solids not even enough to consider part of her nutrition yet. Of course I'll up my fat and protein consumption to compensate but advice, tips, ect are greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 For what purpose would you be consciously entering ketosis for a long period of time? What do you hope to accomplish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bethany Lannon Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 I'm ebf my 5-month old daughter & I'm also almost to my peak mileage weeks of my marathon training cycle. I have been limiting my starchy veg carbs and fruits, mostly due to wanting to lose fat/gain muscle and also thanks to a carb-phobia I'm still fighting. I'm not sure if its the high running mileage, low carbs (I usually get anywhere from 90-125 carbs per day), or a combination of the two factors but my daughter's weight gain has plummeted. She's still gaining, but lets just say that as of today, she's gained less than 4 lbs since birth, and she's 5 months old. They didn't tell me her weight %ile today, but at her 4-month checkup, it was down to 8.6%. And she only gained 6oz in the last month. So, I'm reluctantly increasing my carbs... I'm going to aim for consistently 150g carbs per day and see if that helps her. Obviously with your baby being older, you could get away with cutting carbs *as long as* you start implementing more solids into Baby's diet. My daughter has either butternut squash or avocado 2x per day after nursing, but she's going up to 3x per day as of today (if her weight isn't up more next month at her 6mo visit, they'll talk more about intervening at that point). So, if your baby's primary calories are only coming from you, I'd suggest either holding off on dropping the carbs or implementing more solids to baby's diet first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boykinbaby Posted August 14, 2013 Author Share Posted August 14, 2013 I'm looking for a little more muscle addition with maybe some leaning out as an added bonus rather than a major desire as well as to see if cutting back carbs helps my digestion equal out a bit more (I still have a few intermitten bouts of constipation, though usually only a day or two and once things kick back in it's a normal elimination) I'm not too worried about the effects on my milk since at her last appointment she is still in the 85% for weight for her age and has been in this range since right after birth(she was just under 7lbs at birth and plumped on BM like no other lol). I expect her to start slowing her weight gain anyway since she's cruising efficently and almost ready to start walking solo already(again, always advanced motor skills). Of course, if I notice her having obvious issues that I can equate to my diet then I will add in more carbs no questions but if i don't have to i'd like to experiment. Plus we plan on BF until one or the other of us no longer benefits so that could be another 2 months or another 12, so I don't want to push it back if I don't have to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted August 14, 2013 Share Posted August 14, 2013 Personally, if you're having digestive issues...upping your intake of green leafy veggies would be the last place that i'd go looking for relief. There are a lot of therapeutic benefits to ketosis...but i don't know that you're barking up the right tree with this one. By all means experiment and see if it works for you, but I don't think it's sustainable (long term), and it's just rarely the silver bullet for folks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casswoman Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 When I went low carb after my first son was born, I lost my milk, and it never came back. Our nursing relationship wasn't as long as it could've been. With my daughter, I didn't do low-carb at all, and we nursed for over two years with no issues. Now, with my third child, his weight dropped from the 50th percentile to the 10th in one month, and he'd started waking up more at night- the boy is hungry! My carbs are averaging 150-175 grams a day, and my milk supply has dropped substantially. I applaud your goals, but I would suggest you keep your carbs up a bit higher than you might prefer. (I would keep mine higher right now if I weren't working on healing allergy and thrush issues.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bethany Lannon Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 When I went low carb after my first son was born, I lost my milk, and it never came back. Our nursing relationship wasn't as long as it could've been. With my daughter, I didn't do low-carb at all, and we nursed for over two years with no issues. Now, with my third child, his weight dropped from the 50th percentile to the 10th in one month, and he'd started waking up more at night- the boy is hungry! My carbs are averaging 150-175 grams a day, and my milk supply has dropped substantially. I applaud your goals, but I would suggest you keep your carbs up a bit higher than you might prefer. (I would keep mine higher right now if I weren't working on healing allergy and thrush issues.) That's interesting to read your experience... my 5month daughter's weight percentile went from 90-something at birth to 70-something at 2 months, to 8.6% at 4 months. I've been training for a marathon and keeping my carbs right around 100 per day (give or take 25; with exception of long run days... carbs are way high on those days). I just took her for a weight check at 5 months and she only gained 6oz in one month... I've started to see that maybe carbs are the culprit (I'm sure that dietary fat isn't the issue, I'm getting plenty of that). Of course googling anything of the such brings up a thousand different references, all of which say something entirely different from the last. I'm working on keeping more carbs in my diet, mostly via sweet potatoes in some form. I've been suspecting carbs, but your response has made me believe that the carbs really could be the main issue here. Thanks for sharing your experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boykinbaby Posted August 15, 2013 Author Share Posted August 15, 2013 Thank you all for the stories and advice. I actually tried cutting way back on carbs for a few days and it was not pretty. My energy level was still good but I was much more likely to lose my temper and interestingly enough so was my daughter. My poor husband had to deal with 2 cranky females for a few days before I started adding the heartier starches back in and we've both leveled back out. Lesson learned, low carb is a no go, at least while we're BF. Thank you all soooooooo much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Bethany/Cass. It could just be insufficient calories, rather than not enough carbs (or it could be both). Especially if you're training for a marathon, your calorie requirements to support your training AND the requirements to support your breastfeeding is...a LOT. Melissa's known to walk around all day sipping on a can of coconut milk to keep her cals up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casswoman Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 That's interesting to read your experience... my 5month daughter's weight percentile went from 90-something at birth to 70-something at 2 months, to 8.6% at 4 months. I've been training for a marathon and keeping my carbs right around 100 per day (give or take 25; with exception of long run days... carbs are way high on those days). I just took her for a weight check at 5 months and she only gained 6oz in one month... I've started to see that maybe carbs are the culprit (I'm sure that dietary fat isn't the issue, I'm getting plenty of that). Of course googling anything of the such brings up a thousand different references, all of which say something entirely different from the last. I'm working on keeping more carbs in my diet, mostly via sweet potatoes in some form. I've been suspecting carbs, but your response has made me believe that the carbs really could be the main issue here. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm glad to share my experience if it helps another mom keep nursing! Bethany/Cass. It could just be insufficient calories, rather than not enough carbs (or it could be both). Especially if you're training for a marathon, your calorie requirements to support your training AND the requirements to support your breastfeeding is...a LOT. Melissa's known to walk around all day sipping on a can of coconut milk to keep her cals up. I've been tracking calories and averaging 2500-3000 calories a day, so I don't think insufficient calories is the issue. And I have been drinking lots of coconut milk! I'm finding things are better when I have more carbs-150-200 grams seems like enough for me, so I eat lots of sweet potatoes and fruit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.