Mom Starting May 12

[mackenzieburnside]

Hi I'm Kenzie,

 

My husband and I have started our Whole30 adventure. Today is the end of Day 2. 

 

We attempted the challenge about a month ago, did it for about a week and then quit. We started at a bad time with too much going on and not much preparation. But at the end of that week we felt SO good. I had had a baby two weeks before and my extra tummy was completely gone. We quit when we dove into some homemade cinnamon rolls from a neighbor. I was sick for about a week after that.

 

So we are starting again with a better plan and we know it will make us feel great.

 

I have two concerns:

 

Milk Supply- it seems to be decreasing. My baby is 8 weeks and seems fine. Doesn't cry for more, but I am only producing about 3 oz. Seems weird, at this point with my first baby I was pumping 10oz! I am going to try to eat more and get good rest. I have a 15 month old and an 8 month old so its tough. We are going out of town in a few weeks so I need a milk reserve for the little one. 

 

Stay at home mom- I got rid of all the bad stuff in the house. There is nothing to indulge in even if I did want to quit. BUT I know that there are a couple of things we are suppose to eat in moderation: nuts and fruit. I have felt bloated the last couple of days and I am sure its from over eating nuts. I live out in the country and I stay home all day with my kids. It gets hard to stay out of the kitchen!

 

So those are my challenges. I want to do this correctly and I want to change my relationship with food. Any tips  on increasing milk supply, storing breastmilk, and/or fighting even the healthy food cravings are much needed and appreciated!

 

 

[Physibeth]

You may find more good information in the Whole30 for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers section but my general advice is to eat, eat, eat. Breastfeeding is hard work for your body and you need more food and nutrients than the rest of us. We generally advice BF mom's to eat 4 meals instead of 3 and make them towards the upper end of the template. Make sure you are getting enough fat and that you are getting starchy vegetables (winter squash, sweet potato, beets, carrots, etc). 

 

On the fruit and nuts I would suggest limiting them to part of your meals and not snacking on them. I've found I'm personally pretty sensitive to nuts so I eat them fairly infrequently. Yesterday I put a closed handful of walnuts on a salad. Fruit I usually have as an afterthought if I'm still a little hungry at the end of the meal and it sounds good or again as a component. Yesterday's salad also had orange sliced on it. I sprinkled a couple of raisins on half an acorn squash. Today I had a few Strawberries with my salad. 

 

I get how staying out of the kitchen can be hard. We have to retrain our habits around food. Use the hunger test. Are you hungry enough to eat something that doesn't sound good just to stop being hungry? If not have some water or tea and find something else to do. If so than make a mini meal with protein, fat, and vegetable and have at it. 

 

Hope this all helps on your journey!