TT+Ms & BFing....Q from a STM

[saltyh2O]

Morning!

For those of you who BF'ed two or more kiddos already, did you find that your related weight loss the second+ time around was similar to what you experienced with your first LO or did you find you lost more or less with each pregnancy?

I'm asking our of curiosity frankly. I lost all but 5ish lbs relatively quickly with DS but started this pregnancy a little heavier than I did with my first. I understand that diet and activity have a ton to do with the end result here, but am just wondering what your experience yielded in terms of your own transition the second or third+ time around back to your pre-pregnancy self.....does that makes sense?

Thanks in advance from a mama who is thrilled to be pregnant, excited about her next adventure as a STM, but also anxious to get back to her "normal" size and shape once LO arrives and we get settled in as a family!

[sabriel]

I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight in about the same amount of time with both.

[shmee]

Since you're all being directed to this thread anyway, I have another question - sorry if I asked it on The Dump, I honestly can't remember.

Did you experience the same pain and discomfort when nursing your second child as your first? I was honestly in pain for the first 8 weeks with DD and I am SO hoping to avoid it this time. Or at least have someone tell me it's not as bad.

Edited to clarify

[sabriel]

I was actually in more pain for my second though I'm hoping my experience was more the exception than the rule

[Deleted]

Jan 28, 2015 10:26:13 GMT -5 shmee said:

Since you're all being directed to this thread anyway, I have another question - sorry if I asked it on The Dump, I honestly can't remember.

Did you experience the same pain and discomfort with your second child as your first? I was honestly in pain for the first 8 weeks with DD and I am SO hoping to avoid it this time. Or at least have someone tell me it's not as bad.

I think I was much weaker after birth with my first. I think I recovered quicker with my second. I def had less pain after birth with my second. But I've heard that every pregnancy/birth is different so you never know what to expect. 

[shmee]

Jan 28, 2015 10:37:49 GMT -5 @ajzmommy said:

Jan 28, 2015 10:26:13 GMT -5 shmee said:

Since you're all being directed to this thread anyway, I have another question - sorry if I asked it on The Dump, I honestly can't remember.

Did you experience the same pain and discomfort with your second child as your first? I was honestly in pain for the first 8 weeks with DD and I am SO hoping to avoid it this time. Or at least have someone tell me it's not as bad.

I think I was much weaker after birth with my first. I think I recovered quicker with my second. I def had less pain after birth with my second. But I've heard that every pregnancy/birth is different so you never know what to expect. 

Sorry I should have clarified - I meant in regards to nursing. Nursing was painful for me for the first 8 weeks with DD

[Deleted]

Jan 28, 2015 10:40:12 GMT -5 shmee said:

Jan 28, 2015 10:37:49 GMT -5 @ajzmommy said:

I think I was much weaker after birth with my first. I think I recovered quicker with my second. I def had less pain after birth with my second. But I've heard that every pregnancy/birth is different so you never know what to expect. 

Sorry I should have clarified - I meant in regards to nursing. Nursing was painful for me for the first 8 weeks with DD

*facepalm and tries to recover* lol.. Mine's hurt forever.  

[staccajaye]

Can I ask a question as a FTM. Is it true what they say about breast feeding helps in the weight loss?? I read so many conflicting stories.

[amylee545]

Jan 28, 2015 11:06:12 GMT -5 staccajaye said:

Can I ask a question as a FTM. Is it true what they say about breast feeding helps in the weight loss?? I read so many conflicting stories.

I'm at FTM as well, so nothing to go on by experience. But I've heard conflicting things about this. I've heard that a) you lose weight quicker because of how many calories you burn while BF, and b) that you lose weight slower because your body requires significantly more calories to make up for the calories burned while BF.

[rocksforludo]

Jan 28, 2015 10:20:45 GMT -5 saltyh2O said:

Morning!

For those of you who BF'ed two or more kiddos already, did you find that your related weight loss the second+ time around was similar to what you experienced with your first LO or did you find you lost more or less with each pregnancy?

I'm asking our of curiosity frankly. I lost all but 5ish lbs relatively quickly with DS but started this pregnancy a little heavier than I did with my first. I understand that diet and activity have a ton to do with the end result here, but am just wondering what your experience yielded in terms of your own transition the second or third+ time around back to your pre-pregnancy self.....does that makes sense?

Thanks in advance from a mama who is thrilled to be pregnant, excited about her next adventure as a STM, but also anxious to get back to her "normal" size and shape once LO arrives and we get settled in as a family!

Thank you for asking this!  I lost all my pregnancy weight relatively quickly with my first - due in large part to breastfeeding and being overwhelmed/only finding time to eat granola bars with a newborn - but I was also more careful about what I ate in that pregnancy.  Currently, I'm eating worse because I know I lost that weight pretty easily last time.  As in:  "Ooh, donuts...I'll have another because I'm going to breastfeed."  First, who knows, I might not be able to this time around and second, I don't really know if I'll lose weight in the same way.

[soyboy]

Jan 28, 2015 11:06:12 GMT -5 staccajaye said:

Can I ask a question as a FTM. Is it true what they say about breast feeding helps in the weight loss?? I read so many conflicting stories.

I felt like it helped me lose weight quickly. I was back to pp weight by 15-17weeks. That being said, I have nothing to compare it to. My best friend could only BF for 2 months and she is back below her pp weight after 16 weeks and she was thin to start with. It probably varies person to person, but they say BFing burns about an extra 500 cals a day. Some BFing moms do hold on to that last 5-10 lbs until they wean their baby, as their body maybe needs those extra lbs to help production.

I did find that when I started exercising more and eating less (around 10-12 weeks pp) , my supply dipped. I had to start taking in more calories and cut back a bit on cardio to produce enough for my ravenous baby.

[lexisophie55]

Jan 28, 2015 11:06:12 GMT -5 staccajaye said:

Can I ask a question as a FTM. Is it true what they say about breast feeding helps in the weight loss?? I read so many conflicting stories.

STM here - I lost all but about 7 pounds after birth.  I breastfeed / EP for 13 months.  I quit breastfeeding and lost 15 pounds in a matter of weeks.  I had to buy new clothes and people thought I had an eating disorder.  I never realized it at the time, but I was SO HUNGRY and always eating.  For me - it obviously kept the weight on.  I suppose I could have paid more attention and avoided that, but I was happy and didn't really care.

[rels09]

Jan 28, 2015 11:06:12 GMT -5 staccajaye said:

Can I ask a question as a FTM. Is it true what they say about breast feeding helps in the weight loss?? I read so many conflicting stories.

My experience with friends and family is that people tend to fall into one of two camps: one loses weight very rapidly from BFing and is in danger of losing too much weight (this was me and my mom - I was at my high school weight while BFing, which was not healthy considering I was an athlete with actual muscle in high school and 12+ years younger). The other camp holds on to an extra 5 or so pounds while BFing and can lose those fairly quickly once they wean, but not before.

[mpiemont]

I have nursed both babies for about 13-14 months each.

With my first, the weight literally fell off. I did absolutely nothing. I had gained 40lbs and was back to a few lbs less than pre baby weight in a couple months. It was amazing and I was very excited.

With my second, not so much....I gained 52lbs and lost about half of it without trying by 2 months. Then I just stopped losing. So the other 25lbs I had to work really hard to lose and was not back to pre baby weight until 6 months (I started really "dieting"/exercise at about 2 months, so it took me 4 months to lose that 25lbs).

So my personal experience was that the weight was harder to lose the 2nd time around, even though I was exclusively BF both times.

As far as pain, I think the first few weeks was pretty painful both times. I don't remember it being much less with the 2nd unfortunately. At least I sort of knew what to expect. I will say that the "after pains" of the uterus cramping/shrinking when I nursed were way worse with the 2nd.

[shmee]

Jan 28, 2015 11:06:12 GMT -5 staccajaye said:

Can I ask a question as a FTM. Is it true what they say about breast feeding helps in the weight loss?? I read so many conflicting stories.

For me, it was true. Obviously it varies from person to person but from my own experience yes, it helped a lot. I was back to my PP weight within a month of giving birth, granted I only gained 17 pounds during my pregnancy. That is the ONE benefit to having GD, you have to eat pretty healthy I didn't find myself gaining or losing after weaning, but then again, I weaned when I was 10 weeks pregnant with this baby so who knows.

[shmee]

Jan 28, 2015 11:37:51 GMT -5 mpiemont said:

As far as pain, I think the first few weeks was pretty painful both times. I don't remember it being much less with the 2nd unfortunately. At least I sort of knew what to expect. I will say that the "after pains" of the uterus cramping/shrinking when I nursed were way worse with the 2nd.

Fair enough, that's kind of what I was expecting. And like you said, at least I know it's going to get better and that it's worth the discomfort in the long run. I appreciate your honesty!

[honeylemon]

I lost all but like 3 lbs of my pregnancy weight within two weeks after my first was born. But I was not doing well (physically or mentally) and DS struggled to gain weight. We worked through it and ended up having a great 26 month nursing relationship but the beginning was tough.

It took longer for me to lose the weight after Iris was born, but I healed more quickly, she nursed better, and gained weight amazingly well. I was still 5 lbs over my prepregnancy weight when I got pregnant with this baby (she was 13 months) but I was at a healthy weight and felt good. She's still nursing.

Nursing DS was a struggle in the beginning. I had flat nipples and he did not have a great latch. Untreated PPD didn't help the situation.

I had zero pain nursing Iris from day 1. I was much more confident in myself and relaxed with her. She latched perfectly from the first moment. After 2+ years of nursing I no longer had flat nipples so didn't have to deal with that either. My MWs made sure my PPD was under control too.

I don't have any expectations for this baby. They're all different and I plan to just take it one day at a time.

[hotcoconuts82]

My weight loss experience was pretty similar with both pregnancies. I lost everything except about 5lbs pretty quickly. I held onto that 5 lbs until I stopped breastfeeding. And then all hell broke loose and the weight just fell off of me despite my best efforts to not lose weight.

[rocksforludo]

Thank you mpiemont and honeylemon. This is the kick in the ass I needed to stop using future bf'ing as an excuse to eat extra crap.

[jko454]

Jan 28, 2015 11:11:26 GMT -5 amylee545 said:

Jan 28, 2015 11:06:12 GMT -5 staccajaye said:

Can I ask a question as a FTM. Is it true what they say about breast feeding helps in the weight loss?? I read so many conflicting stories.

I'm at FTM as well, so nothing to go on by experience. But I've heard conflicting things about this. I've heard that a) you lose weight quicker because of how many calories you burn while BF, and b) that you lose weight slower because your body requires significantly more calories to make up for the calories burned while BF.

My personal experience was that I was 10 pounds less than pre-pregnancy by 6 months PP. I am also still breastfeeding and started this pregnancy at a lower weight than my last one. I am small to begin with though and have a high metabolism. I guess it just depends on several factors.

[jko454]

Jan 28, 2015 11:37:51 GMT -5 mpiemont said:

As far as pain, I think the first few weeks was pretty painful both times. I don't remember it being much less with the 2nd unfortunately. At least I sort of knew what to expect. I will say that the "after pains" of the uterus cramping/shrinking when I nursed were way worse with the 2nd.

I have heard the same thing about the after pains being worse with the second.  I didn't have any with my first though, so this makes me a bit scared!

[kj808]

Mine was about the same for both. DS had a hard time latching and I had to wear a shield so I didn't get to exclusively bf him as long as I had planned. He started on bottles very early. With DD, I bf'd her for a year (although not exclusively once I returned to work). I lost weight in about the same amount of time for both. If anything I think my body bounced back quicker the first time around.

[marybeth]

I gained 70 lbs with my first pregnancy, and lost 55 of that within 3 weeks. I had PIH and I was SUPER swollen so I'm not sure how much of that was actual weight and how much was fluid. The last fifteen pounds was tough, though. I didn't lose it until after I quit breast feeding. When I quit breast feeding I lost it exerting no effort, though.

[smile55k]

I breastfed for 9 months and lost all but the last 7 lbs with no effort. However, after I stopped nursing, I gained a few lbs back and never got back to pre pregnancy weight, and started this pregnancy with an extra 10 lbs.

[jennadesigns]

I gained 45 lbs with my DS and 50 lbs with my DD. With both, I lost most of the weight by about 8 weeks post-partum. I hung on to about 5-10 lbs until I weaned them and then I lost that remainder within a month or two. I know I'm lucky in that I never had to change my eating habits or exercise more often to lose the weight.

As far as painful nursing, my son was miserable to nurse. I only made it five weeks before I gave up and it hurt so much during that time. He was tongue tied and had a very poor latch. With my daughter, I nursed her for just over a year. I don't remember it hurting at all - not even at first. So there's hope for you second time moms.

[saltyh2O]

Jan 28, 2015 16:26:15 GMT -5 smile55k said:

I breastfed for 9 months and lost all but the last 7 lbs with no effort. However, after I stopped nursing, I gained a few lbs back and never got back to pre pregnancy weight, and started this pregnancy with an extra 10 lbs.

I BF'd for 14 months before DS weaned, but otherwise this was pretty much me too smile55k. While I lost 26 of the 33 lbs I gained in total relatively quickly, I held on to those last 7lbs regardless....and then gained another 3-4 once I weaned (over the course of around 6 months). Basically I think the combination of still eating like I was nursing, and then wrestling with making time to regularly exercise the way I could before DS was born, caught up with me. I was working out and toning up well when I got pregnant this time around, but I was still about 7lbs heavier than I was when I got pregnant with DS. I guess I'm just curious to see whether or not BFing this time around will take the weight off similarly or not.....

honeylemon - sounds like our first nursing experiences were very similar as we slogged through the stress of slow weight gain and a hard-fought BFing relationship as well. Its encouraging to hear your second time around with your DD was so "simple" in comparison!

[smile55k]

Jan 28, 2015 20:55:29 GMT -5 saltyh2O said:

Jan 28, 2015 16:26:15 GMT -5 smile55k said:

I breastfed for 9 months and lost all but the last 7 lbs with no effort. However, after I stopped nursing, I gained a few lbs back and never got back to pre pregnancy weight, and started this pregnancy with an extra 10 lbs.

I BF'd for 14 months before DS weaned, but otherwise this was pretty much me too smile55k. While I lost 26 of the 33 lbs I gained in total relatively quickly, I held on to those last 7lbs regardless....and then gained another 3-4 once I weaned (over the course of around 6 months). Basically I think the combination of still eating like I was nursing, and then wrestling with making time to regularly exercise the way I could before DS was born, caught up with me. I was working out and toning up well when I got pregnant this time around, but I was still about 7lbs heavier than I was when I got pregnant with DS. I guess I'm just curious to see whether or not BFing this time around will take the weight off similarly or not.....!

This I would like to know too! I hope I don't end up with ANOTHER extra 10 lbs this time around!

[saltyh2O]

Jan 28, 2015 21:07:26 GMT -5 smile55k said:

Jan 28, 2015 20:55:29 GMT -5 saltyh2O said:

I BF'd for 14 months before DS weaned, but otherwise this was pretty much me too smile55k. While I lost 26 of the 33 lbs I gained in total relatively quickly, I held on to those last 7lbs regardless....and then gained another 3-4 once I weaned (over the course of around 6 months). Basically I think the combination of still eating like I was nursing, and then wrestling with making time to regularly exercise the way I could before DS was born, caught up with me. I was working out and toning up well when I got pregnant this time around, but I was still about 7lbs heavier than I was when I got pregnant with DS. I guess I'm just curious to see whether or not BFing this time around will take the weight off similarly or not.....!

This I would like to know too! I hope I don't end up with ANOTHER extra 10 lbs this time around!

Ugh, I hope not for us BOTH. Can we be workout friends who kick each other's a** for not eating right if BFing doesn't turn out to be super-awesomely helpful for us this second time around?!

[smile55k]

Jan 28, 2015 21:20:24 GMT -5 saltyh2O said:

Jan 28, 2015 21:07:26 GMT -5 smile55k said:

This I would like to know too! I hope I don't end up with ANOTHER extra 10 lbs this time around!

Ugh, I hope not for us BOTH. Can we be workout friends who kick each other's a** for not eating right if BFing doesn't turn out to be super-awesomely helpful for us this second time around?!

Yes! I will need some motivation!!!!

[smilz4782]

This is only my second time, but first time I started pregnancy 30lbs over and gained 35-40lbs, I was down 20 or more by 2 weeks PP and down to -20 by the time I was 9 months PP (so ten overweight but 20 under what I started at DD with) total lost was 55lb in 9 mo.
I was running after pregnancy but that's my norm. I was not dieting.
I hope to have the same experience this time, I think I'm
Gaining more quickly so I will need to drop it!!