Is it normal to have THIS kind of appetite after the baby comes?

[Cloth4Colin]

Good LANDS, mamas! I think I have eaten more in the last three days than I did my entire pregnancy. It's not been health food either...so I'm BAD! I just feel like I am STARVING every minute of the day. I had such horrid nausea throughout and then was restricted on my sugar for the last two trimesters, so I guess I'm making up for lost time...but is it normal to be SO hungry? I swear I could eat until I explode. I won't even tell you how fast I whipped through a Whitman Sampler...: Let's just say I'll probably weigh more at my 6 week check than I did at the end of my pregnancy...OOPS!

I know I need to eat healthier...and I will get back on track, but I've really gone wild these last few days. I just hope it won't hurt my milk...so far, so good...but I know I need to do less in the sugar department.

[SusannahM]

It's normal to be really hungry. Your body is healing, and making milk burns 500 calories a day. What gets hard is finding the time to eat once the baby gets over being a little sleepy from the birth.

[PortraitPixie]

*crashing in from January*

I was MUCH hungrier with both of mine nursing, than pregnant. It's hard work to make all that milk!

[elmh23]

Yes. Nursing takes a lot of energy and therefore makes you starving!

[mom2mimi]

Originally Posted by PortraitPixie

*crashing in from January*

I was MUCH hungrier with both of mine nursing, than pregnant. It's hard work to make all that milk!

Me too. That's why the whole thing about nursing helping you to lose the baby weight never worked out for me!

[mamabear&babybear]

After having hg and having to limit your sugar, I say eat anything and everything you want for at least a little while. I do remember being extraordinarily hungry after having dd. I did have a restricted diet though, no wheat or dairy.

[timneh_mom]

OH YES!! I ate so much it was scary, after I had my son... nursing made me crazy hungry too! I think you burn so many calories making milk and recovering from birth (not to mention, your stomach isn't squashed!) plus, labor is such hard work - the only time I'd ever been close to that hungry from any other one thing was after a day of scuba diving in COLD Lake Superior!!

[ibusymomto5]

It's very much normal! In fact your body actually needs more calories to make good rich milk than when pregnant. We're fortunate to have a wonderful church family who has been bringing us very nutritious and yummy meals, but if it wasn't for that I'd be eating whatever. It's like I'm a bottomless pit, and literally everything sounds delicious. It's nice to feel like this as opposed to the end of pregnancy no appetite and nausea I had the few days leading up to labor.

[WinterBaby]

Oh my gosh, we had our baby sunday and I've been *ravenous* to put it mildly. That evening they brought me the most unappetizing hospital meal ever (some sort of canned meat product in a gelatinous gravy that made the canned green beans look heavenly and gourmet!) and I devoured it entirely. And I'm a terribly picky eater, in reality But I was ordering a ton for my meals thinking I'd share it with DH, but ended up eating all of it and whatever extra pastry or snack product he'd bring back to me, lol. Pastry things are my real sore spot - the craving for sweet is way up and they just seem to hit the spot more than the healthier things I've been trying. It's sort of fun, really, to have this wild appetite. Makes it so darn satisfying to eat! But it's been gradually slowing down, and I hope it's backed off entirely soon or I'll be worried about checking out my weight in a few weeks too!

[bikruca]

add me to the crazy hungry list... it's hard to eat when constantly tandem nursing though!!!