I'm hungry... still

still starving-ds 14 months!!! I literally could eat three servings of each meal.
In fact, I'm about to go fix myself another midnight snack!

You may be hungry for reasons other than nursing. Breastfeeding doesn't take very many calories. They used to say a peanut butter sandwich and glass of milk a day was what was needed for lactation but now the 'experts' are thinking it may be even less.

You probably have had many changes in your life the last 8 months. Your response may be to eat more. You may want to snack while sitting and nursing. You might be thirsty and your body makes you think thirst is hunger. When you feel you are hungry you might try drinking water and waiting 15-30 min and see if you still feel hungry.

The good news is you are going to have new changes that may get you more active and maybe less hungry. You are going to be keeping up with a crawling then walking child.

Nursing every 3-4 hours really isn't all that much for an 8 month old. It is worth it for you and your baby to keep nursing for at least 12 months. Two years is an even better goal. Some nursing mothers don't loose their 'baby fat' until they start having periods again.

I encourage you to think about the many reasons why you might be hungry other than breastfeeding. You may be having problems with your blood sugar getting low and making you hungry. I had problems with hypoglycemia when I was nursing and had to be careful.

Splurge on good for you, low calorie food to nipple on. I love unsweetened frozen fruit in place of ice cream - blueberries, mixed berries, pineapple, cherrries. Don't buy things you know you will pig out on.

Quote: (sorry - don't know how to do this the cool way)
You may be hungry for reasons other than nursing. Breastfeeding doesn't take very many calories. They used to say a peanut butter sandwich and glass of milk a day was what was needed for lactation but now the 'experts' are thinking it may be even less.

I just gotta disagree with these experts.

A friend gave her baby a huge bottle in front of me one time and it made me wonder how much milk I was really making. I had a look at how much formula a baby my age would take (about a litre or 4 cups I think at that time) and looked at how many calories that would be in normal cows milk. And then my milk is going to be richer (I think). Anyway - it's a lot of calories.

It's not in your head. Your body does need extra calories to make the milk for your baby.

If you're not putting on weight, you're obviously not eating too much. Eat, enjoy, be happy. Your body is amazing. Breastfeeding a crawling/walking baby who ísn't into food yet is the best diet plan I know

My 18 month old eats anything, anytime, nurses about 6x a day and I am still eating like a horse to maintain my weight. Taking my prenatals, decent diet, all that. My servings are bigger than my hubby's at dinner!

FWIW, I'm still really hungry too. My twins are 9 months old. I thought maybe it's because I'm nursing two babies, but perhaps that's just the way it is whether you're nursing a singleton or multiples. I recently started following the Weight Watchers plan (I've got quite a bit of weight I need to lose) and it's teaching me to be more mindful of what I eat. Lately I've been eating lots of vegetables, more fruits than sweets (I have a serious sweet tooth), and good amounts of proteins. As a result, my appetite is slowly subsiding. I'm still really hungry, but I think much of it's in my head. I'm also still really thirsty (though not quite as much as I was right after my girls were born) and water with lemon seems to help supress my appetite somewhat. Maybe it's all in my head, but it's working for me.

I have a friend who just weaned her twins (they're 2 weeks older than mine) and she said her appetite has gone way down. I plan on nursing my girls as long as they want to go (it'll probably be years--both of them are little booby addicts ), so I won't know if my hearty appetite is tied to nursing or something else.