High fat diet to keep milk up??

Maxy1 · Apr 16th, 2012, 03:24 AM

Does anyone else feel like a diet with added 'bad' foods keeps the milk up?

In the last couple months I have felt much better after a tumultuous start to BFing and got back to my usual healthy self, eating a really good balanced diet, running and biking. The exercise is light to moderate, about 1/4 of what I was doing pre pregnancy. About a week into doing this I am sure my milk supply dropped right off. I started offering DS the breast every 90 min to 2 hours to get it back up again and that has been successful. But by far I have found that after a few days of having a bit of chocolate and ice cream daily my supply does a lot better, it drops off again if I cut it out. Is this a coincidence?

I am not yet back at my pre prego weight but I fit into all my old clothes, just got a 'mum tum' now. For the first 16 weeks BFing I had a lot of biscuits/choc/cheese/chips because I was ravenous all the time and craved it. I don't crave this food now and its a bit of a chore to put it in.

RaspberryK · Apr 16th, 2012, 03:27 AM

Not really... The amount of liquid you drink does though.
X

Maxy1 · Apr 16th, 2012, 03:33 AM

Oh cool, I drink about a litre of water per hour of exercise plus a litre overnight with night feeds and another 4 - 6 glasses during the day as well as other fluids. I have found more water overnight has made a difference too with the 4 month sleep regression still going and going.

Poppeteer · Apr 16th, 2012, 10:29 AM

I have found my diet does affect my milk supply... Don't get me wrong- my baby's growth is fantastic... He was 3kg at birth and now at almost 5 months he's hit 8kg... But I've pretty much watched what I eat since he was 3 weeks old, and when I had a bit of a break from my diet on holiday I found the engorgement torture!!! He fed as much as usual, but me relaxing my diet drove my milk supply crazy... It was literally like within 30 mins of a good feed my breasts were hard and leaking again :-/

summer rain · Apr 16th, 2012, 11:21 AM

I find for me if I eat a calorie controlled lower fat diet but make sure I eat at regular intervals throughout the day it actually increases my supply but I can't keep that up all the time especially with recent stress and health issues. I also find caffeinated drinks increase my supply to almost ridiculous levels, contrary to the popular myth that they somehow constrict blood vessels and thus decrease supply xx

cutie4evr01 · Apr 16th, 2012, 14:07 PM

Not sure if it's down to fat or just number of calories, but if I eat some junk I have more milk for sure. The days I try to eat healthier or don't mange to eat much, I definitely have a lower supply (even when drinking loads of water).

veganmama · Apr 16th, 2012, 14:33 PM

you dont have to eat "junk" to get lots of fat

pour a gallon of olive oil on a salad and there you have the equivalent of fat content

MeowPurr32 · Apr 16th, 2012, 14:53 PM

A gallon of olive oil? Teehee!

Maxy1 · Apr 16th, 2012, 14:58 PM

Thanks everyone for your responses. Maybe it is just a calorie thing, but my usual healthy diet is about 2200 calories, so I think its more fats/sugars.

Thanks veganmama for the idea, um maybe not a gallon

. I tried adding avocado's to my salad's and having nuts and stuff as healthier fats but I am supposed to be on a FODMAP diet so get quite sick on avo's and nuts. Its much easier to get GF, DF junk food!!

Apr 16th, 2012, 03:24 AM	#1
Maxy1 Mum (Mom) Active BnB Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 665	High fat diet to keep milk up?? Does anyone else feel like a diet with added 'bad' foods keeps the milk up? In the last couple months I have felt much better after a tumultuous start to BFing and got back to my usual healthy self, eating a really good balanced diet, running and biking. The exercise is light to moderate, about 1/4 of what I was doing pre pregnancy. About a week into doing this I am sure my milk supply dropped right off. I started offering DS the breast every 90 min to 2 hours to get it back up again and that has been successful. But by far I have found that after a few days of having a bit of chocolate and ice cream daily my supply does a lot better, it drops off again if I cut it out. Is this a coincidence? I am not yet back at my pre prego weight but I fit into all my old clothes, just got a 'mum tum' now. For the first 16 weeks BFing I had a lot of biscuits/choc/cheese/chips because I was ravenous all the time and craved it. I don't crave this food now and its a bit of a chore to put it in.

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Apr 16th, 2012, 03:27 AM	#2
RaspberryK Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Northamptonshire, England Posts: 4,629	Not really... The amount of liquid you drink does though. X

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Apr 16th, 2012, 03:33 AM	#3
Maxy1 Mum (Mom) Active BnB Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 665	Oh cool, I drink about a litre of water per hour of exercise plus a litre overnight with night feeds and another 4 - 6 glasses during the day as well as other fluids. I have found more water overnight has made a difference too with the 4 month sleep regression still going and going.

Status: Offline

Apr 16th, 2012, 10:29 AM	#4
Poppeteer Mum (Mom) Chat Happy BnB Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: My own world Posts: 1,210	I have found my diet does affect my milk supply... Don't get me wrong- my baby's growth is fantastic... He was 3kg at birth and now at almost 5 months he's hit 8kg... But I've pretty much watched what I eat since he was 3 weeks old, and when I had a bit of a break from my diet on holiday I found the engorgement torture!!! He fed as much as usual, but me relaxing my diet drove my milk supply crazy... It was literally like within 30 mins of a good feed my breasts were hard and leaking again :-/

Status: Offline

Apr 16th, 2012, 11:21 AM	#5
summer rain Mum (Mom) BnB Elite Join Date: May 2010 Location: South East England Posts: 16,326	I find for me if I eat a calorie controlled lower fat diet but make sure I eat at regular intervals throughout the day it actually increases my supply but I can't keep that up all the time especially with recent stress and health issues. I also find caffeinated drinks increase my supply to almost ridiculous levels, contrary to the popular myth that they somehow constrict blood vessels and thus decrease supply xx

Status: Offline

Apr 16th, 2012, 14:07 PM	#6
cutie4evr01 Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: USA Posts: 2,775	Not sure if it's down to fat or just number of calories, but if I eat some junk I have more milk for sure. The days I try to eat healthier or don't mange to eat much, I definitely have a lower supply (even when drinking loads of water).

Status: Offline

Apr 16th, 2012, 14:33 PM	#7
veganmama Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 2,781	you dont have to eat "junk" to get lots of fat pour a gallon of olive oil on a salad and there you have the equivalent of fat content

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Apr 16th, 2012, 14:53 PM	#8
MeowPurr32 Mum (Mom) Active BnB Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 529	A gallon of olive oil? Teehee!

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Apr 16th, 2012, 14:58 PM	#9
Maxy1 Mum (Mom) Active BnB Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 665	Thanks everyone for your responses. Maybe it is just a calorie thing, but my usual healthy diet is about 2200 calories, so I think its more fats/sugars. Thanks veganmama for the idea, um maybe not a gallon. I tried adding avocado's to my salad's and having nuts and stuff as healthier fats but I am supposed to be on a FODMAP diet so get quite sick on avo's and nuts. Its much easier to get GF, DF junk food!!

Status: Offline

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