I am not hungry a lot of the time. I forget to eat breakfast- even though I make it for DS, or just don't have time coz DD is attached to my chest. I have been snacking, although on lactation cookies (which seemed to work for the first few days), but theyre all gone now. Lunch isn't very big either. I do seem to eat dinner.
I didn't eat dinner tonight though - just wasn't hungry. ( I had a small sandwich for lunch and can't remember if I ate breakfast).
What nutrition is DD getting? Any at all? I feel guilty for not eating when I realize I haven't, but when I realize I havent I'm still not hungry and cant seem to make myself eat...
What can I do? I seem to have the milk, I'm just worried about it's quality.
She is getting everything she needs - she is stripping it from you.
You need to eat chick! And maybe loot into taking a multi if you aren't eating much, as all the nutrients she needs, she takes from you.
Your body gives them to her first, anything left, you get.
You may find your nails and hair will get brittle first, split, your lips will be dry and itchy, your skin will get itchy and dry too. You may also start having issues like being tired, unable to concentrate, etc if you aren't getting enough yourself.
Even if you graze all day, get some raisins, mixed nuts like almonds and cashews, some yoghurt and some grapes or apples... Just pick, a piece of toast here, a piece of bread, whatever. But if you eat breakfast first thing, you will be hungry by morning tea time.
Took 3 weeks of DH basically force feeding me breakfast til my appetite kicked in.
HTH
I hardly ate for the first 6 weeks of DDs life. I just wasn't hungry and felt nauseous a lot of the time from the sleep deprivation. DD BF until 11.5 months We did have a rocky start but that was due to attachment issues and a sleepy baby who was also a lazy sucker
I think your supply and quality will be fine. You'll be worse off for it than your DD. Try to snack a lot and when you feel hungry, eat up and fill yourself up. I really struggled too but often felt better after eating, especially if someone else had prepared something for me
I've never been a big eater and I eat even less when I am tired. Hasn't effected my milk or my supply. 9 week old dd is a fatty. But that being said it did effect me. I am now seriously anemic. I have to force myself to eat, and take my vitamins and my iron etc.
And yes most meals are consumed with dd on my lap and most meals I couldn't be bothered to eat. But I eat them anyway. You need to eat, as much as sometimes its too much bub is sucking all the goodness out of you and whilst it won't effect bub it will effect you.
Your milk will provide all the nutrition your baby needs. the boffins have checked out the milk of women all over the world in all sorts of situation. And the quality is pretty much the same even when the mother is relatively starving. You can adequately breastfeed your baby on a can of coke and a tim tam if you like - but we don't reccommend it! And you can see that - because you know you have a healthy, thriving baby in front of you. You need to eat for your well being. I have known some mums who actually put a chart on the fridge and tick off every meal they eat. Set the phone alarm so you know it's time to ear. Have easy on-handed food around that's nutritious. Like verything, do it for a couple of weeks and it becomes a habit
Your baby will be fine, how are you feeling? You need to take care of yourself too! Maybe try to remember to have little, nutritious snacks from time to time even if you're not having big meals.
Maybe the best thing to do at the moment is to make extra of whatever DS is having and have some yourself - if you eat something whenever a toddler is hungry you should be OK!
I agree with everyone's post.
Bubby will be fine, out breast milk is an amazing thing in how it works. But like everyone else has said you will start to feel drained.
It helped me to make a "lunch box" for me (can make one for your ds too) at night time for the next day, then if DD was being fussy I only had to pick up and eat, nothing needed preparing until dinner.
Food and breast milk quality
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