question about whether ketosis will happen if milk is still present

[lucidlemon]

My son is almost 8 months old and we had a lot of problems with Nursing (low supply)- I ended up taking motilium, fenugreek and blessed thistle to increase my supply, as well as supplementing with formula for 4 months- before he started getting frustrated with switching back and forth (after that nursing got much harder, as he wouldn't stay on the breast because he wasn't getting the flow and then wouldn't take the supplement because he wanted the breast) needless to say, I was stressed with trying to make nursing work and just wouldn't give myself a break and accept that maybe this time wasn't going to happen. So at 41/2 months I decided to bottle feed during the day, pump at when I got full and nurse at night. I didn't even notice while I was freaking out about this that I gained an additional 30 pounds!!

I haven't nursed since he was 5 months old and haven't pumped since he was six months old- my hormones seem to be regulating, but I am still seeing traces of milk here and there....I want to know if there are any women that had trouble getting into ketosis if they were still producing a bit of milk, or the milk had not fully dried up when they started atkins.

Thanks!

[Lyssie]

Mine hadn't. I had the same issues you did, took a ton of vitamins and gave up around 4 months - it wasn't worth me taking 10pills a day in order to breastfeed. Anyway, I didn't have issues with getting into ketosis afterwards... of course, since I had a low/barely there supply anyway, I pretty much dried up immediately... but I did start Atkins first.

[lucidlemon]

thank you Lyssie-

I'm only on day 5 of induction, so I just wanted to make sure that I would have some results at the end of induction. I am going to do an extended induction because I have a lot to lose! You are truly an inspiration - goodness 123lb so far! amazing! I don't have a lot of time to exercise hard, but I make the best of what I do get- go for 1-1 1/2hr walk everyday started doing my exercise videos again...so I think that once I get in a routine things are going to go very well.

Thank you for sharing that information with me- it really helps to put things in perspective. I waited to start Atkins because I was still pumping once a day an dgiving my boy 6oz of milk- He was a large birthweight baby- so I always seemed to be 1 step behind him, either that or he wasn't a strong sucker- even when I put him on every 20 mins- he still screamed...we thought we had a colicky baby. When I decided to make things easier on both of us (took a long time because I was really down about it and loved the bonding that we had- so I decided to nurse in the night and make the most of the early morning surge of milk, but I stopped taking the pills and wow- they had made a difference)- I grieved not being to breastfeed, it was almost like a I lost a part of myself- this is the pressure society/ourselves put on us in perfect action. I loved my baby and wanted to do everything for him and when one thing didn't work, it was like the whole world stopped. Even with people telling me that it is not the end of the world if you don't breastfeed- I still heard the midwives saying breast is best- no matter how you give it, I saw the posters of babies Breastfeeding that said - trust starts here (how damaging is that!). I couldn't feed in public (position wise) and was embarassed about bottle feeding as well- even though there were tons of people bottle feeding their babies. It's so crazy what we put ourselves through-

I will try again next time- but I am not going to fret if it doesn't work again - I have a strong- healthy- smart- and large baby boy who doesn't care how he gets his food, as long as his mommy loves him. This experience also she a lot of light on the history of breastfeeding in my family (only my great grandmother and those before her breastfed). we should all just thank our lucky stars that there are alternatives for when things don't work out the way we plan.

Thank you again!

[Lyssie]

I know how you feel - My mom basically said I was being a horrible parent for not continuing with it, along with my best friend... but I was getting so stressed out over the whole thing that it was harder for me, not easier, and I couldn't keep doing that to myself. If I just tried to nurse him, I would be awake all night. We tried all of that to see if it would help, but it didn't. He's almost 4 now, and smart, funny, in great shape and knows that I love him... so apparently it didn't adversely affect him in any way.

Good luck with everything. The exercise sounds great. It took me a long time to get here, since I would get frustrated and fall off the wagon when I stalled. Believe me, if I can get this far, you can too. Just don't give up when it gets a little rough, or cravings, or anything like that. It's much more important to be able to run around with a little munchkin than watching from the sidelines because you're too tired to.

[Justwannaloseafewlbs]

Dear Lucid:

First off, I am sorry your desire to nurse your baby did not go planned. It sounds like nursing was very important to you.

I am a bit confused by your post. How old is your baby? That aside, I take it you are trying to maybe dry up your milk supply because your baby is no longer nursing? To this end, I would suggest taking a little Sudafed to dry it up if that is what you want to do. I can tell you from my own experience that it can take some women a very long time for the milk to dry up completely. This is not the case for all women, but it was the case for me. My son (who is 22 mos) went on a nursing strike when he was 10 mos. old. It took nearly a year for my milk to dry up completely. This winter, I caughter several colds and ended up taking sudafed (the real sudafed that they keep behind the counter), and that got rid of the milk for good. The only other thing I can recommennd if you want to clear your milk supply is to avoid contact with hot or even warm water. The Sudafed should do the trick, however. For me, it took one pill, which again, I took for a cold.

I am sorry I cannot directly answer your question about ketosis and nursing, but I have a second point to make about nursing and weight loss, which may help you. Most moms find it easier to lose weight while nursing. All of my friends had no difficultly getting their figures back, even with extended nursing. This was not my personal experience. I was not able to lose ANY weight until my son gave it up. Once he did, I dropped about 20 pounds in a 6 weeks without being on any sort of diet. Of course, my eating changed during that time because my cravings changed. My cravings changed because my hormones were changing. When I was nursing, I had a sweet-tooth to the extreme! And that kept me heavy. Some women are affected by nursing hormones the same way I was, most are not, but both reactions are normal. Also, as long as you are nursing, your body may tend to retain some of the hormones that it needed during pregnancy, and some pregnancy hormones make insulin more effective at storing energy in the form of fat. This also happened to me. Conceivably, this could make it harder to get into ketosis.

I hope this helps a little. Good luck with whatever you endeavor to do!

[lucidlemon]

Hello Just...

Thank you- Yes it was very important to me. I had planned to nurse until he weaned himself. But that's life- and sometimes things don't go the way we plan- it took me a long time to get to this point.

Sorry a little typo- my baby is almost 8 months old. I have not nursed him for almost 3 months and have not pumped for almost 2 months.

Sudafed huh? Weird...My doctor told me to do this whole thing for 4 days where I wrap my breasts tightly and don't drink anything past 4pm and that would dry up the milk...I don't know about you, but there is no way that I can't go without drinking anything.

I think I may try the Sudafed thing. I think that I am in ketosis...so in 8 days I have lost a total of 6" all over....huge change for me.

[Justwannaloseafewlbs]

Dear Lucid:

I just wanted to say that I re-read your post and I am no longer confused about your baby's age (I guess I am just really tired at this time of night). If your baby is 8 mos old, then the fun is probably just beginning for you! I was pretty sad when my son gave up nursing, but I eventually came to realize that there is so much more to the parent-child relationship than breast-milk or formula. You sound like a very caring a responsive mother and that is far more important in the grand scheme of things than the source of the milk.

[lucidlemon]

you are so right- just today he figired out that when he smiles coyly, people will respond with smiles of their own! Soooo cute today...He was such a flirt! He met a little baby girl who was 4 months and he was just gaga over her...smiling and cooing at her and giving her little hand waves.

I am able to enjoy him so much now that the stress has been taken out of his feedings.

Thank you for your kind words!

[Justwannaloseafewlbs]

I just remembered a few of the natural ways to get the milk to go away. You can try making a tea tincture out of sage, and I have also heard that cabbage leaves also work (you don't have to eat them, just wear them in the bra). As the Sudafed was a sure thing for me, I did not try sage or cabbage.

I have come to the conclusion that ketosis can still occur while a mother is producing milk based on two observations: (1) ALL of my friends who got skinny while breast feeding and (2) I was still making milk when I lost a good part of my baby weight. In both cases, we must have been in ketosis as we were obviously burning fat. So ketosis can happen while milk is present.

I just remembered something... 10 months after my son went on "strike", he starting asking me, "nurse, nurse" and signing "milk" with his hand! Oh well...

Good luck to you and kiss that baby!

[Lyssie]

Sorry, but those theories are completely off and the reasoning as to being in ketosis is wrong.

A lot of people lose weight while breast feeding since it burns a *lot* of calories to produce milk. This does not mean that you're in ketosis, it just means that you're eating less calories than you're burning.