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Has anyone done OMAD or IF while breastfeeding?

Hey ladies, so currently pregnant with baby #2. I'm just wondering if anyone has had success with doing OMAD or IF while breastfeeding without it harming milk supply. There's really no research out there about it so I'm hoping some ladies here might have experience. I'll just add I am specifically asking about OMAD and IF because I know fasting for longer than 24 hours while BFing is not recommended.

Answer

Congrats!

I think you would be hard pressed to find a breastfeeding medicine physician or lactation consultant who would approve of OMAD while breastfeeding. First, I would worry about supply and dehydration. Next, energy keeping up with the exhausting demands of a newborn.

If you decide to try, I personally wouldn’t attempt it until I wanted to wean or my child was obtaining the majority of their nutrition from solids. For my kids that was after 1 year, but each breastfeeding relationship is different.

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I did IF and OMAD while BFing. At the beginning, I did more like a + tiny lunch (250 cals) BFing-friendly version of OMAD. I had about 40 lbs to lose, and I did. My supply was always quite low, but enough. If I’d had to continue pumping instead of staying home, it might not have been. But that may have had nothing to do with diet. My kid has always been in the 99th percentile for weight, though… so that’s my anecdotal experience. What I know for sure is that it’s most important to take care of yourself—your mind and your energy levels. Those are essential! Congratulations! Number 2 is a leap, for sure!

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I did IF before I knew what it was. I exclusively pumped with my kids and had an oversupply (high storage capacity.)

I never ate breakfast- meals from 2-8pm.

As with all things, it depends on the person.

Speaking from an evolutionary perspective, humans didn’t always have readily available food, so as long as IF is your routine (before baby, or gradually after) —- your body should know what to do. They would wake in the AM and have to go find food, and went to bed with the sun so IF was built into their routine.

Answer

Yes. My child was >6 months and we continued to nurse til about 15 months. I had no decrease in my well-established milk supply and lost decently.

Things to keep in mind:

  1. You’ll hit ketosis a LOT faster - your body is using carbs to make milk. You may feel like crap. Don’t add on this extra stress if you’re during a growth spurt (3wks, 3 months, etc) or sleep regression (4 months) or if you’re just tired. Be good to yourself!
  2. Losing >1lb/wk isn’t recommended because fat stores toxins and they get released into your blood stream (and milk). I’d also be careful about dairy if you’re doing this because it’ll just add to your dioxin load (tbh, I wouldn’t do dairy during pregnancy knowing what I do know about it).

I did lose more than 1lb/wk quite a few times, but then maintained for quite a bit. I did use an extended fast to try to decrease milk supply so she’d stop nursing and, well, my body decided milk was more important and easily kept up.

(Source: I was a midwife and I’m a mom of 8).

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I could go up to 20 hours fasted while breastfeeding before I would feel terrible. I am one of those freaks of nature who always had an oversupply no matter what I did even 2 years into breastfeeding. So losing weight (70lbs in 2 years) in general while breastfeeding was hard on my body. My hair fell out hard core until I weaned a few months ago and now everything is back to normal. It’s hard to say what one could expect because everyone is different along with each pregnancy or each time breastfeeding a different child.

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I wouldn’t risk it even though we really don’t know how it will effect you. I wanted to breastfeed so badly and couldn’t build enough supply even after 6 months of trying literally everything. You’ve got the rest of your life to try out different ways of eating but you only get one chance to breastfeed (per child).