TTC girl while breastfeeding

[Megs978]

Hi, I'm not sure if I should take supplements like Cranberry, magnesium or calcium (if they even help?) while breastfeeding? Do I need to cut out breakfast as this will affect my breastfeeding? What food should I eat or avoid? Also, how long do you need to diet before trying?what exercise should I do? Many thanks in advance!

[atomic sagebrush]

No cranberry, aspirin, Sudafed, peppermint tea, saw palmetto when breastfeeding (and anything else you intend to try please check with me before taking)

You can take cal/mag supps if you would like.

Breakfast skipping has not been super effective and if you need breakfast, eat it. I would not eat all day every day with lots of snacking, but you can have 3 or even 4 meals a day.

You will need to eat 1800-2000 cals, 50-60 g protein and fat or even more (esp. with the calories). DO NOT try to eat less than that while nursing, it has caused tons of trouble for the people who insist upon eating less than that.

There are no magic foods on LE Diet, all foods are allowed within the limits for the day (see above).

12 weeks on diet or more has gotten best results. But anything longer than 6-8 has been acceptible.

Cardio exercise 60 min a day 6-7 days a week is best, we're getting good results with anything more than 4 days a week. But be sure you are eating a LOT of cals to start with (even more than 2000 to start with) and then you can always cut back over time. You have to be very careful to be getting enough calories to continue ovulating while breastfeeding especially when exercising.

[Megs978]

Many thanks! I find it a bit confusing working out what I should eat. Is there any food that I should be eating in particular? Should I get magnesium/calcium combined tablets? I was taking flaxseed to help milk production but have stopped that. I eat porridge for breakfast and usually have one coffee in the morning. My lunch is usually something carb like a bagel/sandwich and dinner usually is pasta/potatoes and red meat or fish and I would have a glass of wine with that. I think I need to cut back on red meat - is there anything else I should do? I'm not sure how to measure my protein/fat intake! Thanks again!

[atomic sagebrush]

There are no magic foods. It's the nutrient content of your diet as a whole that matters and not any magic food that you eat or avoid.

Cal/mag combined is fine, it's hard to find them without added Vit. D though. You may be better off doing mag alone, taking Tums for calcium because everything else has that added D in it.

Most people have given up porridge (even though there are no magic foods, LOL) becuase it has a compound in it that may raise testosterone. I doubt it does much in dietary amounts (you can get it in supplements, and I suspect only the supps raise T levels) but most people avoid it just because they can live without it.

No flaxseed, that is not safe when pregnant or TTC in anything beyond occasional dietary amounts.

Most of us do cut out red meat just because it's very nutrient dense.

Some people use My Fitness Pal or similar sites to track their nutrients but I just used a paper and pen. Virtually all nutrient data can be looked up really easy online even for things like meat, vegetables, etc (although most vegetables are free and you don't count them at all) And then you just tally them up over the course of the day. It only takes a few days and you'll really have a feel for how much you're getting (and it helps in the future with monitoring your diet as well). :)

[Megs978]

Many thanks Atomic - you're a busy woman responding to us all!

So am I right in thinking that basically ttc a girl means that you reduce the nutrients in your diet overall? Instead of porridge for breakfast (I think it helps with milk supply) would something like low fat yogurt and fruit and or toast/eggs be good? And just three meals a day no more snacking then? Out go all the cakes and biscuits I have been 'allowed' because I am feeding ;-) I am still a few kg heavier than before I got pregnant - 62kg ish so I need to tone up anyway!

The folic acid tablets I have (I'm in Ireland) are 400ug and are combined with 10ug vitamin d - if i take 3/4 of them daily is this too much vit d? Are there no risks in taking too much folic acid also? I can try and find just pure folic acid/follate if that is better.

If there are no definite benefits in taking calcium/magnesium I will avoid them and just focus on food that is full of them if that works?

I am 39 so not sure if that is also a factor?

ps - yes i posted on the other forum initially and thought I had put it in the wrong section so I posted here too - sorry for any extra work or confusion!

Your help is much appreciated :-)

[atomic sagebrush]

Please bump this for me, I'd hoped to have time to come back to it this afternoon but it's nearly dinnertime and I don't have enough time to give you a proper reply right now!

[Megs978]

Just a gentle bump as requested! :-)

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes, but not too far. 1500-1800 cals, 40-50 g protein 30-60 g fat for most people, and breastfeeders need to bump that up to 1800-2000 cals, 50-60 g protein and fat. Don't go below that.

Porridge is not avoided because it has too many nutrients, it has some chemistry in it that supposedly raises testosterone. I doubt it raises it much if at all (as opposed to oat supplements) plus we are not even sure that testosterone sways anyway, but most people do want to leave it out for that reason.

Yes that would be more D than we'd want for a pink sway, if there's any way to get it wihtout the D I'd do that.

It's better, if you believe in cal/mag, to take the supplements instead of the foods. The reason is that dairy foods have tons of nutrients in them and if you want to get cal/mag for your sway, you'd have to eat so much dairy food that you'd get too much other nutrients at the same time. So while you can certainly have SOME dairy foods in your day's limits, if you want cal/mag for swaying, please take the supplements instead.

BEing 39 means you should skip the things like douches and jellies (which have not worked for us anyway.)

No worries, people double post at first all the time and I totally understand because some forums don't answer many of the q's they get. But I try to answer everything, so I just like to mention it since it makes it a lot easier for me to get through all q's. :)

[Megs978]

Thanks Atomic. I tried cutting back on my food for the last couple of days and walked 45 minutes but felt lethargic and a bit sick and think it affected my milk supply- I had a very big gap between late breakfast and dinner and think that was too much for me! Will just try and stick to three meals a day but just cut back on portion size.

Re calcium/magnesium - I just read about this on other threads so don't know enough to know if I should take them or not. I eat quite a lot of yogurt - full fat and from what I understand I should change that to low fat? If I took calcium/mag should I then cut back on yogurt? I drink some milk and no cheese. The tablets i could get are combined: Calcium 500mg 63% and Magnesium 250mg 67%. If preferable I can get them separately.

I can give up coffee if I thought it would help too and can go decaf coffee/tea.

I have just got my period back though I am still breastfeeding (baba is over 6 months and eating more solids) - should I try and monitor my ovulation too? I measured my ph and I think it s around 5 - not sure why it is this low already?

Is there anything I should try and gently encourage my husband to do/eat? ;-)

When the time comes to BD do you think there is any merit in doing it a few days before ovulation (that is if I am able to monitor it)?

I prefer to keep things as natural as possible and ensure that my diet is healthy enough for any future baby I am blessed enough to get. I wouldn't want to do douches etc.

Sorry for all the questions but I get a bit confused reading different threads.


Thanks again.

[atomic sagebrush]

Try doing one or the other to start with - diet OR exercise, rather than starting both simultaneously.

Really think you'll be better off tracking at least to start with to ensure you don't cut back too far.

You need 50-60 g fat a day so it is very likely you should continue the full fat yogurt. Going fat free or low fat WILL both reduce milk supply and delay or stop ovulation so many people are far better off continuing with full fat.

Yes those tabs are fine, you don't need to cut back on yogurt provided you are staying in LE Diet limits.

We use coffee as a pink sway tactic and have gotten great results with that. The idea that coffee sways blue is totally debunked and you can read about that here: https://genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-general-discussion/56791-vices-swaying.html

OLE Olive Leaf Extract 500-1000 daily throughout cycle and at BFP have him gradually wean off. Also soy milk 12-48 oz a day (no need to wean from that) None of the other things have worked well

No, timing doesn't sway and you may as well take a birth control pill as have intercourse any sooner than 3 days before ovulation (and even then it's a longshot.) Full debunking of timing is here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-general-discussion/7691-trouble-timing.html Most of us are having one attempt at positive OPK since that is a handy way to have an attempt at a time in the cycle with good chances of conception.

pH is naturally low at all points in the cycle except around ovulation. This prevents infection. It's pretty unlikely that pH sways strongly anyway more about that here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-general-discussion/11684-ph-pickle.html

[Megs978]

Thanks Atomic. Sorry for the delay in responding. So if I cut back on meat in my diet and go more vegetarian that would help. I take it some chicken/fish is ok..I have been trying to cut back on potatoes! Just to clarify - a veggie diet helps to sway girl? I had thought that women who ate a nutrient deficient diet and drank diet drinks etc were more likely to sway girl..just a bit confused!!

I haven't really been exercising much but plan on daily brisk walks of 40-60m - is that enough? would yoga/pilates all be ok too?

I got folate tablets - (as metafolin 1000 ug) - should I take 1 or 2 of these?

I have ph strips - is there any point in using these? I noticed my urine went from 5.5/5.75 up to 7 ish when I had a few days of eating out - would eating unhealthily affect it that much?

How much alcohol do you recommend? would wine be better than beer or spirits?

ps you had responded to an older post (ttg girl x) I had made so no need to reply to that again too.

Thanks again!:cool:

[atomic sagebrush]

Hey, you never need to apologize to me for not replying, it's my job to answer you, not the other way round. :)

I answered this some in the other thread you asked, but we don't really eat a "nutrient deficient" diet. We simply eat the lowest normal healthy pre-pregnancy diet as approved by the World Health Organization for women of childbearing age. 40-50 g protein, 1500-1800 cals a day, 30-60 g fat (and you would up that to 1800-2000, 50-60 g protein and fat if you're still breastfeeding.) WE don't want to starve ourselves, just boost our chances of having a girl and we get very good results this way. So this is not a diet where we are deprived and eating very restrictively. People who are starving and miserable are doing the diet wrong. Vegetarian diets and eating more vegetable-based fats and proteins have been shown in studies to sway pink so that's what we emulate with the diet. I have more explanation of this in your other thread.

Any foods are allowed within limits. There is NO need to limit potatoes and in this thread I have a very long explanation of why that is. My daughter is like 30% potato. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-a-girl-best-practices/62533-le-diet-faq-2-mineral-madness-edition.html

I'd err on the side of 60 min. vs. 40. Yoga and Pilates are too muscle-toning to work for pink sways and should be avoided if possible.

Yes take 2 of the folates starting now and going all thru the first tri of pregnancy, at which point you should wean off to the amount in a prenatal.

We have seen so many pH opposites that we no longer bother to test. It doesn't seem to tell us anything reliable, and additionally you are testing incorrectly. Urine pH tells you NOTHING. It is only supposed to be EWCM around ovulation and even that has not worked (trust me, after getting a boy with perfect "girl" pH and seeing the same thing happen to tons of others, it is impossible for me to believe in pH testing any more!). So I would not bother with it.

The pH of your urine depends on what you've eaten/drunk so yes it's possible that eating certain foods makes your pH rise like that. Has nothing to do with your sway, tho!!

1 drink a day. Whatever alcohol you like best, they all seem to work.

I did post some more info in the other thread.

[Megs978]

Thanks atomic for your replies to both threads! I usually would try and eat whole grain bread (and sometimes pasta). Am I right in thinking that processed white bread etc is better on the Le diet?

I'm actually finding it harder than I thought to cut out porridge (which I feed my son for breakfast and so eat at the same as him!) and would usually have had at around 10am with my last meal being around 7pm the night before. So toast and maybe yogurt and fruit or an egg is better? I'm a big breakfast person ;-) I have one coffee in the morning. Should I try and drink tea during the day too?
I've been cutting back on meat where I can. I would normally eat more red meat and fish than chicken but am trying to just have fish or chicken if I need it.. Is that OK? Any other suggestions for my diet?
I am taking one folate in the morning and one later I'm the day and no other supplements. Thanks :-)

[atomic sagebrush]

White vs. whole grains is a big gray area for swaying. We started off thinking that white bread was better but over time we've come to realize for a variety of reasons that whole grain bread may be just as good or even better. Anyone who thinks they could have any tendencies towards PCOS or insulin resistance (you have trouble shifting weight or gain easily if you eat much sugar) then please do the whole grains. Anyone who finds weight is flying off them, use the more refined white products instead as they help keep weight on.

I seriously doubt anyone's sway ever came down to porridge. We cut it out since it's not necessary to survival LOL but if you really can't give it up, I doubt it does much. People who really rely on avenocasides to raise testosterone are taking them in supplement form, much more concentrated than even a daily bowl. But yes all those things you list are all fine for a first meal.

We find tea to potentially sway blue and I generally have pink swayers avoid it.

No more than 2 servings of fish per week due to mercury risks. I prefer you guys try to stick in limits but if you prefer to just cut back some, chicken is probably better than red meat.

Just remember that low carb veg are free and unlimited, you can have as much as you want, no need to count! And for fruit and high carb veg, count only the cals, not protein/fat. People sometimes try to cut out all fruits and veg but not only is that not necessary, you can actually have quite a lot of them.