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Breastfeeding after Post-Op



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53 minutes ago, SpecialK2 said:

I'm 5 days away from surgery and breastfeeding. Has anyone had any experience this?

I'm not sure but I'd say there's a very small number of people here that could give you real advice or help.

This is one that I sincerely hope your personal physician and your bariatric surgeon already know about and have dispensed their best advice to you.

If it's not clear to you now, PLEASE PHONE one or both of them and seek help A.S.A.P.

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Yes!

My son was 5.5 months when I had surgery. Bariatric surgeon and nutritionist both said I'd have to ween him since I would not be able to breastfeed after surgery. I've always had a very average milk supply - not low but definitely not plentiful, just enough -- so I was worried.

However, my son's pediatrician said even with a very restricted-calorie diet as long as I was drinking enough Water the breastfeeding would not be negatively affected. And she was right!!

I've been able to continue fully breastfeeding my son who is now 9 months old. Of course at 6 months we started introducing solid foods and his nursing has decreased some as a result. But he's still getting what he needs.

To be sure, I rented a hospital grade baby scale before surgery. I measured exactly what my son was eating at each feed. Then a few weeks after surgery I used the scale to check in again. As long as I am hydrated, my supply stays the same. No need for me to eat extra calories, just stay fully hydrated. I also hope the nursing provides a little extra calorie burn each day so I'm reluctant to finally give it up.

I cannot speak to the fat composition of the milk as I imagine that has changed now that I eat so differently. But my son is gaining weight normally.

I want to share my experience because there is ALOT of misinformation out there. These surgeons are not lactation experts and frankly they're often just wrong about the impact of weight loss surgery on breastfeeding.




Oh one more thing!!

The anesthesiologist said once you are awake from surgery, the meds are low enough in your system that you don't actually need to pump and dump from that point forward. People still always pump and dump for 24 hours as a precaution, but if you read the studies the evidence for that need just isn't there.

That said I felt like such crap in the hospital for the first 24 hours that having my son come to nurse did not seem like a good idea. Pumping wasn't fun either but you do what you must.

Good luck!! Let us know how it goes!!


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I second what @rachelzf said. I am a staunch supporter of breastfeeding. She is correct that there is STILL a lot of misinformation regarding breastfeeding and you have to be your own advocate. Physicians are not educated, shoot I have seen unsupportive staff in NICU even.

You might want to contact a local La Leche League for help. I am a retired leader and they may have resources for pumps, scales, and literature regarding meds and anesthetic in breastmilk.

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Thank you all for sharing your experience.

The bariatric surgeon and nutritionist had conflicting information on the topic. My baby is 6 month old and has started to eat pureed solids which has reduce his intake of breast milk. I started to supplement with formula just incase breast feeding became an issue afterwards. However, after reading rachelzf post I feel more at ease.

My main reason for going down this path is to be an example for my little one. I want him to have a more healthy relationship with food than me. My husband and I make it a point to make all of own baby food from fresh ingredient. Which will be convenient since it looks like we will be eating a lot of the same things after post-op.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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