Will Breastfeeding Make Me Hungry?

This post was written as part of the weekly Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Slacker Mom and cohosted by The Gnome’s Mom and Happiness Redefined. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

Last week's theme was sex and breastfeeding. I didn't write a post because I'm so far removed from that part of my life that it's too much effort to have sex, much less write about it. But there were a lot of great, honest posts about breastfeeding and intimacy. Today's topic is snacks for breastfeeding. 

This subject also made me reluctant to post, because I'm not the norm when it comes to snacking and breastfeeding. Breastfeeding women often  hear that they burn about 500 more calories a day, which makes them hungrier and requires them to eat more. Although that sounds like a great deal, that never happened to me. I have the slowest metabolism on earth, and breastfeeding does not help me burn calories; nor does it help me lose weight. That means that I also am no hungrier than normal when I breastfeed. I'm that mom who can diet without it affecting her supply. It doesn't mean that I'm doing it; it just means that I can.

But most moms do feel hungrier and do need additional calories to maintain their supply. But it can be hard to grab a snack while you're nursing. You quickly learn to hold your baby to the breast with one hand, legs dangling, or rest your baby on the counter, still latched, while you spoon some food into your mouth. But the easiest snacks are those you can eat one-handed.

My top 5 breastfeeding snacks are:

1. Bananas
2. Smoothies
3. Leftovers--eaten cold out of the storage container
4. Cheese and turkey from the deli drawer, just rolled up and chomped on
5. Kale chips--these take some cooking and planning, but once there is a bowl on the counter, I can finish it off in a day.