I have almost completely weaned my 15 mth old daughter. She only nurses once in the mornings, which she has done for about 4 months now. It's probably more for me than her, I love the cuddle time in the morning. Anyway, I was told by my midwife that a lot of women loose weight after they completely stop breastfeeding. Mainly because hormones make your body hold on to an extra 5-10 lbs as a fat reserve to maintain breastfeeding in case of food shortage or whatnot, stuff that could have happened to our ancestors. Have any of you ladies experience this? I need a motivator to encourage me to wean completely.

yes, I can confirm that. I lost the last 5 to 10 lbs literally in the weeks after I weaned my baby completely, it was almost magic.

Having said that, if you need to be motivated to wean your baby, why do you ? I am serious.

Two reasons I need to be motivated. One, I am starting a job here soon where I will need to get up way early (I have been a SAHM up until this point) and when I nurse her in the mornings we end cuddling for 30 min or more. By not nursing her in the mornings I will have more time and will be motivated to get my *** out of bed. Second, I have been trying to loose weight for awhile now and have only succeeded in loosing about 10 lbs. I have been working REALLY hard at it and at first I thought it might be my IUD, but then when I talked to my midwife she said it was probably because I was breastfeeding. I would LOVE to loose an extra 5-10 lbs. My main goal was to continue breastfeeding through flu season, to give her the extra immunities and I have done that, so I think I'm ready, I just need that extra incentive. But I sure will miss it.

I actually lost all of the weight while breastfeeding. And then some. My daughter actually kind of weaned herself when she was about seven months, since I was working and she took a bottle during the day. One thing I can say about weaning....Aaah Freedom! And then the rapid deflation of your boobs. Sorry.

My boobs have already deflated since I only nurse once a day, although they are bigger than they were before I got pregnant (believe me, they were tiny before I got pregnant, so anything is better than what they were).

I only breastfed for the first 5 months and lost all my baby weight pretty quickly (I was eating pretty healthy though). To be honest, I've heard the exact opposite, you lose weight more quickly by breastfeeding, as the hormones released during lactation target fat.

When I stopped breastfeeding I also needed to eat less...I didn't even think about being hungry any more (compared to while breastfeeding). So, the effect is doubled, you eat less, and your body dissolves the reserves. I really learned to trust nature/myself...and much less modern medecine. But that is another subject.

Thanks ladies! I'm not concerned with loosing the baby weight, I lost that almost immediately, I could just stand to loose an extra 10-15 lbs. to be at my ideal weight. Do you ladies have any advice on that subject, besides the usual eating healthy and exercising. I have been doing both religiously and am just trying to figure out what could be making it so hard.

Well, in that case, I'm guessing it is just your body holding on to that bit of weight because you are still nursing. Lactation requires certain hormones whether you're breastfeeding alot or a little. And those hormones send signals to your body to do what it needs to do to maintain that milk production. If you are eating right and exercising, I would bet that those extra pounds will drop off when you finish. If not, try adding some strength training into your regimen to increase your metabolic rate a little.

Good Luck.

just wanted to add that those pounds I lost easily when I stopped breastfeeding...I am regaining them quickly now, in my 40st year...it's terrible.
So, whatever you do, nature is stronger.

Just wanted to give everyone an update. It IS true! It's been over a month since I completely weaned my daughter and I have lost 5 lbs! It's a miracle!