Continuing to be east feed a toddler after VSG

Hi there everyone, 

im new to this site and really made the account because I've been searching everywhere for an answer that makes me comfortable enough to go through with the VSG. I'm so close to getting my surgery day, but I'm still breast feeding my daughter who just turned 2. She nurses often and I know she won't be able to while I'm recovering in the hospital, but I'm wondering about when I get home. I know she only nurses for comfort and she's not relying on my milk for her nutrients, but what I guess I'm concerned about are the vitamins I'll be taking AFTER wls and whether or not they will be a "vitamin" overload for my daughter who is already getting better vitamins from the food she eats...I'm not sure if the vitamins that I'll be taking will be harmful if they're passed through my milk causing her to have high vitamin levels. Has anyone gone through this before? I'm looking for any advice!

thank you!

-Elizabeth 

That is probably something best asked to your primary or ob-gyn not sure anyone here would have an answer altho you might try posting on the pregnancy forum someone there may know.

I was under the impression that surgeons wouldn't do WLS on someone who is breastfeeding. I'm surprised your surgeon is!

You are going to need all your vitamins , nourishment for you because you will be eating so little . Maybe switch to hugs :-)

I wi**** were that easy. She's pretty attached. 

Well you may want to revisit the idea of WLS in a couple of years.

I'll keep doing my research and follow what my doctors and surgeon have to say. Thanks. 

Yea, they're letting me have the surgery but have made sure to tell me that they can't recommend that I continue nursing because they don't have enough information of whether it's safe or not. They didn't necessarily find that it wasn't safe, just didn't find anything at all. So they have to say that to cover themselves. 

I just came here to see if anyone had experienced or gone through the same thing. 

The dietician wasn't concerned about me losing any of my nutrients while breast feeding, because again, she's 2 and only nurses for comfort. So I don't think she's even getting much. But she was more questioning whether or not the vitamins I will be taking will pass through and be too much for my daughter who's already getting vitamins from her own food. 

There's a lot of information about what medications are passed through breastmilk. While it mostly applies to prescriptions, there should be some out there about multivitamins as well. A pharmacist may be able to provide some info on that.

I agree that this is a question best asked of your OBGYN and surgeon.

A multivitamin is generally suggested while breastfeeding. If a standard-dose vitamin is OK, I would imagine a bariatric formula wouldn't be much different-- but that's a question for a doctor or pharmacist.

It will probably take you about a month, perhaps longer, to resume any sort of normal diet after surgery. A common pattern is clear liquids for a week, full liquids (milk, protein shakes) for another, mushies and purees (baby food, mashed tunafish) the next, and soft foods (scrambled eggs, baked chicken) in week four. Most folks tend to get in fewer than 600 calories per day by the end of that point, and stay on 600 - 800 until they reach maintenance.

I'd be concerned about YOUR health if you were to nurse on that sort of diet. It's hugely important to maximize your early weeks/months after surgery, and you would likely need additional calories to continue breastfeeding. That could cause issues with loss. To maximize your success, it would be best to wait until after your daughter is fully weaned.

Speaking to non-science info, I'm 5 months pregnant and hope to BF once Little Dude shows up. Both my OB and surgeon have given me the thumbs up, but I'll need to take in FAR more calories than I did during the post-op weight loss phase. While losing, I ate 600 - 800 calories; to nurse, I'll probably need about 1800; this is the current recommendation from LLL for mothers who have had WLS. It takes SERIOUS effort (and some habits that would be less-than-ideal for a fresh WLS) to hit that number at a year and a half post-op because I can eat so little at a time.