Hello Ashley, Now that your boy is 6months old, you can definitely add more solid foods into his diet and that will take some of the demand off of you and your body. Don't be afraid to blend up some ground grass fed lamb with sweet potatoes for him, or mash up hardboiled egg yolk with coconut oil into a nice pate-- the more food you incorporate into his diet the less food you'll have to consume to meet his nutrient requirements. Also, are you taking any iron supplementation? After about 4- 6months of breast feeding, mom's iron supply is usually depleted. I recommend taking liquid Floradix to support your own body. You may be experiencing "hunger" because you are depleted of vitamins and minerals. How is your hydration? Whatever your weight is in pounds, be sure to drink that much water in ounces each day-- so for example, if you weigh 150 lbs, be sure to take in 150 ounces of water each day. Thirst can also trigger hunger- and you definitely need to fluids to support the breast feeding. I'm a nurse following the paleo/primal diet, so that's my two cents. Best wishes! hope some of this is helpful for you...

All of my children breastfed until the age of 3 1/2. They are living proof that it's worth it. My eldest just finished her freshman year at Stanford. The youngest just graduated from pre-school. They all have immune systems that kick butt. The Black Plague could blow through town and they wouldn't get ill. All this to say that your efforts are worth it. I would hazard to say that you are not getting something. I would broaden your diet, and see if there is anything that satisfies your appetite. Maybe you need to be taking in more calcium, hence dairy. Maybe it's bone broth you need.

Honestly, I just eat. And then, move more. Go on a nice long walk. Do some heavy duty cleaning. Something to help balance it out. It's tough and I'm right there with ya.

Reflecting on this situation, these are my thoughts. I'm wondering whether the causal relationships here are really as they seem. It certainly makes sense to me that when your baby drinks more milk, you will get hungrier. But why would you get more hungry than the amount it takes to feed him? This part seems questionable. Even if it is the only thing that has changed in your lifestyle, it would be odd for your body to start demanding more fuel than you are expending.

In my experience with weight loss, even under the most effective diet, I go through periods of faster and slower weight loss. Sometimes the weight per se isn't changing at all, but after several weeks I will have dropped a size. Size change is much slower to see than scale weight, so it is often not noticeable right away.

My advice is always that if you are hungry, you should feed yourself. The only healthy way to lose weight IMO is to convince it hormonally to ask for less because it has gotten access to your fat stores. If you eat less than your body is demanding, I feel this means your fat stores are not available enough, and you will lose muscle mass.

Best of luck figuring it out. If it really is a matter of his feeding more, perhaps, for example, as a hormonal response that is out of proportion with his consumption, then just remember that the period of breastfeeding is short in the grand scheme of things, and you will get your day.

I have to preface this with the admission that I'm not actually Paleo, BUT, I'm a big fan and student of Paleo and hope to be Paleo some day. Anyway, I've been BF and/or Pregnant (non-stop) since 2005 (three kids), and I'm a total Lactivist.

The good news is that your baby's growth spurts will get fewer and farther in-between now that you've hit 6-months, and whether you're doing BLW (baby led weaning) or standard American baby feeding or something else, your baby will start filling the holes in his diet with food other than breastmilk.

Not sure how this might fit into what you are looking for, but if you had Pitocin during/after labor (which you did (whether you know it or not)because it's standard, unless you demanded that they not give you the shot between delivery of baby and delivery of placenta), but there's a theory out there that Pitocin causes women to hang onto bodyfat instead of shedding it like nature intended. Here's the best summary I've been able to find, from the Facebook Site of Intuitive Parenting Network, LLC:

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=215458065131216

Another myth--that moms need to eat more calories while breastfeeding: It is true that we require more nutrients, but not that we need to eat more calories to get them. Historically, there would not be more food available just bc women gave birth. Nature is far more efficient and solved the problem another way. During pregnancy and the early pp period, the villi expand by approx 25% to increase their efficacy in nutrient absorption. That expansion is triggered in part by an increase in oxyctocin receptors in the gut.

The problem comes in of course, when you already have an damaged gut, as so many Western women do (which means you are already deficient in many nutrients), when you have a medicalized birth, especially which involves pitocin. An assault of synthetic oxytocin causes receptor sites to shut down. The least necessary will shut down first--such as those in the gut. With almost every woman in the West today receiving pit after birth, we have created a cascade of damage that we are only beginning to even recognize.

From Marshall Klaus: "Five of these hormones stimulate the growth of intestinal villi in the mother and the infant. As a result, with each feeding, there is an increased intestinal surface area for nutrient absorption. The hormonal release is stimulated by the touch of the mother's nipple by her infant's lips. This increases oxytocin in both the mother's brain and the infant's brain, which stimulates the vagus nerve, then causes the increase in the output of gastrointestinal hormones. Before the development of modern agriculture and grain storage 10 000 years ago, these responses in the infant and mother were essential for survival when famine was common.10"

Hi Ashley, I can't offer you any advice because I just started doing the paleo diet when I can. I ebf my son till 10.5 months and Now he is over a year and we are still going strong. I don't have enough experience with bf and paleo but I just wanted to empathize with you because I am hungry all the time. I have 15 pounds but they are tough. I have been upping my wieghts and barefoot running/walking and interval and that has seemed to help. Good luck!!!

I had a 40 labor where we labored naturally for 36 hours and I only progressed to a 4. It ended in a c-sec as well. We hoped for a natural birth but it didn't work out that way.