Breastfeeding/Nursing tracker

[Hharris18]

I'm trying to add breastfeeding/pumping to my activities but the activity log isn't giving me an option to either select nursing/breastfeeding or create a new activity. I've read before you can go into settings and select that you're nursing. Anyone have any experience with this?? Thanks!!

[Nicoledslade]

Fitbit, is it possible to create an selection for breastfeeding where you have the calculation 1oz = 20 cal burned? I pump and know how many oz I pump in a day, but each day is different. Some times it's 55oz some times less. Breastfeeding moms often know a rough estimate of how much their baby is eating. Seems like a simple solution that would make many nursing moms happy. I know nothing about how easy or difficult adding this option would be. Just a thought.

[Jbhpsych27]

How may we petition to bring this feature back? 1oz. of breastmilk pumped is estimated equivalent to 20 calories burned. This would be a huge for all the breastfeeding women who use Fitbit. Please take this into consideration. Thanks!

[KristinB30]

For me it doesn't really have anything to do with the calories burned while nursing. That's just extra calories you know you are burning. But I couldnt use the food tracker or goals provided for calorie intake at all because they were too low to keep up my milk supply. So it was frustrating because we all know that half of it is exercise (which Fitbit is great for!) and the other half is eating right... And it is discouraging to always go over your goal on the app and never meet a goal even if it's on purpose when it comes to food intake!

I'm done breastfeeding now because my baby is over 1 yr old! Better luck to the future mamas using the Fitbit app!

[DerrickS]

@Jbhpsych27 The best way for you to make your demand known for this feature would be to vote and comment on this feature request. Top-voted feature requests get relayed to our product team for consideration.

[groovylocks]

It does not provide clarification at all. 

Breastfeeding women require WAY MORE calories than non-breastfeeding women. Sometimes upwards of 3500 calories a day PLUS AT REST simply to maintain health. 

Not sure how this was overlooked or not understood. I realize this isn't a medical device but some basic medical understanding of women's bodies might be useful in its development nonetheless....

[groovylocks]

This is a good idea. I don't have a weight goal since weight loss isn't the issue for me (building muscle, lowering my crazy high heart rate, managing stress and optimizing sleep are)

But then it seems that if the higher the calories in, the longer it takes to lose weight creates a larger problem because that means it's not even taking individual metabolism into account. Some people CAN consume more calories than others without gaining a lot of weight - i'm also in this category. I'm not sure how it COULD take this into account, honestly. I'm just thinking..

So my nutritional requirements while breastfeeding are very high and are going to be even higher once this thing gets me moving. I'm not sure if it'll be able to keep track of my weight - which i don't want to see much delta on. 

Anyway, i have only had my fitbit for a day. So I'm trying to find a way to hack around it. 

[groovylocks]

I have an idea but i've only had mine for a day (my fitbit, not my kid lol) so please people tell me if this won't work. 

What if you googled the average number of calories breastfeeding uses? Do two searches:

1. Calories used when "at rest" and producing milk
2. Calories used when pumping or nursing for x minutes

Then find an activity that uses about these same values that is ALSO in the fitbit database. And log that.

Maybe a 30 minute pump sesh uses the same number of calories as running for 10 minutes. So log a 10 minute run each time you do a 30 minute pump. And maybe the brestfeeding body at rest uses the same calories as your non-breastfeeding body strolling around. 

Just a thought.

[ejw2008]

I think this is a good idea and i Was just trying to sort out how I was going to do it when I saw your post.  Maybe modify every couple months since the frequency and durration change with babies...

[ejw2008]

SOLUTION!!

I actually think I found a solution.  Go to the fitbit website and log onto your account. Go to LOG.Select ACTIVITIES on the top.  Scroll to the bottom of the page.  On the left there is a place to "create custom activity".  BINGO!!!  Next time your fit bit syncs, you will have Nursing/Breastfeeding (whatever name you chose) as an option on the "recent" list on your fitbit app.  I'm gonna make one for pumpking too.  One of the best parts- it doesn't add steps to your counter, unless you are actually walking around (yep, I have to some times...).  I went with 20cal/1oz and I assume my 3 month old is eating between 4-5 oz right now (so I appox. 90cal per feeding).  I feel like the more research I do the more I might adjust the timing/ounces.  Suggestions are great!  Good luck ladies!!

[ejw2008]

I meant *pumping....oops. 😉

[Krikett]

Saying it doesn't effect anything is not correct. A nursing mother needs an additional 500 calories to her daily calorie intake. If a nursing mother is using her fitbit she is not getting accurate calorie tracking for her needs. I do not understand the reasoning for removing settings for pregnant and nursing women. 

[Joanna1234]

Hello! I am a bit confused what you mean regarding nursing not affecting the data stored on fitbit? Doesnt breastfeeding burn calories and therefore affect the daily intake vs outtake logging? 

[tbramirez]

That's a shame! A lot of new moms use this app. Is there any other way we can manually account for calories burned while nursing?

[tbramirez]

Yes thank you!!!!

[postpartumme]

How can you say it has no effect on data? You burn calories while pumping and it also has an effect on nutrition as you would need to eat more to produce milk. I bet you if men were thr ones breastfeeding we would bave this feature on fitbit app.

[postpartumme]

I agree!!! It really does matter and it has an impact on our data!

[postpartumme]

You could just add the "breast pjmping option, simple as that. You burn 20cal per ounce pumped.

[GraceS123]

I really hope you go back to offering a pregnant and/or breastfeeding option and update it to be impactful then... allowing the mom to input the # of estimated extra calories this is burning. I am burning an extra 300+ calories per day nursing and another 300+ because I am pregnant. That is 600+ calories that are being burned but not recorded. There is no input for it under exercises, and I don't really want to fudge it and say I burned 600 calories doing aerobics, for example, because then my Fitbit will tell me I already did my exercise that day! I only want it to reward me by saying I did exercise 5 days in a row for example if I actually did, not if I just burned calories feeding my baby.

[postpartumme]

Go all thr way down, we have discussed this already, yes its roughly 20cals per ounce but you also need to adjust nutritional needs for nursing moms. Thanks for your suggestion though!

[Tiff223]

How does it not affect data? It burns calories, therefore, should be tracked if you are watching it. Some women burn up to 1,000 calories per day just by pumping, to me that is something to keep track of...