I has some pretty bad morning sickness during pregnancy, and in general didn't crave much or eat too much outside the norm. About a week after giving birth, though, watch out! Nursing gave me the appetite of a thousand truck drivers! That lasted well over a year. We're talking sending DH out at midnight for cookies... he thought he'd gotten away easy during my pregnancy! 
How about you?
101 votes
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
Well in early pregnancy I don't have an increase in appetite per se (I don't WANT to eat) but I have to eat constantly to keep the nausea away. But when I was nursing, I was STARVING all the time and could eat a TON.
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
Definitely nursing. I had terrible food aversions all throughout my pregnancy, but the first weekend we were home I devoured a large pizza...by myself. I was starving all the time!
ETA: And I was DYING of thirst, especially when actively nursing!! I always had to have a bottle of water next to me or I thought I'd explode!
clementine / 770 posts
I felt full pretty much my whole pregnancy. Like the baby took all the space. I was sooooo hungry right after birth and have continued to eat more through 9 months of nursing. It was most noticeable in the beginning though.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
Definitely nursing. I was STARVING all the time. And so thirsty. I remember when LO was about a month old I had to wake my husband up in the middle of the night to get me a glass of milk RIGHT NOW.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@travellingbee: this. I eat all the time while pregnant, but I ate so much while nursing. I actually forgot about that until now. And I lost a lot of weight nursing, like 20 lbs under my prepreg weight (though I had gained weight before getting pregnant, so I definitely wasn't underweight or anything).
When C weaned I remember thinking I was going to have to be really careful about the eating all the time, but then I got pregnant and am back on eating constantly throughout the day.
pomegranate / 3392 posts
@Truth Bombs: oh yeah, how could I forget the thirst?? And it was during a summer heatwave... I'm surprised my son didn't grow in the shape of a lemonade container!
coconut / 8279 posts
Definitely nursing! I was also SO thirsty all the time, like pull over the car and order a large Sprite (and I don't normally drink soda), so desperately thirsty.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
More during pregnancy but on average I eat way more while nursing too.
grapefruit / 4441 posts
I was super sick until 20w, but I always still ate because keeping something in my stomach always helped me to feel better. The last half of prefnancy, I was always starving! I'm only 2 weeks pp, but so far I've been less hungry. Well, hungrier than normal, but less hungry than while pregnant.
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
This round (number 2) neither, I was rarely hungry pregnant and now nursing although I'm hungry I'm craving healthy good. My diet has been very clean since having LO. My first born I ate a ton when pregnant & we switched to formula pretty early on so I can't really remember eating a lot when nursing.
grapefruit / 4903 posts
Definitely nursing. I didn't realize that I needed more supplemental calories nursing than pregnant!
pear / 1657 posts
My appetite increased while I was pregnant, but nowhere near how hungry I was while nursing. I felt like I just ate everything, all the time AND kept losing weight. It was amazing! Now that I am only nursing a little (morning and night, but I think my supply is almost gone) appetite is less and weight is creeping back on. Gotta cut back on the treats.
persimmon / 1328 posts
Bfing made me very thirsty and burn calories like crazy, but nothing compared to my pregnant appetite - towards the end I was eating like an absolute horse.
pomegranate / 3392 posts
@blackbird: for me it was within a week of starting nursing. It was pretty noticeable.
apricot / 483 posts
I haven't delivered DS yet but with DD, I was way hungrier during pregnancy (seems to be the case this one too) and then post partum, my appetite completely dropped. Like I totally forgot to eat unless I was reminded that first month post partum. I dropped 40 lbs that month. I'm wondering if the same thing will happen this time bc both pregnancies are pretty similar.
pomegranate / 3392 posts
@Foodnerd81: @CakeLady: Yeah I'm not as hungry and eating as much as the first 12-18 months, but I'm really not looking forward to weaning and having the weight come back on! I'm very attached to my bf metabolism lol!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
I didn't crave anything while pregnant and my appetite was about the same. nursing though, definitely ate more!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Nursing! I thought I was hungry while pregnant - how wrong I was!! Haha. I also had an insatiable need for water while nursing. I never crave water!
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
@MoonMoon: huh. I was hungry that first week but my appetite feels normal now and I'm not starving all the time
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
@blackbird: I wasn't either......I would graze all day but it was because I had to walk around to get her to sleep. So why not stop and get a cookie?
pear / 1558 posts
Both for me!! Though, by late pregnancy I couldn't fit much in my stomach, so I felt like I just ate all the time. Now, I am chowing down trail mix through the middle of the night while nursing! 
pomegranate / 3392 posts
@blackbird: Hmm, I wonder if it's less pronounced with subsequent pregnancies/nursing?
grapefruit / 4800 posts
Both. But during pregnancy I wake up in the middle of the night starving. I made special food for my middle of the night wake ups. I've been pregnant or nursing for awhile now, when I look on some of the food posts on here I'm like my family would starve if that's all we ate. But between working out and babies gotta have some food fuel for that.
persimmon / 1313 posts
I had no appetite while pregnant but always having to eat while nursing. It's not even that I feel hungry but my stomach growls and feels empty D: Ugh.
grapefruit / 4819 posts
Nursing for sure! I could have eaten a professional footballer under the table, I'm quite sure!
I finished nursing LO2 more than two months ago now and am still waiting for my appetite to come back down... I'm not as hungry as I was whilst nursing, but still far hungrier than I was before I ever got pregnant!
nectarine / 2973 posts
Nursing for sure! Prenancy didn't really cause me to be extra hungry. Nursing I needed a ton of food.
pomegranate / 3658 posts
Nursing!! It came as a big surprise to me since I didn't experience a major increase in appetite during pregnancy and nobody had told me it was worse while breastfeeding. I eat like a horse now. The same burritos I ate for lunch all through pregnancy don't even fill me up for a second these days.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
Both! But I definitely eat more than the average female most days. No pregnancy intense cravings during nursing though.
kiwi / 698 posts
Nursing, for sure. In the early days, especially. I kept Clif and Luna bars on my bedside table for middle of the night snacking! However, towards the end of my pregnancy, I ate a TON... I think it was mostly due to anxiety, and then boredom (I was off work 3 weeks before due date).
grapefruit / 4235 posts
@MoonMoon: with my son, I would wake up in the middle of the night and cry because i was hungry and didn't have snacky food right at hand...with my daughter, I'm just starving/grazing all day, but not in the middle of the night.
With both, around 4 mo pp i started eating a giant, Emilio Estevez in Breakfast Club - sized lunch and eating less at dinner, which helps with the insane hunger.
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