I absolutely do *not* believe it is the breastfeeding. I am small and thin, I did lose up to 10 pounds (approx 4.5 kg), if I remember correctly, when bf my babies *in the early months* (this is past my pregnancy weight loss, and past my normal weight). I was bf alot and not always eating enough. I gained it back easily after the intense early months. Toddlers bf 3x per day would not be taking so many calories that a healthy mother with a healthy appetite and balanced diet could not easily handle. This mother could first quickly determine her caloric intake, and energy expenditure (does she exercise?), or with the help of a nutritionist or dietician. I imagine this has already been done. The next thing, in my estimation, would be an endocrine doctor to look for thyroid (first thing that comes to mind) or other issues (does she have excessive thirst? for example) like diabetes or other. The other thing that comes to my mind would be cancer, unfortunately, having seen this several times in even young women. Not sure how to make the diagnosis, but a CT scan or MRI type scan could be done and there are some cancer blood tests, though I am not very knowledgeable of those. The mother should *insist* to have this looked into further and not blame the breastfeeding. Laurie Wheeler RN MN IBCLC Mississippi USA *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome