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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Diabetes and breastfeeding?

7 replies

WildSheepChase · 25/02/2011 09:38

Hello ladies. :)

Do any of you have info, or can point me in the direction of anywhere that does, for Type 1 breastfeeding Mums?

I'm especially after info on managing hypos when establishing breastfeeding with a newborn.

It's not for myself, but for a lovely friend.

Thankyou in advance.

OP posts:
PervyMuskrat · 25/02/2011 12:17

Bumping, as she is indeed a lovely friend!

fedupwithdeployment · 25/02/2011 12:31

Sorry I don't know, but my SIL is severely diabetic (4 injections a day and I think it was 8 when she was pg with HUGE baby) and she managed to bf...so it is possible.

brambleschooks · 25/02/2011 12:41

Cngratulations to your friend. I would imagine that it would be similar to any activity which uses up more calories. If my t1 son is doing a sport, for example, we ensure that he is eating plenty of good low gi foods, bolusing accordingly. Breastfeeding a newborn is not predictable, but it would depend on the extent of her hypos, whether she was prone to fitting, for example, as to whether she needed to be accompanied whilst establishing breastfeeding or whether it would be appropriate just to have hypo kit and treatment to hand.
I'm sure that her team will have worked closely with her in pregnancy and will be on hand to offer support in the early days. My son uses an insulin pump, this has been ideal as we can be proactive with insulin use rather than responding to a once a day basal shot and giving fast acting with food. She may also wish to consider asking to try continuous glucose monitoring, which will give a trend of her levels over time. This is invaluable to us.
She is fortunate to have a friend with her interests at heart.

WildSheepChase · 25/02/2011 13:57

I'll point her to your responses. Thankyou!

OP posts:
MrsGangly · 25/02/2011 13:59

She should be seeing a specialist diabetes antenatal team, including a diabetes consultant and a diabetes specialist midwife, at the moment.

Pregnancy makes you MUCH more prone to hypoglycaemic unawareness, when you don't know you are going hypo. This combined with doctors like me encouraging women to have near normal sugars during pregnancy is very different to what we tell women just after they have had their baby.

Literally, as soon as the placenta has been delivered, insulin requirements will plummet, so her team should discuss with her in advance how much insulin she is going to be on straight after delivery. This will be an underestimate quite deliberately and might need adjustment.

Looking after a baby with or without breastfeeding is a huge job, so it is important she keeps a really good eye on her sugars and that she doesn't worry too much about the higher ones now. (This is quite a significant change in thinking to be done compared to what they are asked to do for the previous 9 months.) She should keep hypo treatment (glucose drink or tablets) nearby and should be religious about checking sugars before driving.

You haven't mentioned what treatment she is on, so I assume, in common with most folk with T1DM during pregnancy, she is on 4 injections a day. Her diabetes team should help her with changing her dose, but she should know that she can take her fast-acting insulin AFTER a meal if she needs to. We generally say it should be taken at the beginning, but, particularly here when we are aiming for safe, not necessarily tight, control, it can be taken afterwards when she knows how she has actually eaten.

I can't think of the number of times that I've sat down for lunch then heard a crying baby, so if you are diabetic, you don't want to have taken your insulin and then not got your food.

It is perfectly possible to breastfeed with T1DM but, as with most things with diabetes, it just takes a little extra thinking. I hope she feels encouraged by your support - you sound lovely.

mspotatochip · 25/02/2011 18:21

Bumping for the veening crowd :)

mspotatochip · 25/02/2011 18:21

evening morelike

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