Breastfeeding and type 1 diabetes

[Bimblin]

Sorry in advance if this is stupidly obvious and I'm just not getting it...

I've been reading with the interest about the (possible) connection between bf and preventing type 1. I have type 1 and so does my brother, my mum said she bf us both though not for long. Fair enough, maybe we'd have just got it anyway and that wasn't enough to protect.

But then I thought, if I as a type 1 bf my dcs (which I did with ds1 and am currently with ds2), aren't I passing on dodgy antibodies? How can I as a flawed health person be passing on antibodies that would stop my children getting the same?

Bump

Is Tiktok around?

Sorry Tiktok, you must have to spend ages on this board...

Bump for scientists who might know more, too.

Thanks Expat

Bumping again...

I should have titled it 'I am going to give up BF RIGHT NOW, unless I get an answer'...

Bimblin,

My ds1 has T1 diabetes (and was b/fed for 10 weeks). I know lots of children with diabetes who were b/fed for a lot longer.

I would have thought that if you were going to pass on the genetic pre-disposition it would be by virtue of being your children's mum rather than by b/feeding (i.e. they have half your genes already, so b/feeding surely can't make any difference).

According to my wide reading into the subject, you need a gene from each parent to have the pre-disposition to diabetes, and even if you have it, it might never be triggered.

So, given that b/feeding is so good in lots of ways, I'd keep going.

As I understand it, the connection with BF and preventing type 1 diabetes is not to do with antibodies in the BM preventing it, but rather that if a baby is being breastfed, it is not being exposed to cows milk based formula. It's the early exposure to cow's milk that is associated with the increased risk of type 1 diabetes in children.

I agree with maygirl (in fact I think we have just read the same info .
We really don't completely understand why type 1 diabetes happens. There is some genetic contribution (inherited from parents) but not as much as there is in type 2 diabetes (so just because you have diabetes doesn't mean your children will get it); but also a big contribution from environmental factors- maybe viruses and also maybe cow's milk protein- so try and exclusively breastfeed for as long as possible!

Thanks Tangerine and maygirl. So, I get that its genetics and not like say, HIV, which is transferrable through fluids, but surely my bf milk would be altered from a normal mum's milk? Or is that just irrelevant?

Bimblin,

I'm not sure if your bf milk would be any different (and maygirl and wue are right, cows' milk is one of the many possible triggers for T1).

I meant to add a PS to my earlier post to say that it's actually very inspiring to hear about someone with T1 bfeeding. Not that I'd ever really thought about it before, as my ds is not likely ever to bf , but I understand that pregnancy can be tricky for women with T1 and imagine balancing food and insulin while bfeeding might also be difficult. So well done!

As has already been said, you cannot 'pass on' diabetes through your milk. Your milk is no different from that of a non diabetic mother.

this page from kellymom has links to lots of evidence based articles on maternal diabetes and breastfeeding. Hopefully you will find loads of information there to help you make an informed decision for you and your baby.

Thanks for the links.

Still not 100% on whether having a faulty immune system would mean I can produce good antibodies but going to continue to bf.

And thanks Tangerine - yep, lots of hypos at first but evening out after a while! Still, a legitimate excuse to eat mini rolls...

Its only a tiny part of your immune system that may be faulty, in that it at some point may have produced antibodies that attacked your pancreas, but in all other ways it is fine.

No one knows quite how it works, but the longer you exclusively breastfeed, the less chance your DCs have of getting type 1 diabetes as this research shows.

Bimblin, I am not in any way a medical person but from what I know about diabetes, it is all about your insulin levels and sugar levels. Neither of these factors have any role in your lymphatic system which is what produces antibodies.

I have a big breastfeeding bible at home and will have a look tonight for you to see what it says specifically about breastfeeding and diabetes but for now, I vaguely remember that mothers with diabetes are encouraged to breastfeed. I'll let you know what I find if not tonight, then over the weekend.

i guess I shouldn't have said 'any role' but should have said 'a direct role'

For those interested, and thanks for all info. I also asked my doc and he said:

There is no known trigger for the autoimmune diseases and many guesses have been made to understand this. One thing is certain is that you need a genetic predisposition to the disease and the inheritance of type 1 diabetes is very low . So you need to hand on the risk to your child, 2% chance with type 1. There then needs to be an event that triggers that off. In theory it does happen in thyroid disease you can pass your antibodies via the placenta, and trigger a disease in the baby associated with antibodies. When those come out of the system as they inevitably will the disease disappears, so it is from the mother not the child. So carry on feeding the antibodies there is no evidence that they can trigger anything , but breast feeding does protect against other problems/diseases

Your antibodies as still very useful and in fact do not contain any genetic material - they are merely a type of protein. Hence it makes no difference if you have diabetes/coeliac or not. They will still deliver the same protective function as any one elses antibodies. You are right in that diabetics have comparitively poor immune systems but the immune system is very complex and antibodies only form a very small (but important) part of it.

this is what is written in 'The Breastfeeding Answerbook' with regard to maternal diabetes - kinda shortened and paraphrased.

• Bf can reduce stress, which aggravates diabetes.
• Bf may reduce the baby's risk of developing diabetes later in life. Since type 1 is inherited, it is of particular benefit to the baby of an insulin dependent diabetic mother to be bf. *BF babies statistically have less ear infections digestive probs and allergies so that saves you the aggro of trips to the gp. *Bf may reduce decrease the amt of insulin the mother needs because of the extra energy used during milk production and the hormones released during bf. *Bf can help the mother feel normal because like almost every other mother, she is physiologically able to bf. *Bf allows physiological changes from pg and childbirth to the post pregnancy phase to occur more gradually than if a mother does not bf. It is therefor not so much of a shock to your body since after childbirth it is expecting to lactate for a baby.

Since your diabetes must be adding another dimension to your pregnancy, you may benefit from ringing one of the bf helplines to discuss other issues you may be concerned about as the one to one conversation will be more specific to you. You don't have to wait till your baby is here or till you are experiencing difficulties to ring. In fact, talking about bfing antenatally is probably one of the best things any mother can do.

The NCT do 'bumps and babies' groups and there are 'Babycafes' in many larger towns and cities in the UK who also welcome pg mums. This means that you can build a support network for yourself before your baby gets here.