Long-Term Breast-Feeding in Women With Type 1 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE — Breast-feeding may be more difficult in women with diabetes because of neonatal morbidity and fluctuating maternal blood glucose values. The frequency of long-term breast-feeding and the possible predictors for successful breast-feeding were investigated. RESEARCH DESIGN ANDMETHODS — One hundred two consecutive women with type 1 diabetes were interviewed about breast-feeding using a semistructured questionnaire 5 days and 4 months after delivery. Clinical data were collected from the medical records. RESULTS — Five days after delivery, 86 % of the women were breast-feeding. Four months after delivery, 55 (54%) women were exclusively, 14 (14%) were partly, and 33 (32%) were not breast-feeding compared with 50, 26, and 24 % in the background population (NS). Mothers exclusively breast-feeding at 4 months were characterized by previous experience with breast-feeding, a higher educational level, and vaginal delivery and included a high proportion of nonsmokers, whereas there were no associations with diabetes-related parameters such as white classes, duration of diabetes, HbA1c, and insulin dose at conception. Breast-fed offspring had a significantly higher birth weight and gestational age and were less often receiving glucose intra-venously compared with the remaining offspring. Independent predictors of exclusive breast