Breastfeeding with diabetes?

Well I had a premature baby who was in special care and I expressed milk for him in SCBU because he didn't have any sucking reflexes. He was fed through a tube. I don't know, but I would think they would call you to come to feed him if you are able to do so, If not your expressed milk could be bottle fed to him.

Edit: I should have said I'm only answering your second question because I wasn't diabetic when I had my children.

Hi, my baby was born at 33 weeks, and I am type 1. She was fed through a tube at first, inserted up her nose
(it makes you go aawww) and into her stomach, because she had no sucking reflexes and later on ( when better) I expressed my breast milk from a machine in the SCBU unit and it went into labelled bottles ( because I couldn't breast feed all the time). It's the best feeling in the world to have your baby so close to you, suckling away and it's giving the baby all the special nutrients and vitamins, plus it's wonderful for bonding.
Good luck, I'm sure you will be fine
RRB
ps sorry I forgot to add that breastfeeding can lower blood sugars, so always test frequently and have a snack easily available. You need to drink plenty of fluids and eat to provide milk for baby.

I didn't collect any colostrum before birth because I didn't really leak, but if you are leaking then I don't see any reason why you shouldn't collect it. You could check with a midwife or your hospital if you want to check the best way to express it and store it. There may also be a good time to start doing this and a midwife could advise you about that too.

My baby was in NICU and the hospital were very supportive about expressing colostrum and milk for him. It's a brilliant thing to do if you can

maryamy1994 said:

Also if he is taken in to special care I presume I won't ever be able to breastfeed anyway?

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Yes, you will still be able to breastfeed - don't worry.

I expressed milk for my baby who was in intensive care and there were other women there doing it for extremely premature babies. It's really encouraged. They also used my milk as a painkiller for my baby when he had to have a drip put in. Then I went across to intensive care to feed him myself when he was able to.

Just to confirm what everyone else has said really...

My baby was born at 34 weeks and we spent 7 weeks in SCBU. I was encouraged to express and given a hospital grade pump to help. Jack was given my milk through a feeding tube and when he was strong enough, kangaroo/skin to skin care was really encouraged to help bond/milk production/regulate Jack's temperature etc. As soon as his sucking reflex was ready I was given lots and lots of support to establish breastfeeding and we continued until weaning.

As for expressing now, I was told to do the same but I didn't as I didn't start producing milk until after Jack was born. Your hospital should provide you with sterile syringes/small bottles to collect the amount you're able to express along with freezing and storage guidelines. The NCT website also produces lots of information on how to do this.

Good luck!

Just to add, I am a Type 1 Diabetic insulin pump controlled. And I absolutely second the advice given in an earlier post by Robinredbreast re the effect of breastfeeding on blood sugar levels!

And I third it! The combination of the huge drop in insulin resistance and the start of breastfeeding gave me a lot of hypos for the first couple of weeks even though I adjusted my insulin to carb ratios and ate snacks with no bolus.

I found they came on quickly too as my body was adjusting.

azure said:

And I third it! The combination of the huge drop in insulin resistance and the start of breastfeeding gave me a lot of hypos for the first couple of weeks even though I adjusted my insulin to carb ratios and ate snacks with no bolus.

I found they came on quickly too as my body was adjusting.

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If I left the maternity floor ( I had my own room) I had to take with me a small plate of biscuits, and leave a note on my bed to tell staff where I was and the time ( 3 pm, Gone to see baby in SCBU) because of sudden hypo's.

Hi Mary, I would definitely store it if you can. I asked and was told not to but wee boy had hypo and was taken to SCBU. I manually expressed colostrum into syringes for them to feed him (I was bed bound following c section) but found it really hard expressing enough to keep jaundice levels down and only got an hour of sleep, sometimes less, between feeds. They had to supplement with formula too.

Opposite problem with milk supply now, regularly squirts everywhere! Hardly taking any insulin but eating loads so you'll def need that crate of lucozade! (And lots of slower carbs too, I have stashes of cereal bars all over house, in car, in changing bag etc)

I never expressed colostrum pre birth but made sure the first formula given for low blood sugar was by cup not bottle to avoid nipple confusion. I fourth the advice on bfeeding and blood sugars. Basically your body turns into an ever working machine doing the equivalent of exercise and this has a huge effect on my blood sugars. Both times I've ended up in a coma around week 2-3 through dropping low in a day time nap. Really unpleasant. I'm hoping to avoid it this time because of the pump and being able to adjust the basal rate.

Best advice I got on avoiding soreness was when you start feeding let a bit of milk airdry on each nipple for 10 mins after the first few days feeds. That worked really well for me.

I fed no. 1 until 11 1/2 months (nipple confusion, admission for jaundice)
twin 1 until 16 weeks (really bad feeder and premature)
twin 2 until 7 months mix fed (wonderful feeder despite 7 weeks premature but I got tired of only doing one and balancing the other at the same time)

Good luck. So long as you have good support at home you should manage fine and diabetes should not be a factor in whether you can or can't do it.

And make sure you have lots of food to hand when stuck in hospital. My lovely mother sent me sandwiches in case I got starving in the night. 4am midnight feast definitely happened on a couple of nights with the twins.

My twins were in scbu and it definitely makes it harder but it is still possible to feed.

I never expressed before the birth of my babies and neither of them needed to go to SCBU as their blood sugar levels were normal. On my first breastfeeding hypos knocked me for six, literally came on in a matter of minutes and were quite severe. On the second I didn't get hypos whilst breastfeeding and was grand. Just make sure u have food and you'll be fine and as long as your levels are well controlled ur little one might not have any problem with their blood sugars when born.

I'd also advise keeping lots of Lucozade and snacks beside you when you're breastfeeding at home. It never ceases to surprise me how often I have to top up my food intake when I'm breastfeeding.

Have a nice chair or chairs with plenty of glucose and food in arm's reach! I still do that now and my son is 4 months old.