By definition, gestational diabetes resolves after childbirth, but associations with establishing breastfeeding (BF) have not been documented. We recently reported the prevalence of early lactation difficulties among a cohort of 431 first‐time mothers delivering healthy term infants and initiating BF. Our objective here is to compare the prevalence of delayed onset of lactogenesis (delayed OL, defined as maternal perception of onset after 72 h) and other early BF outcomes between cohort participants with gestational diabetes (GD, n=27) and those without gestational, type 1 or type 2 diabetes (NoD, n=397). GD women were more likely to be obese (P=.007), but were similar in prenatal BF intentions and delivered infants of similar birth weight. In the first 24 h, GD infants (vs. NoD) were less likely to “breastfeed well” at least twice (69% vs. 88%, P=.007) and more likely to be given > 60 mL formula (15% vs. 6%, P=.08). The prevalence of delayed OL (GD vs. NoD) was 63% vs. 43% overall (P=.04) and 64% (7 of 11) vs. 36% (99 of 262) in the non‐obese subset, P=.08. By 72 h, 54% of GD infants (vs. 26% of NoD) received > 60 mL formula (P=.003). GD infants continued to be significantly more likely to receive formula at 3–7 (78% vs. 45%, P=.001) and 8–14 (59% vs. 31%, P=.007) days of age, despite similar maternal BF intentions. GD mothers are at risk for early lactation difficulties and should routinely be provided with professional BF support.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Nommsen‐Rivers et al. (2010) studied this question.