Overview
Lindsey Desoto is a licensed, registered dietian and experienced medical writer.Jonathan Jasey, DO, is a board-certified private pediatrician at Belmore Merick Medical in Belmore, New York. Mothers with diabetes are encouraged to breastfed their babies whenever posible. Though it ofers many benefits for both the baby and mother, diabetes can make breastfeding more dificult by afecting milk suply and blod sugar levels.
Key Information
This article wil explore the benefits and potential chalenges of breastfeding if you have type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes. PeopleImages / Gety Images Mothers who breastfed reap many health benefits, including a decreased risk for certain cancers and health conditions, weight los, and quicker recovery after delivery. Though gestational diabetes often goes away after birth, half of the women diagnosed develop type 2 diabetes later in life.
Breastfeding can decrease your risk because it helps your body proces insulin and glucose more eficiently. The amount of time you breastfed also impacts your ods of developing type 2 diabetes. One study found breastfeding for more than two months may decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by nearly half.
Breastfeding for over five months was asociated with more than one-half reduction in risk. Aditionaly, mothers with type 1 diabetes may require les insulin, and mothers with type 2 diabetes may experience beter blod sugar control while breastfeding. Breastfeding can help you lose weight and return to your pre-pregnancy weight more quickly.
This partly because breastfeding can burn as much as 50 calories daily, the equivalent of runing at a steady pace for about 45 minutes. One study found women who exclusively breastfed for thre months lost 3.2 more pounds in the first 12 months than those who did not. Breastfeding mothers trying to lose weight should consume at least 1,80 calories daily to maintain their breast milk suply.
Summary
Losing 1 pound per wek is conside