March 4, 2003
Other
Question from Miami, Florida, USA:
I have type 1 diabetes, am currently breast feeding my three month old son, and my blood sugar is generally good, but sometimes it gets higher. Is this excess sugar in my breast milk? I try to avoid feeding him when I’m high, but sometimes I can’t. And even if I do wait for my blood sugar to go down, won’t the milk still have sugar in it? I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to quit nursing him, but I don’t want to harm him by giving him too much sugar.
Answer:
The primary sugar of milk is lactose. This sugar has to be synthesized by the body and is not the simple sugar glucose which is the sugar that goes up with diabetes.
It is more difficult to control sugars during the time you are nursing. This usually requires an increase in your nutrition, compared to the time you are not nursing. If you are watching your sugars closely and bolusing for high sugars, you can still quite well. I would worry less about this.
JTL
