Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Breastfeeding has benefits for infant health, but also for maternal health, lactation has a positive impact on glucose homeostasis and weight loss. This can be explained by the needs of milk production. The mammary gland needs glucose to make lactose. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of breastfeeding on glycemic control and weight loss

Materials and Methods: Prospective study conducted in the department of endocrinology and diabetology including 90 patients followed for diabetic pregnancy. The analysis was carried out by SPSS version 25 software.

Results: The results had objectified a mean age of 35 years, predominantly type 2 diabetes (89%), a mean weight at conception was 80kg, Only 13% of the patients had planned their pregnancy, 57% of the patients were on insulin, 83% of the patients were breastfeeding, 36% of them were exclusively breastfeeding, the predominant duration of breastfeeding was more than 12 months (37%), postpartum weight loss was observed in 74.4%, glycemic control was observed in 60% and significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding (P = 0.000), as well as with the duration of breastfeeding of more than 12 months (P = 0.000), the latter was correlated with postpartum weight loss (P = 0.02)

Conclusion: Our results underline the positive impact of breastfeeding on weight loss and glycemic control, hence the need to systematically insist on breastfeeding in women with diabetes.