Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Breastfeeding offers short- and long-term health benefits to mothers and their infants. In the literature, many studies suggest that diabetic women breastfed their babies less than non-diabetic women. The aim of our study was to determine the breastfeeding rates in a group of diabetic women.

Methods: It was a prospective descriptive study conducted in pregnant women followed for pregestational diabetes at the Department of Nutritional Diseases « D » of the National Institute of Nutrition of Tunis. Women included in this study were contacted by telephone one week after delivery and they consulted at two and six months postpartum. Women who had an abortion or had been lost to follow-up were excluded from the study.

Results: We included 102 diabetic patients with a mean age of 35.12±4.8 years [ext:23-44]. Most patients had type 2 diabetes (82%). The mean duration of diabetes was 4.37±3.87 years. Twenty-four patients were excluded from the study. Most patients (73%) had given birth by caesarean section. Preterm delivery was noted in 14% of the cases. To one week after delivery, 40% of patients breastfed exclusively, 42% breastfed and bottle-fed, while 18% used formula milk only. After 2 months of childbirth, breast-feeding was noted in 77% of patients; it was exclusive in 44% of cases and partial in 33%. After six months of childbirth, only 10% of babies were exclusively breastfed, while the half were formula-fed. Hospitalization of the newborn in neonatology was the main obstacle to initiate breastfeeding, according to the patients included in the study (41%). Twenty-two patients considered the quantity of breast milk produced insufficient to cover the needs of the newborn. During hospitalization in the maternity ward, 30% of women were educated about breastfeeding techniques.

Conclusion: Our study highlighted the low rate of breastfeeding among diabetic women. Boosting education for diabetics on the importance of breastfeeding could improve this rate.