Quantifying the Benefits of Breast-Feeding After Gestational Diabetes

Women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) subsequently face excess risk for type 2 diabetes; however, this risk is reduced among mothers who breast-feed their infants. In a prospective cohort study involving 1035 women with GDM who delivered term singletons at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, researchers assessed the relative importance of lactation intensity and duration following GDM.

Overall, 1010 participants were free of diabetes 6 to 9 weeks after delivery. At 2 years postpartum, diabetes risk was reduced with higher intensity and longer duration of lactation. Compared with mothers exclusively breast-feeding 6 to 9 weeks postpartum, those exclusively formula-feeding were more than twice as likely to develop diabetes in 2 yea…