[sarahg19]

I wonder if anyone can help or point me in the right direction:

My friend has an 11 month old dd, bf on demand, day and night. About 10 days ago her dd became increasingly unwell, ended up being blue lighted into hospital where it took over 3 hours to stabilize her. She turned out to be in diabetic ketoacidosis and has been diagnosed as having type 1 diabetes.

My friend is now on a huge learning curve, her dd is home with her again and they are on an insulin / testing blood sugar regime.

What is difficult for my friend is how to bf responsively when she is having to delay her dd by testing blood sugar and possibly giving fast acting dextrose. The other issue is that she has bf experts and diabetes experts, but no sources of expertise in both together - the medical professioionals she is talking to are used to being able to measure what a child is eating and giving an amount of insulin, whereas my friend is bf on demand with all the variability that entails in length of feed, amount of active vs comfort nursing, not to mention the varying nature of bm!

So my two questions are:
- does anyone here have experience of having a child with type 1 who is bf on demand? If so, would there be any chance that my friend could email you direct or ask you questions on this thread?

- does anyone know of a medical professional with expertise in diabetes who also has experience with bf infants?

My friend and I would be hugely grateful for any information anyone can give us. We are both in the UK (not sure if that might be relevant!)

Many thanks.

 

[sarahg19]

Bumping

 

[PinkinPA]

Wow! I can't answer, but I can pray for this baby. Maybe try the LLL board?

http://www.llli.org/

and this bumps it up.

 

[LadyCatherine185]

I keep checking this thread to see if anyone has any answers.... I am so sorry for this poor little baby. I have never heard of a baby having diabetes before! I would recommend your friend talking with an LC, or someone from LLL. And getting a good, pro-BF'ing doctor to talk with. Dr. Jack Newman also will answer emails- [email protected]

I hope everything works out.. You friend and her baby will be in my prayers.

 

[Carita]

hmmm - my niece had a defect in her pancreas that caused insulin imbalance. She was cluster nursing constantly until they detected it and she had surgery at CHOP. I hear if you e-mail Jack Newman, you can get a response - theis may be one of those times to e-mail his institue and also LLL as well. http://www.drjacknewman.com/contact-us.asp

on delayign for testing - if she looks for early signs of hunger, maybe she can anticipate and test ahead. but i just want to give her ((hugs)) for having to test her baby...

 

[sarahg19]

Thank you so much for the information/suggestions and also the prayers and good thoughts - I will pass them all on to my friend. Thanks also for the person who messaged me.

 

[isabchi]

Christina Smillie MD, (203) 375-5812

I don't have her e-mail. Maybe she can help
.

for you friend

 

[GeorgieGirlsMom]

Please tell your friend to visit the diabetes.org board. There is a place for parents of children with diabetes. There are several moms with children that were diagnosed with diabetes when they were babies. Jordana (a mother there onn the boards) had a son still nursing when he was diagnosed.

The carbs in breastmilk hardley make a difference. She could easily nurse with out giving him a bolus shot.

I have type 1 as well.

Hope this helps.