# Breastfeeding



## beckyp (Jun 16, 2011)

I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right area as this isn't really pregnancy but post-pregnancy!

Evelyn is 3 months next week and I'm breastfeeding exclusively.  We had trouble in the first month where I expressed and bottle fed but thankfully we sorted things out and don't have any problems now....except my insulin is STILL dropping! 

Throughout pregnancy my insulin decreased drastically at the end (thankfully no problems with the placenta - or so I was told...I did ask!).  Prior to pregnancy I took 27 units of lantus daily - last night I took 6 units and I'm still hypoing!!! 

I wake every day with high sugars from where (I'm guessing) I've hypo'd in my sleep and rebounded....it's usually in the 20's when I wake at 5am(ish) for a feed so I give a correction dose and everything's fine when I wake up again later.  I've tried eating snacks before bed but nothing seems to help.  

I even forgot to inject my lantus for one day and found that I still hypo'd - although my readings were higher in the morning!

I'm tempted to set an alarm at about 2am but in all honesty I'm knackered getting up at 5am everyday for an hour and don't want to wake Evelyn at 2am with alarms firing off that I haven't got round to it yet. 

I have an appointment at the hospital next week and will raise it then but was wondering if other people had experienced the same?  I'd really appreciate your thoughts.


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## Catwoman76 (Jun 16, 2011)

beckyp said:


> I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right area as this isn't really pregnancy but post-pregnancy!
> 
> Evelyn is 3 months next week and I'm breastfeeding exclusively.  We had trouble in the first month where I expressed and bottle fed but thankfully we sorted things out and don't have any problems now....except my insulin is STILL dropping!
> 
> ...



Hi I had that when I was breastfeeding Tia.  I was told to eat more because your body is using a lot of energy breastfeeding the baby.  Try and have extra to eat during the day and not just before bed, because your sugars are probably dropping throughout the day. You can use up a lot of calories looking after a new baby. 
I was not taking a lot of Insulin when I was feeding Tia myself (that was 10 years) so maybe the advice could of changed a bit.  It might be best just to run a little high, until you go to hospital next week.  Best wishes Sheena


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## rachelha (Jun 16, 2011)

Becky I am still havin this problem despite Nathan now only getting 3 feeds per day off me as he is eating solids really well.  My even levemir injection is only 2 units.  It has never been high, but was about 5 pre-pregnancy.  Like you I often have high readings in the morning.  Did you have problems with night hypos and dawn phenomenon previously?

Maybe you could just test in the middle of the night a couple of times just to check what is happening?  

It sounds as though your little one is sleeping pretty well, what time is her last evening feed?


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## Lizzzie (Jun 17, 2011)

HI Becky

Yes, it's happening to me too. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on WHEN it happens? - I tend to hypo right after I've breast-fed. This makes me think that when she's actually feeding, my body starts making more milk and that's what uses the energy up, rather than my body making milk at a steady rate all day. But I don't know whether that's right?

Anyway, it's no wonder women who breast feed seem to loose their weight faster (unless you're diabetic, hypo all the time and end up eating stupid quantitis of sweets / cereal bars to repair it, which is where I am at the moment).


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## rachelha (Jun 17, 2011)

Lizzzie said:


> HI Becky
> 
> Anyway, it's no wonder women who breast feed seem to loose their weight faster (unless you're diabetic, hypo all the time and end up eating stupid quantitis of sweets / cereal bars to repair it, which is where I am at the moment).



Exactly, i put weight on between Nathan being 2 and 6 months old.

Becky - did you get any good advice today?


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## beckyp (Jun 18, 2011)

Thank you ladies!  I know it's a horrible way to look at things, but it's soooo nice to know it's not just me!!!  I've been saying to my husband that having a baby appears to have cured diabetes....who'd have thought it!!!

My appointment is next Tuesday so I'll make sure that I ask and will let you know the outcome.

Lizzzie - I think it's a combination of both...the more you feed the more milk you produce so your body is continously producing milk which is why IF you ever go for longer than 4 hours between feeds your boobs are massive, lumpy and are leaking!  Such a dignified affair this bf lark isn't it!!!  

Re the weight loss...I was saying exactly the same thing to my friends last week!  I've gone up 3 dress sizes since pre-pregnancy and am feeling on the porky side to say the least!

Rachel - Evelyn's last feed at night is around 10 or 11 - I try to mass feed before bed so I feed her every hour up to 10 and see how she gets on.  It seems to be working so far - in the last week she's been moving her waking time later and later - one day she even slept til 7am (it was defo a one-off though).  I didn't on the other hand because my body clock is used to waking up at 5 and I stayed awake waiting for her to ask for food...by 6.30 I got bored and got up!  

Thanks for all your replies!

B


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## beckyp (Jun 22, 2011)

I've had my appointment and, as usual, my doctor sent me through to the nurses to give me an answer...remind me again what doctor's do?!!!!!!

They explained how our bodies are using up a huge amount of calories and breastfeeding completely drains you!  They also said that my ratios are probably wrong for my long and short acting.  I need to keep a record and email them on Friday to work out how to alter my humalog during the day.  They said that I should probably eat more at mealtimes as a ham salad sarnie isn't enough for lunch when bf'ing.  The general advice was eat more to feed you and baby and inject less insulin as the body is already using more energy feeding and being a mummy!

I'd suggest keeping a diary for a couple of days and emailing results through to your dsn as they might be able to change your numbers.

More annoying is that my hba1c is now 7.9...I hate those rebounds!


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