Lactation after normal pregnancy is not associated with blood glucose fluctuations.

B reastfeeding is the preferred method of feeding infants up to 12 months of age (1). Breastfed infants experience fewer and less severe infections and may be protected against future disease development (2). Mothers who breastfeed potentially experience accelerated weight loss (3), a lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer (3), and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes than mothers who do not breastfeed (4). Breastfeeding is recommended for all women, including those with gestational (5) or pregestational (6) diabetes. However, data suggest that diabetic women may experience hypoglycemia during breastfeeding; subsequently, they have been advised to eat before or during breastfeeding to avoid hypoglycemia (6). Because data on blood glucose fluctuations in normoglycemic women are limited, we tested the hypothesis that lactation in healthy normoglycemic women will not cause significant blood glucose fluctuations.