>The caller nursed her older child for 4 yrs.A few years after he weaned,he was
>diagnosed with diabetes. She feels maybe she caused it by breastfeeding him.
>She is currently nursing another todddler and very scared by what her husband
>heard on the radio.[about dioxins in breastmilk causing endocrine disorders].

I have been thinking about this mother over the weekend .
Meanwhile, dioxins have  been described and we know that they are present
everywhere, though in greater quantity  further up the food chain, babies are
also exposed to them in ABM and later at weaning.
The original caller is afraid that she caused her older child's diabetes and her
current toddler will also become diabetic. I empathise with her as I breastfed
my elder child (5) till she was 30mths. She was diagnosed diabetic a year after
weaning (no family history). Her little sister is 2 and still nursing.
I have enquired closely about the possibility of my baby also developing
diabetes. Apparently my first had a 1:1000 chance of becoming IDDM (insulin
dependent diabetes mellitus). Her sister, with an IDDM sibling has a 1:20
chance. Greatly increased odds.
I asked myself repeatedly what I had 'done wrong' and how I could avoid a
repeat. Perhaps this mother is also doing this.
There are people on lactnet more qualified than I to comment on the connection
between early sensitisation to cows milk protein and IDDM but the connection is
undoubtedly there. I found it comforting to be able to avoid dairy products in
my baby's diet for the first year and to breastfeed. Perhaps the original caller
would also be comforted to know that breastfeeding is known to definitely help
to avoid IDDM. You could say that her son got diabetes despite breastfeeding,
Mike Woolridge tells me when children as young as this become diabetic it is
probable that there is very little we could have done to prevent it. MW if you
are out there somewwhere perhaps you have something to add?
Although all diabetics diagnosed in childhood are equally 'severe'(ie all
insulin dependent)I tend to think the breastfed ones are diagnosed  after
weaning. I have met  a number of babies diagnosed under a year but have never
yet met a breastfed IDDM though I gather they do exist.Anyone know anything
about this?
Finally the year my daughter was diagnosed (l993) I was told there were twice as
many new cases of IDDM at our local hospital as the year before(12 to 24). Is
this rise due to dioxins? I have tended to attribute it to ABM - perhaps the
cumulative effect over successive generation.
I'm sorry this is so long when there is already so much to read.
from Veronika Tudhope, Kilmarnock, Scotland
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