I spoke with the clinical coordinator of our diabetes ed.program at our
hospital.  She's a Certified Diabetes Educator who has worked from time to
time with persons on a wide range of herbals. These are the suggestions she
offered. She usually has people in this kind of situation with high blood
glucose discontinue the herbals for five days, letting the herb clear their
body to see if it makes a difference.  After seeing Frank's post about the
reference that states how fenugreek can *lower* blood glucose, it makes me
think that we should use this herbal with caution in patients with
diabetes, to avoid hypoglycemia.

Her other suggestions were to get this baby to breast and stop
supplementing with pedialyte and soy formula as breastmilk is best for an
ill baby (she's also a CNS in Maternal Child Nursing).  Ensure she's
pumping at any missed feeds.  This far postpartum, she should probably be
on three doses of insulin a day, keeping in mind that dosage is very
individualized, which is why she needs to be seeing a diabetes educator or
at least her MD if her blood glucose is consistently high.  The stress of
an ill baby and fatigue can also be causing her blood glucose to be high
and she may not be eating very well either.  Just some food for thought...

Maurenne Griese, RNC, BSN, CCE, CBE
Birth and Breastfeeding Resources  http://www.childbirth.org/bbfr
Manhattan, KS  USA
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