Hi all,
My name is Gail Benson.  I am the mother of three (two with IDDM) and a
LLL leader for about 10 yrs.
My two older children -ages 12 and 9 - were both diagnosed with Type I
diabetes at age 7.  There was no family history up to that point of
diabetes in either my husband's nor my family, so we were not watching
for it, nor restricting dairy products in mother or babies.  I wonder if
their onset would have been delayed had I avoided dairy products while I
was breastfeeding?  Neither child had dairy before 1 year of age, and
were breastfed until past 4 years of age.  If I had it all to do over, I
would find other sources of calcium during pregnancy and lactation.  It
couldn't hurt, and it might help a lot.  I have heard of no studies
documenting mothers consumption of dairy products being linked to the
onset of IDDM, but the cow's milk  protein does pass through the
mother's milk, and early introduction of cow's milk  does increase the
chances of diabetes developing in prone individuals.  This is just a
personal anecdote, but if I ever become pregnant again, I will avoid
dairy products.
Thanks for letting me sound off!

Gail Benson