Gonneke wrote:
"1 Very large babies (over 4.5kg) indeed seem to want to bf more. Might this
in some cases be because the mom has a mild unnoticed pregnancy diabetes and
the baby instinctively wants to get sugar in?"

My personnal experience with a boy of over  4.8kg at birth (2days over time)
was that he latched on after the birth and stayed there for the next three
days - ok, except for the time I had to express colostrum to "prove" that he
was getting something.
Now I look back at those days I sometimes feel quite shocked at the fact
that if I had pregnancy diabetes (did have a raised blood sugar - but below
the cut off point) I might have been taking a risk in giving birth and home
and running the risk of having a baby with a hypo? However, knowing what I
do now, I think I would still insist on a homebirth even with diagnosed
pregnancy diabetes as I know I can express colostrum by hand if necessary.

Despite my positive story, I have seen big babies (i.e. above 4kg) that do
not feed for the first days. The difference is that they have been born in
hospital where being able to get off to a good start regarding the
breastfeeding is not always possible. These babies usually end up beng
supplemented with formula. I personally would prefer glucose water if
absolutely needed, but I don't understand why they use formula?

I've heard that there is research being undertaken in The Netherlands into
not giving babies from women with preganncy diabetes extra formula (as is
standard if the blood sugars drop below the cut-off limit) but instead
making sure that they get full 24 hour access to the breast.  I wish I could
tell you more, but I have only heard of this research. I will try to get
some more info though.

Sara Bernard
bf counsellor in training
(ps it wasn't until I saw a baby, other than my own, of more that 4.5kg that
I relised what a huge baby I'd had. At the time 4.8kg seemed large, but
normal!)

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