I have someone who has asked me for some information and advice regarding
the above procedure.  She is diabetic, and is considering having this
surgery to essentially reverse her diabetes (although it is usually used in
the case of morbidly obese patients).  Apparently it will limit the
absorption of simple carbohydrates.

Her doctor has said that she cannot be breastfeeding when she has the
surgery.  His reasoning was that she needs to be very careful about protein
intake, as the absorption rate of protein is also limited.  Her doctor said
that she needs to take in at least twice the amount of protein as normal for
at least the first year after surgery.

She was told that, if breastfeeding, the baby would be taking a lot of the
protein, especially in the first 4-6 weeks.

At the moment her baby is 5.5months old, and she is considering having the
surgery at 12months.  She has also been told she can't fall pregnant for
12-18 months after the surgery, so doesn't want to leave it much later than
that, so she can have more children within 2-4 years.

She doesn't want to have to wean her baby at 12mo, but wants to reverse her
diabetes, as she has a lot of trouble controlling her diabetes, and is
worried about future pregnancies.

I am way out of my depth on this one.  I will suggest she see a local IBCLC
(she is in the US) but I thought somebody on Lactnet might have some
information I could pass on to her.

Any ideas?

Dulcie Bridges
Western Australia

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