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Home › Articles › Overcoming Difficulties › Breastfeeding with Chronic Illnesses

Breastfeeding with Chronic Illnesses

Nursing Despite My Illness

By Shel Franco

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Despite My Disease-Breastfeeding With Chronic IllnessesAn emotional discomfort that fewer people seem to think about is what happens to the breastfeeding relationship when mothers are hospitalized. An emergency forced DeLuca to stay in the hospital, but she did not let that stop her breastfeeding relationship. "As soon as I was off the respirator but still in ICU, I explained to [the nurses] that I had a 6-week-old baby and needed a breast pump, because I didn't want my milk to dry up while in the hospital," she says. As a result, the hospital staff contacted DeLuca's pulmonologist, and a breast pump was brought to her that same day.

The Benefits
Some people may wonder why these women should even bother. Yet, mothers with chronic illnesses or diseases take heart in knowing that breastfeeding a baby, though sometimes a struggle, is well worth the effort. Women like DeLuca look at breastfeeding as a way to reduce their babies' chances of having similar disorders in the future.

But for some women, the benefits may be simply personal. A study in the British Medical Journal suggests that breastfeeding mothers who are also insulin dependent diabetics undergo insulin reductions that are significantly greater than their bottle-feeding counterparts.

And diabetes might not be the only disease that is positively affected by breastfeeding; it is DeLuca's belief that the hormones secreted during breastfeeding actually improved her asthma. "My doctor said it was possible – that he had seen pregnancy and breastfeeding both improve and worsen asthma," she says.


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