Breastfeeding Duration in Families with Type 1 Diabetes Compared to Non-Affected Families: Results from BABYDIAB and DONALD Studies in Germany

Background: There are only a few small studies that compare breastfeeding rates in mothers with and without type 1 diabetes (T1D). Study design: We studied breastfeeding duration in 665 German infants whose mother and/or father had T1D from the BABYDIAB Study (data collected between 1992 and 2000) and compared it with data from 268 German infants of unaffected parents from the DONALD Study. Results: Infants with a parent who had T1D were less likely to be breastfed and breastfed for shorter lengths of time than infants from unaffected families. Mothers with T1D showed a positive long-term breastfeeding time trend, but did not reach the rates of the DONALD Study. Conclusions: This study identified minor secular trends influencing the differences in breastfeeding initiation and duration between families affected with T1D and those without.