Results
A total of 229 eligible women were approached to participate in the BLIiNG study, with 227 women consenting to participate. Of the consenting women, 210 met all eligibility criteria and provided answers for breastfeeding intensity, with 209 women specifying length of breastfeeding. There were 210 women who had OGTT results available for their second pregnancy, 146 (70%) of these women were diagnosed with recurrent GDM. Most women were born overseas with 39 (19%) born in Australia. The majority of self-identified ethnicity was stated as South Asian (52%), with Caucasian the next most frequently identified group (16%). Demographics were similar between women diagnosed with GDM or in the non-GDM group, except for obesity, which was greater in the women with recurrent GDM (26% vs 13%, P = 0.03) (Table 1).
All women in their first pregnancy commenced breastfeeding, with 117 (56%) breastfeeding longer than six months and 43 (20%) breastfeeding for less than three months. For the total cohort, 49 (23%) women had low intensity BLISS score (0–6) and 36 (73%) of these women breastfed for less than three months (Table 2). The most common reason women gave for stopping breastfeeding was “I didn’t think I had enough milk” (34%).