Gestational diabetes develops during pregnancy. Like other types of diabetes, gestational diabetes affects how your cells use sugar. Gestational diabetes causes high blood sugar that can affect your pregnancy and your baby's health.
Expectant moms can help control gestational diabetes by eating healthy foods, exercising and, if necessary, taking medication. Controlling blood sugar can prevent a difficult birth and keep you and your baby healthy.
Your blood sugar levels will most probably go back to normal quickly after your baby is born. It is advisable to get a blood test to check your blood sugar levels six weeks after your delivery.
How to manage gestational diabetes?
Step 1:
Know what gestational diabetes is. During pregnancy, increased hormone production requires more insulin to keep blood-sugar levels from getting too high. If the mother's pancreas is unable to make enough insulin to keep her blood sugar level normal, she becomes diabetic.
Step 2:
Follow the diet your doctor gives you. It likely will consist largely of high-fiber fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes; simple sugars and carbohydrates will be limited. The goal of the diet is to maintain a normal blood-sugar level.
Tip: Three small, well-spaced meals and three snacks will help keep your blood sugar on an even keel.
Step 3:
Exercise according to your obstetrician's guidelines. Experts say daily walking and swimming are especially good workouts for pregnant women.
Step 4:
If diet and exercise don't bring down your blood-sugar levels, your doctor may have you inject yourself with insulin or take an oral medication.
Step 5:
Keep on top of your condition by testing your blood sugar with a blood-glucose meter several times a day: When waking up in the morning; before each meal; and an hour or two after each meal. Call your doctor immediately if your blood-sugar level is high.
Tip: Acceptable blood sugar levels are 95 or less upon awakening; 140 or less an hour after meals; and 120 or less two hours after meals.
Step 6:
Return to your doctor six to 12 weeks after giving birth to have your blood sugar retested. For most women, their blood-sugar levels return to normal after they give birth.
Step 7:
Stick with your anti-diabetes diet and exercise plan so you won't become part of the approximately 50 percent of women who develop type 2 diabetes within five years of having gestational diabetes.
Did You Know?
Giving birth to a baby weighing more than nine pounds increases your risk of developing gestational diabetes during your next pregnancy.
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