What does gestational diabetes mean for you and your baby?
Almost all future mothers with gestational diabetes will give birth to a healthy baby. Nevertheless, gestational diabetes needs to be monitored regularly by your health care provider and gestational diabetes levels checked. Here are some of the health risks to your little one if you have gestational diabetes:
- Excessive weight gain of your baby. Due to the increased glucose levels in your blood, more sugar is added to your baby. This causes it to grow faster and gain weight. This can lead to complications or injuries during birth.
- Increased risk of premature birth. Even though most women with gestational diabetes carry their pregnancy to term, in some circumstances – due to the size of the baby – the health care provider might recommend that you give birth early.
- Increased risk of respiratory distress syndrome. This makes it difficult for the baby to breathe and requires artificial support until the lungs are sufficiently developed.
- Low blood sugar level (hypoglycemia)
- Jaundice
- Development of type 2 diabetes later in life
- Childhood obesity
The birth of a large baby can lead to the following, among other things:
- Birth difficulties
- Increased likelihood of a cesarean section. Because of the baby’s size, there could be complications with a vaginal birth.
- Heavy bleeding after birth
- Tears in the vagina or perineum – the area between the vagina and anus – during a vaginal birth.
Gestational diabetes also increases your risk for:
- High blood pressure and preeclampsia (elevated blood pressure).
- Type 2 diabetes. Your blood sugar levels should normalize after birth, but there is an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. Between 15% and 70% of women who had gestational diabetes also developed diabetes later in life. But there’s good news: if you regain your normal weight after giving birth, the risk decreases. Of the women with gestational diabetes who got rid of their excess weight, only less than 25% were affected by type 2 diabetes.
Some women may also have had a very mild form of diabetes undetected before they became pregnant. For these women, diabetes can be a lifelong problem and the disease can persist after birth.
