Gestational Diabetes - where to from here?
In Australia, gestational diabetes (GD) will occur in 1 of 6 pregnancies. This is a specific type of diabetes which only occurs during pregnancy and will generally resolve itself by the end of pregnancy.
You might have recently been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This can understandably be upsetting and something you perhaps weren’t expecting. If you have any specific queries regarding your diagnosis, your medical professional will be the best person to guide you through these queries, or have a look at Diabetes Australia, peak body for diabetes advocacy and support in Australia (linked below).
Gestational diabetes is important to monitor as it can influence your pregnancy, health, and bubs’ development. You might have already been told about some of the ways you can manage GD. If you’ve recently found out you have gestational diabetes, check out this blog series.
What is Gestational Diabetes?
Diabetes refers to when there is extra glucose in your bloodstream. The food we eat is broken down to glucose molecules which resides in our bloodstream as an energy source. Insulin is a hormone which helps absorb glucose from the bloodstream into your body.
During your pregnancy, some hormones made by the placenta can make your insulin work less effectively – this is called insulin resistance. This can mean more glucose remains in your bloodstream. When this happens, gestational diabetes may be diagnosed usually between week 24 – week 28 gestation.
Why is it important to manage.
If there’s extra glucose in your bloodstream, it can cross through the placenta to your baby, possibly causing them to grow larger. This may increase the likelihood of an early birth, requiring a c-section, high blood pressure, and/or experiencing pre-eclampsia. Your baby will not be born with diabetes, but we do know keeping your blood sugar levels within the recommended ranges has long term benefits for both you and them.
Risk Factors for GD.
There are few things which can increase the likelihood of developing gestational diabetes during your pregnancy. These include factors such as:
· Ethnicity: Asian, Indian subcontinent, Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Pacific Islander, Māori, Middle Eastern, non-white African
· Body mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m²
· Any history of elevated blood glucose levels
· Age ≥40 years
· Family history of diabetes mellitus
· Polycystic ovary syndrome
· Medications: corticosteroids, antipsychotics.
Whether these risk factors are relevant to you or not, GD can be managed with help from your medical and allied health professional team alongside daily lifestyle changes.
How to manage GD.
Diet and exercise play a big role in managing your GD. Diet can include eating meals which help stabilise your blood glucose levels (see: Nadia’s Nutrition Nibbles). It can also include increasing your physical activity levels to make use of the extra glucose in your bloodstream. These can feel pretty overwhelming when you are pregnant, so to get you started, we’ve put together some of our top tips help us make the little changes that help manage gestational diabetes.
Post Pregnancy
While your medical team will help manage your gestational diabetes throughout your pregnancy, it is recommended you are tested for type 2 diabetes annually. The symptoms of Gestational diabetes will typically return to normal post-pregnancy. However, your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes remains much higher than the general population. To reduce this risk, maintaining the healthy lifestyle changes you had during pregnancy can be useful to health in the long-run.
Here’s the catch – it can sometimes feel pretty tough to focus on this with a new bub to look after. So here are a few recommendations to keep up those changes you have already made throughout your pregnancy.
Helpful Resources:
What is Gestational Diabetes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LON-4CV8UXg&ab_channel=NationalDiabetesServicesSchemeNDSS
https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/about-diabetes/gestational-diabetes/
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/diabetes/diabetes/contents/total-diabetes/gestational-diabetes