Information Text:

Dr. Kelly Kasper, Obstetrics & Gynecology, IU School of Medicine:  “[For] our women who find out that they have gestational diabetes, one of the first things we do is we send [the patients] to a diabetic counselor, as well as a nutritionist.  There are certain dietary guidelines that we want them to follow. Typically it’s just eating a very healthy diet: eating 3 healthy meals a day; watching your carbohydrate intake; and then having healthy snacks in between those meals. But then in addition, when they go to the diabetic counselor, they learn to check their own blood sugars. If their blood sugars continue to be too high, we may need to institute some sort of regimen- whether it’s an oral medication or insulin that they have to give themselves with a needle.

We do test the gestational diabetic mother at her postpartum visit, 6 weeks after delivery.  Another test similar to what she did for the gestational diabetes, just to make sure that she isn’t a diabetic who wasn’t diagnosed before pregnancy, or to make sure that she wasn’t one of those individuals who may have become a diabetic.  Children of gestational diabetics do not develop diabetes because their moms have gestational diabetes. They are not at increased risk of developing diabetes as children because their mothers may have been gestational diabetics.”

Guidelines:

Adjust diet

Check blood sugar 2-4x/day

Medication may be needed

After delivery:

Mom gets diabetes test at 6-week postpartum visit

Child not predisposed to developing diabetes