5 tips for a healthy pregnancy with diabetes
A healthy pregnancy with diabetes is possible. Keep yourself and your baby in good health with these five important health tips
By Jacqueline Nunes
2. Don’t skip tests
Screening tests for gestational diabetes are fairly common, although it can depend on your doctor. The Canadian Diabetes Association calls for all pregnant women to be screened, while the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada advises screening only for women with risk factors.
Once you’ve been diagnosed, your doctor will give you a glucometer to measure your blood sugar four times a day, first thing in the morning and after every meal. Controlling blood sugar, based on frequent testing, is the absolute best way to ensure a healthy pregnancy for mother and baby.
For gestational diabetes, the a.m. test is the most telling. “When a woman with gestational diabetes ends up going on insulin, it’s usually to control high blood sugar in the morning, after her overnight fast,” Snyder says. Women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes should follow their same pre-pregnancy regime. But, if you're taking insulin tablets, you might be switched to injections, since pregnancy hormones raise blood sugar higher—sometimes two to three times—than what’s typical. The last three months of pregnancy often require extra high doses of insulin since the hormones associated with the baby’s growth block insulin production.
Once you’ve been diagnosed, your doctor will give you a glucometer to measure your blood sugar four times a day, first thing in the morning and after every meal. Controlling blood sugar, based on frequent testing, is the absolute best way to ensure a healthy pregnancy for mother and baby.
For gestational diabetes, the a.m. test is the most telling. “When a woman with gestational diabetes ends up going on insulin, it’s usually to control high blood sugar in the morning, after her overnight fast,” Snyder says. Women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes should follow their same pre-pregnancy regime. But, if you're taking insulin tablets, you might be switched to injections, since pregnancy hormones raise blood sugar higher—sometimes two to three times—than what’s typical. The last three months of pregnancy often require extra high doses of insulin since the hormones associated with the baby’s growth block insulin production.
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