Gestational diabetes is a disorder characterized by abnormally high levels of blood glucose (also called blood sugar) during pregnancy. Affected women do not have diabetes before they are pregnant, and most of these women go back to being nondiabetic soon after the baby is born. The disease has a 30 to 70 percent chance of recurring in subsequent pregnancies. Additionally, about half of women with gestational diabetes develop another form of diabetes, known as type 2 diabetes, within a few years after their pregnancy.

Gestational diabetes is often discovered during the second trimester of pregnancy. Most affected women have no symptoms, and the disease is discovered through routine screening at their obstetrician's office. If untreated, gestational diabetes increases the risk of pregnancy-associated high blood pressure (called preeclampsia) and early (premature) delivery of the baby.

Babies of mothers with gestational diabetes tend to be large (macrosomia), which can cause complications during birth. Infants whose mothers have gestational diabetes are also more likely to develop dangerously low blood glucose levels soon after birth. Later in life, these individuals have an increased risk of developing obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that can develop during pregnancy in women who don’t already have diabetes. Every year, 2% to 10% of pregnancies in the United States are affected by gestational diabetes. Managing gestational diabetes will help make sure you have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.

What Causes Gestational Diabetes?

Gestational diabetes occurs when your body can’t make enough insulin during your pregnancy. Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into the cells in your body for use as energy.

During pregnancy, your body makes more hormones and goes through other changes, such as weight gain. These changes cause your body’s cells to use insulin less effectively, a condition called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance increases your body’s need for insulin.

All pregnant women have some insulin resistance during late pregnancy. However, some women have insulin resistance even before they get pregnant. They start pregnancy with an increased need for insulin and are more likely to have gestational diabetes.

Symptoms and Risk Factors

Gestational diabetes typically doesn’t have any symptoms. Your medical history and whether you have any risk factors may suggest to your doctor that you could have gestational diabetes, but you’ll need to be tested to know for sure.

Related Health Problems

Having gestational diabetes can increase your risk of high blood pressure during pregnancy. It can also increase your risk of having a large baby that needs to be delivered by cesarean section (C-section).

If you have gestational diabetes, your baby is at higher risk of:

• Being very large (9 pounds or more), which can make delivery more difficult
• Being born early, which can cause breathing and other problems
• Having low blood sugar
• Developing type 2 diabetes later in life

Your blood sugar levels will usually return to normal after your baby is born. However, about 50% of women with gestational diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes. You can lower your risk by reaching a healthy body weight after delivery. Visit your doctor to have your blood sugar tested 6 to 12 weeks after your baby is born and then every 1 to 3 years to make sure your levels are on target.

Testing for Gestational Diabetes

It’s important to be tested for gestational diabetes so you can begin treatment to protect your health and your baby’s health.

Gestational diabetes usually develops around the 24 week of pregnancy, so you’ll probably be tested between 24 and 28 weeks.

If you’re at higher risk for gestational diabetes, your doctor may test you earlier. Blood sugar that’s higher than normal early in your pregnancy may indicate you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes rather than gestational diabetes.

Prevention

Before you get pregnant, you may be able to prevent gestational diabetes by losing weight if you’re overweight and getting regular physical activity.

Don’t try to lose weight if you’re already pregnant. You’ll need to gain some weight—but not too quickly—for your baby to be healthy. Talk to your doctor about how much weight you should gain for a healthy pregnancy.

Treatment for Gestational Diabetes

You can do a lot to manage your gestational diabetes. Go to all your prenatal appointments and follow your treatment plan, including:

• Checking your blood sugar to make sure your levels stay in a healthy range.
• Eating healthy food in the right amounts at the right times. Follow a healthy eating plan created by your doctor or dietitian.
• Being active. Regular physical activity that’s moderately intense (such as brisk walking) lowers your blood sugar and makes you more sensitive to insulin so your body won’t need as much. Make sure to check with your doctor about what kind of physical activity you can do and if there are any kinds you should avoid.
• Monitoring your baby. Your doctor will check your baby’s growth and development.

If healthy eating and being active aren’t enough to manage your blood sugar, your doctor may prescribe insulin, metformin, or other medication.

In the United States, up to 14 percent of all pregnancies are affected by gestational diabetes. The prevalence of gestational diabetes has been increasing rapidly over the past few decades (a trend similar to the increase in obesity and type 2 diabetes).

The risk of developing gestational diabetes varies by ethnic background. Women of Native American, Asian, Hispanic, or African American heritage are more likely to be diagnosed with the disease than are non-Hispanic white women.

What Are the Different Types of Diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease that affects how your body turns food into energy. There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes.

With type 1 diabetes, the body doesn’t produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps blood sugar get into the cells to be used for energy.

With type 2 diabetes, the body produces insulin, but does not use it well.

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy.

How Common Is Diabetes During Pregnancy?

In the United States, about 1% to 2% of pregnant women have type 1 or type 2 diabetes and about 6% to 9% of pregnant women develop gestational diabetes. Diabetes during pregnancy has increased in recent years. Recent studies found that from 2000 to 2010, the percentage of pregnant women with gestational diabetes increased 56% and the percentage of women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes before pregnancy increased 37%.

Diabetes in pregnancy varies by race and ethnicity. Asian and Hispanic women have higher rates of gestational diabetes and black and Hispanic women have higher rates of type 1 or type 2 diabetes during pregnancy.

How Might Diabetes Affect My Pregnancy?

Diabetes during pregnancy—including type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes—can negatively affect the health of women and their babies. For women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, high blood sugar around the time of conception increases babies’ risk of birth defects, stillbirth, and preterm birth. Additionally, among women with any type of diabetes, high blood sugar throughout pregnancy increases women’s risk of having a cesarean delivery and increases babies’ risk of being born too large and developing obesity or type 2 diabetes in the future.

What Should I Do if I Have Diabetes?

Before Pregnancy

For women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, it’s important to see your doctor before getting pregnant. Preconception care (preventive health care before and between pregnancies) provides an opportunity to discuss changes in blood sugar levels, make adjustments to monitoring and medications, and check for and treat related health problems, such as high blood pressure.

During Pregnancy

Managing diabetes can help you have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. To manage your diabetes, see your doctor as recommended, monitor your blood sugar levels, follow a healthy eating plan developed with your doctor or dietician, be physically active, and take insulin as directed (if needed).

After Pregnancy

Women who had gestational diabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life. If you had gestational diabetes, it’s important to see your doctor to get tested for diabetes 4 to 12 weeks after your baby is born. If you don’t have diabetes at that time, continue to get tested every 1 to 3 years to make sure your blood sugar levels are in a healthy range.

To help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, follow these steps:

• Achieve a healthy body mass index. Obesity is a strong risk factor for diabetes; losing even a few pounds can help prevent type 2 diabetes.
• Increase physical activity to 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week. You can break up your activity into smaller chunks of time—for example, a brisk 10-minute walk 3 times a day.
• Make healthy food choices. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, limit fat intake to 30% or less of daily calories, and limit portion size to help improve weight loss and prevent type 2 diabetes.

Your chance of developing gestational diabetes are higher if you

• are overweight
• had gestational diabetes before
• have a parent, brother, or sister with type 2 diabetes
• have prediabetes, meaning your blood glucose levels are higher than normal yet not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes
• are African American, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic/Latina, or Pacific Islander American
• have a hormonal disorder called polycystic ovary syndrome, also known as PCOS

Scientists believe gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy, is caused by the hormonal changes of pregnancy along with genetic and lifestyle factors.

Insulin resistance

Hormones produced by the placenta contribute to insulin resistance, which occurs in all women during late pregnancy. Most pregnant women can produce enough insulin to overcome insulin resistance, but some cannot. Gestational diabetes occurs when the pancreas can’t make enough insulin.

As with type 2 diabetes, extra weight is linked to gestational diabetes. Women who are overweight or obese may already have insulin resistance when they become pregnant. Gaining too much weight during pregnancy may also be a factor.

Genes and family history

Having a family history of diabetes makes it more likely that a woman will develop gestational diabetes, which suggests that genes play a role. Genes may also explain why the disorder occurs more often in African Americans, American Indians, Asians, and Hispanics/Latinas.

Usually, gestational diabetes has no symptoms. If you do have symptoms, they may be mild, such as being thirstier than normal or having to urinate more often.

Doctors use blood tests to diagnose gestational diabetes. You may have the glucose challenge test, the oral glucose tolerance test, or both. These tests show how well your body uses glucose.

Glucose Challenge Test

You may have the glucose challenge test first. Another name for this blood test is the glucose screening test. In this test, a health care professional will draw your blood 1 hour after you drink a sweet liquid containing glucose. You do not need to fast for this test. Fasting means having nothing to eat or drink except water. If your blood glucose is too high—140 or more—you may need to return for an oral glucose tolerance test while fasting. If your blood glucose is 200 or more, you may have type 2 diabetes.

Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT)

The OGTT measures blood glucose after you fast for at least 8 hours. First, a health care professional will draw your blood. Then you will drink the liquid containing glucose. You will need your blood drawn every hour for 2 to 3 hours for a doctor to diagnose gestational diabetes.

High blood glucose levels at any two or more blood test times—fasting, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 3 hours—mean you have gestational diabetes. Your health care team will explain what your OGTT results mean.

Your health care professional may recommend an OGTT without first having the glucose challenge test.

When will I be tested for gestational diabetes?

Testing for gestational diabetes usually occurs between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy.

If you have an increased chance of developing gestational diabetes, your doctor may test for diabetes during the first visit after you become pregnant.

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that some women develop during pregnancy. When you have diabetes, there's too much sugar (glucose) in your blood.

If you develop gestational diabetes, it can lead to health problems for you and your baby during and after pregnancy. For example:

• During your pregnancy, your baby is likely to grow bigger than normal. This could make giving birth more difficult – and make it more likely that you'll have a caesarian delivery (C-section).
• Your baby may be at risk for childhood obesity.
• You'll be at risk for developing type 2 diabetes after pregnancy. After your baby is born, you'll need to get tested regularly for type 2 diabetes.

If you have gestational diabetes, you and your doctor or midwife can work together to protect you and your baby. You can lower your risk for gestational diabetes by eating healthy and staying active before and during your pregnancy.

Getting tested for gestational diabetes is part of regular prenatal care (health care during pregnancy). Usually, you'll get the test between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy.

What about cost?

Under the Affordable Care Act, most health insurance plans must cover testing for gestational diabetes. Depending on your insurance, you may be able to get tested at no cost to you. Check with your insurance company to learn more.

What do I ask the doctor?

Visiting the doctor can be stressful. It helps to have questions written down before your appointment. You may also want to ask a family member or close friend to go with you to take notes.

Print this list of questions, and take it with you the next time you visit your doctor or midwife.

• What puts me at risk for gestational diabetes?
• What can I do to lower my risk?
• How will you test me for gestational diabetes?
• How could gestational diabetes affect my baby’s health?
• How could gestational diabetes affect my health?
• If I have gestational diabetes, what happens next?

Many women with gestational diabetes can manage their blood glucose levels by following a healthy eating plan and being physically active. Some women also may need diabetes medicine.

Follow a healthy eating plan

Your health care team will help you make a healthy eating plan with food choices that are good for you and your baby. The plan will help you know which foods to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat. Food choices, amounts, and timing are all important in keeping your blood glucose levels in your target range.

If you’re not eating enough or your blood glucose is too high, your body might make ketones. Ketones in your urine or blood mean your body is using fat for energy instead of glucose. Burning large amounts of fat instead of glucose can be harmful to your health and your baby’s health.

Your doctor might recommend you test your urine or blood daily for ketones or when your blood glucose is above a certain level, such as 200. If your ketone levels are high, your doctor may suggest that you change the type or amount of food you eat. Or, you may need to change your meal or snack times.

Be physically active

Physical activity can help you reach your target blood glucose levels. If your blood pressure or cholesterol levels are too high, being physically active can help you reach healthy levels. Physical activity can also relieve stress, strengthen your heart and bones, improve muscle strength, and keep your joints flexible. Being physically active will also help lower your chances of having type 2 diabetes in the future.

Talk with your health care team about what activities are best for you during your pregnancy. Aim for 30 minutes of activity 5 days of the week, even if you weren’t active before your pregnancy. If you are already active, tell your doctor what you do. Ask your doctor if you may continue some higher intensity activities, such as lifting weights or jogging.

Your health care team may ask you to use a blood glucose meter to check your blood glucose levels. This device uses a small drop of blood from your finger to measure your blood glucose level. Your health care team can show you how to use your meter.

Recommended daily target blood glucose levels for most women with gestational diabetes are 

• Before meals, at bedtime, and overnight: 95 or less
• 1 hour after eating: 140 or less
• 2 hours after eating: 120 or less

Ask your doctor what targets are right for you.

You can keep track of your blood glucose levels using My Daily Blood Glucose Record (PDF, 45 KB). You can also use an electronic blood glucose tracking system on your computer or mobile device. Record the results every time you check your blood glucose. Your blood glucose records can help you and your health care team decide whether your diabetes care plan is working. Take your tracker with you when you visit your health care team.

If following your eating plan and being physically active aren’t enough to keep your blood glucose levels in your target range, you may need insulin.

If you need to use insulin, your health care team will show you how to give yourself insulin shots. Insulin will not harm your baby and is usually the first choice of diabetes medicine for gestational diabetes. Researchers are studying the safety of the diabetes pills metformin and glyburide during pregnancy, but more long-term studies are needed. Talk with your health care professional about what treatment is right for you.

1. Eat Healthy Foods
   Eat healthy foods from a meal plan made for a person with diabetes. A dietitian can help you create a healthy meal plan. A dietitian can also help you learn how to control your blood sugar while you are pregnant.

1. Exercise Regularly
   Exercise is another way to keep blood sugar under control. It helps to balance food intake. After checking with your doctor, you can exercise regularly during and after pregnancy. Get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity at least five days a week. This could be brisk walking, swimming, or actively playing with children.
2. Monitor Blood Sugar Often
   Because pregnancy causes the body’s need for energy to change, blood sugar levels can change very quickly. Check your blood sugar often, as directed by your doctor.
3. Take Insulin, If Needed
   Sometimes a woman with gestational diabetes must take insulin. If insulin is ordered by your doctor, take it as directed in order to help keep blood sugar under control.
4. Get Tested for Diabetes after Pregnancy
   Get tested for diabetes 6 to 12 weeks after your baby is born, and then every 1 to 3 years.For most women with gestational diabetes, the diabetes goes away soon after delivery. When it does not go away, the diabetes is called type 2 diabetes. Even if the diabetes does go away after the baby is born, half of all women who had gestational diabetes develop type 2 diabetes later. It’s important for a woman who has had gestational diabetes to continue to exercise and eat a healthy diet after pregnancy to prevent or delay getting type 2 diabetes. She should also remind her doctor to check her blood sugar every 1 to 3 years.

Women who had gestational diabetes or who develop prediabetes can also learn more about the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP), CDC-recognized lifestyle change programs.

If you are thinking about becoming pregnant and are overweight, you can lower your chance of developing gestational diabetes by losing extra weight and increasing physical activity before you become pregnant. Taking these steps can improve how your body uses insulin and help your blood glucose levels stay normal.

Once you are pregnant, don’t try to lose weight. You need to gain some weight for your baby to be healthy. However, gaining too much weight too quickly may increase your chance of developing gestational diabetes. Ask your doctor how much weight gain and physical activity during pregnancy are right for you.

Blood sugar that is not well controlled in a woman with gestational diabetes can lead to problems for the pregnant woman and the baby:

An Extra-Large Baby

Diabetes that is not well controlled causes the baby’s blood sugar to be high. The baby is “overfed” and grows extra-large. Besides causing discomfort to the woman during the last few months of pregnancy, an extra-large baby can lead to problems during delivery for both the mother and the baby. The mother might need a C-Section to deliver the baby. The baby can be born with nerve damage due to pressure on the shoulder during delivery.

C-Section (Cesarean Section)

A C-section is an operation to deliver the baby through the mother’s belly. A woman who has diabetes that is not well controlled has a higher chance of needing a C-section to deliver the baby. When the baby is delivered by a C-section, it takes longer for the woman to recover from childbirth.

High Blood Pressure (Preeclampsia)

When a pregnant woman has high blood pressure, protein in her urine, and often swelling in fingers and toes that doesn’t go away, she might have preeclampsia. It is a serious problem that needs to be watched closely and managed by her doctor. High blood pressure can cause harm to both the woman and her unborn baby. It might lead to the baby being born early and also could cause seizures or a stroke (a blood clot or a bleed in the brain that can lead to brain damage) in the woman during labor and delivery. Women with diabetes have high blood pressure more often than women without diabetes.

Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycemia)

People with diabetes who take insulin or other diabetes medications can develop blood sugar that is too low. Low blood sugar can be very serious, and even fatal, if not treated quickly. Seriously low blood sugar can be avoided if women watch their blood sugar closely and treat low blood sugar early.

If a woman’s diabetes was not well controlled during pregnancy, her baby can very quickly develop low blood sugar after birth. The baby’s blood sugar must be watched for several hours after delivery.

High blood glucose levels during pregnancy can cause problems for your baby, such as

• being born too early
• weighing too much, which can make delivery difficult and injure your baby
• having low blood glucose, also called hypoglycemia, right after birth
• having breathing problems

High blood glucose also can increase the chance that you will have a miscarriage or a stillborn baby. Stillborn means the baby dies in the womb during the second half of pregnancy.

Your baby also will be more likely to become overweight and develop type 2 diabetes as he or she gets older.

If you have gestational diabetes, you are more likely to develop preeclampsia, which is when you develop high blood pressure and too much protein in your urine during the second half of pregnancy.

Preeclampsia can cause serious or life-threatening problems for you and your baby. The only cure for preeclampsia is to give birth. If you have preeclampsia and have reached 37 weeks of pregnancy, your doctor may want to deliver your baby early. Before 37 weeks, you and your doctor may consider other options to help your baby develop as much as possible before he or she is born. Learn more about preeclampsia.

Gestational diabetes may increase your chance of having a cesarean section, also called a C-section, because your baby may be large. A C-section is major surgery.

If you have gestational diabetes, you are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life. Over time, having too much glucose in your blood can cause health problems such as diabetic retinopathy, heart disease, kidney disease, and nerve damage. You can take steps to help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.

If you’ve had gestational diabetes during pregnancy, did you know that you’re at increased risk for developing diabetes in the future?

Most of the time, gestational diabetes goes away after the baby is born. However, about half of all women with gestational diabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes later in life.

That’s why it’s important to get tested for diabetes within 12 weeks after your baby is born, and then every 1 to 3 years. You should also talk to your doctor if you plan to become pregnant again.

Keep up the healthy habits you had during pregnancy. Research shows that maintaining a healthy lifestyle can reduce your risk for developing type 2 diabetes. This means making healthy food choices and staying active. These are steps that are good for mom, baby, and the entire family.

A study suggests that breastfeeding may help women with a history of gestational diabetes from later developing type 2 diabetes.

About 5-9% of pregnant women nationwide develop high blood sugar levels even though they didn’t have diabetes before pregnancy. This condition, called gestational diabetes, raises a woman’s risk for type 2 diabetes later in life. Left untreated, type 2 diabetes can cause health problems such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and amputation.

Past studies found that breastfeeding causes certain changes in the mother’s body that may help protect against type 2 diabetes. However, the connection hadn’t been proven, especially among women who’d had gestational diabetes. An NIH-funded research team at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research set out to address the question.

The team enrolled more than 1,000 ethnically diverse women who were diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Their lactation intensity and duration were assessed by feeding diaries, in-person exams, phone calls, and questionnaires. Researchers tested blood sugar 6 to 9 weeks after delivery and then annually for 2 years.

During the 2-year follow-up, nearly 12% of the women developed type 2 diabetes. After accounting for differences in age and other risk factors, the researchers estimated that women who exclusively breastfed or mostly breastfed were about half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as those who didn’t breastfeed.

How long women breastfed also affected their chance of developing type 2 diabetes. Breastfeeding for longer than 2 months lowered the risk of type 2 diabetes by almost half. Breastfeeding beyond 5 months lowered the risk by more than half.

“These findings highlight the importance of prioritizing breastfeeding education and support for women with gestational diabetes as part of early diabetes prevention efforts,” says study lead Dr. Erica P. Gunderson.

You should get tested for diabetes no later than 12 weeks after your baby is born. If your blood glucose is still high, you may have type 2 diabetes. Even if your blood glucose is normal, you still have a greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes in the future. Therefore, you should be tested for diabetes every 3 years.

You can do a lot to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. Here are steps you should take if you had gestational diabetes:

• Be more active and make healthy food choices to get back to a healthy weight.
• Breastfeed your baby. Breastfeeding gives your baby the right balance of nutrients and helps you burn calories.
• If your test results show that you could get diabetes and you are overweight, ask your doctor about what changes you can make to lose weight and for help in making them. Your doctor may recommend that you take medicine such as metformin to help prevent type 2 diabetes.

Did you know gestational diabetes can affect you even after pregnancy? Having gestational diabetes increases your risk of type 2 diabetes and may increase your risk of postpartum depression. The good news is there are ways to help lower your risk for both.

When you’re pregnant, your body goes through many changes—from belly size to hormones. One important hormone that’s affected is insulin. During pregnancy your body makes several hormones to keep your baby healthy and growing. These hormones can cause your body’s cells to use insulin less effectively, a condition called insulin resistance.

During late pregnancy, insulin resistance increases a lot. This can cause some women to develop a type of diabetes called gestational diabetes. And having gestational diabetes can put you at higher risk of postpartum depression.

What Is Gestational Diabetes?

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that can develop during pregnancy in women who don’t already have diabetes. It develops in about 2% to 10% of pregnancies in the United States every year. You’re at higher risk of developing gestational diabetes if you had it during a previous pregnancy, have a family history of type 2 diabetes, or have prediabetes before pregnancy. You’re also at higher risk if your race or ethnic origin is Asian, African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander.

Gestational diabetes typically doesn’t have any symptoms. It’s important to let your doctor know if you have any risk factors that may put you at higher risk of gestational diabetes.

Having gestational diabetes increases your baby’s risk of being very large (9 pounds or more), as well as your risk of having a cesarean delivery (C-section) and of developing type 2 diabetes in the future. Some research has found that having gestational diabetes can also increase your risk of postpartum depression.

What Is Postpartum Depression?

Postpartum depression is more than having the “baby blues”—feelings of worry, sadness, and tiredness many women experience after having a baby. Postpartum depression includes intense symptoms of sadness, anxiety, and hopelessness that can occur up to a year after birth. It could affect your ability to care for your baby and handle daily life activities.

Around 1 in 8 women have symptoms of depression after giving birth. Depression can also occur before and during pregnancy. Yet less than half of pregnant women with depression receive the treatment they need. Some research shows that roughly 30% of women were not asked about symptoms of depression during a prenatal or postpartum health care visit.

If you have depression before, during, or after pregnancy, talk to your doctor about your symptoms. Even if they don’t ask or you think your symptoms aren’t serious enough, talk to your doctor anyway. They can monitor your symptoms and help you manage them, so they don’t get worse.

It’s important for you to know that having postpartum depression doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. It’s a complication of giving birth and needs to be treated like any other medical complication. There are several treatment options and resources to help you manage your symptoms. Getting the right treatment will help you take care of yourself and your baby.

What’s the Connection?

It’s not clearly understood why people with diabetes, including gestational diabetes, are at higher risk of depression. Research has found that it could be mental, physical, or a combination of factors. Here’s what we know:

Managing gestational diabetes can be a major source of stress for some pregnant women, and stress itself could be a risk factor for postpartum depression. The daily challenges of managing diabetes can bring on symptoms of depression and anxiety. In fact, people with diabetes are 2 to 3 times more likely to have depression than people without diabetes. And they’re also 20% more likely than people without diabetes to have anxiety.

Diabetes also directly affects the brain. Insulin resistance in the brain affects your body’s stress response system. Your system responds to stress by releasing hormones into the blood to help protect you from stress. If your system is impaired, your body can’t respond properly to stress. This can lead to symptoms of depression.

How Can I Prevent or Manage Gestational Diabetes?

Gestational diabetes can’t always be prevented. But with healthy lifestyle habits you can lower your risk or manage it if you’ve already been diagnosed. You can:

• Follow a healthy eating plan. A healthy meal plan will help you know when, what, and how much to eat to get the nutrition you need while keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range. Work with a doctor or dietitian to help create a plan that’s right for you.
• Get regular physical activity. Being physically active helps lower your blood sugar and makes you more sensitive to insulin, so your body won’t need as much. Physical activity can also help relieve stress, boost your mood, and keep your heart healthy. Make sure to check with your doctor about what kind of physical activities you can do while pregnant and ones you should avoid.
• Take medicine as prescribed. If you have gestational diabetes, your doctor may prescribe medicine. Make sure to take your medicine as prescribed to help manage your health and the health of your baby. If you’re planning on becoming pregnant and take medicine for other health conditions, make sure to talk to your doctor. You can work together to find a treatment plan that keeps you healthy for pregnancy.
• Aim for a healthy weight. If you’re planning on becoming pregnant and have overweight or obesity, you can lower your risk of gestational diabetes by reaching a healthy weight. If you’re pregnant, don’t try to lose weight. You may need to gain some weight for your baby. Ask your doctor how much weight gain during pregnancy is right for you.
• Manage stress. If you’re stressed, you may not take as good care of yourself as usual. Stress can also raise your blood sugar and lead to other health problems. Ask a doctor or mental health professional for help managing stress.

I Gave Birth, Now What?

Once you’ve given birth, it’s important to see your doctor for routine postpartum checkups. Women who had gestational diabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes after giving birth. The good news is you can reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. It’s important to get tested for diabetes 6 to 12 weeks after your baby is born. If you don’t have diabetes at that time, continue to get tested every 1 to 3 years to make sure your blood sugar levels are in a healthy range. It’s also important for you to get screened for postpartum depression at each of your postpartum health care visits. If you think you have depression, seek treatment as soon as possible.

You can help your child be healthy by showing him or her how to make healthy lifestyle choices, including

• being physically active
• limiting time watching TV, playing video games, or using a mobile device or computer
• making healthy food choices
• staying at a healthy weight

Making healthy choices helps the whole family and may protect your child from becoming obese or developing diabetes later in life.