Pregnancy and Diabetes: Understand The Risks and How to Prevent It

During pregnancy, certain conditions can bring complications, affecting the healthy development of the baby. This may include interference in important growth and formation processes.

These conditions can also cause imbalances in the baby’s sugar levels, leading to delicate situations that require specialized medical care.

Among the various risks, the baby may have a higher-than-expected weight, which requires extra attention immediately after birth. There is also the possibility that these complications could have long-term effects on the child’s health.

Given the importance of this topic, today’s article will discuss how these issues can affect pregnancy and what can be done to prevent them. Learn more!

Pregnancy and Diabetes: Prevention and Care

Many pregnant women question whether diabetes can harm the baby. And so that this does not happen, during the 9 months of pregnancy a complete follow-up is done by the doctor.

As soon as the woman receives the positive result that she is pregnant, she should immediately start prenatal care.

Strict Diabetes Control: Reducing Risks for Mother and Baby

Therefore, the doctor should strictly follow the recommendations for the control of diabetes, thus reducing any complications for both the baby and the pregnant woman.

If you want to have children, and pregnancy and diabetes worry you, the best thing in this case is to plan ahead.

This way you can have a more complete follow-up, where the doctor will indicate exams to avoid possible complications, mainly for the fetus, where in the first eight weeks the development of organs begins.

For a good evolution of the pregnancy, everything will depend on the future mother’s health history, if she had adequate control of the pathology, as well as adequate medical follow-up.

Precautions Over the 40 Weeks

All these precautions will make the difference during the 40 weeks of pregnancy, as this way, the risks can be kept under control or even minimized. For example, a mother with type 1 diabetes having a child with diabetes.

Pregnant women who have type 1 diabetes, in most cases this pathology appears in adolescence, reaching high levels of glucose in the blood, which causes serious problems to the body.

Thanks to medical follow-up from the beginning of pregnancy, blood glucose can be controlled, thus preventing congenital malformations and miscarriages.

Challenges of Pregnancy with Diabetes: Risks and Cautions

Pregnancy and diabetes can bring other dangers, such as hypoglycemia, severe urinary infections that can progress to diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, hypertension, even in the final stage of pregnancy can favor an excessive growth of the fetus, that is, above 4 kg.

For this reason, experts recommend that women with type 1 diabetes be closely monitored by a doctor. Thus preventing the baby from developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood.

To avoid risks that the baby will develop this disease due to the mother’s history, she must also have medical follow-up from birth. Being able to have a healthy development and reach adulthood with less risk of developing this pathology.

Proper information can prevent gestational diabetes

Understand the risks and how to prevent it

So that a woman can have a peaceful pregnancy, it is necessary to be informed about everything related to pregnancy and diabetes. It is important to clear all doubts with the doctor and to undergo the tests indicated by the doctor.

During this period, it is essential to perform the fasting blood glucose test frequently, so that you can have adequate control of the disease.

To perform this type of examination, the pregnant woman must fast for 8 to 12 hours, without ingesting any type of food, only water.

If the patient gains more weight than normal or abnormal baby growth is detected for the gestation period, she must carry out a strict control of the glycemic curve.

With this, it is possible to recognize if gestational diabetes occurs, which is characterized by high blood sugar levels. When this occurs during pregnancy, the placenta begins to release more hormones than normal, causing the pancreas to release more insulin.

Understand the risks and how to prevent it

In gestational diabetes, the body cannot properly process excess sugar, as the pancreas cannot fulfill its function as it should. In this period, the pregnant woman is at high risk of having diabetes because of the growth of the placenta.

Regular consultations with the doctor are essential, along with a balanced diet and the performance of some light physical activity. Depending on the case, after a medical evaluation, the specialist may indicate the application of insulin.

During pregnancy, the pregnant woman should discontinue her pharmacological treatment to control diabetes, as it may pose risks to the development of the fetus.

In addition to following the guidelines given by the doctor, he will indicate a series of tests to be carried out: glycosylated hemoglobin, microalbuminuria test, eye exams every 3 months, monthly ultrasound and blood pressure control.

In addition to medical care, pregnant women should also have some care at home. Follow a balanced diet, perform physical activity and measure glucose levels daily, all following medical guidelines.

Understand the risks and how to prevent it

Therefore, it is important to emphasize that control is of vital importance. Following all medical guidelines, the health of the mother and baby will be protected.

When the time is right, the doctor will make an assessment to find out which delivery method will be the most appropriate depending on the case. Since, if the pregnant woman has diabetes, cesarean section is almost always the most appropriate.

And soon after the birth of the baby, both he and the mother should maintain medical follow-up to have a normal life and keep the disease under control.