Risks To Baby With Gestational Diabetes [2022]

Risks to baby with gestational diabetes? Diabetes is a disease that can develop depending on the lifestyle you lead, or it can be hereditary. But, gestational diabetes can develop in pregnancy and cause risks to the baby, such as abnormal growth of her body.

In the following article we will give you information on everything related to gestational diabetes and how it can considerably affect the health of the baby that is on the way if you do not treat this normally temporary disease correctly. Continue reading to know more about it. 

Gestational diabetes

We don’t know what causes gestational diabetes, but we have some clues. The placenta supports the baby as it grows. Hormones from the placenta help the baby develop. But these hormones also block the action of the mother’s insulin in her body. This problem is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance makes it hard for the mother’s body to use insulin. She may need up to three times as much insulin.

Gestational diabetes starts when your body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs for pregnancy. Without enough insulin, glucose cannot leave the blood and be changed to energy. Glucose builds up in the blood to high levels, called hyperglycemia.

Risks to baby with gestational diabetes

Blood sugar levels that are too high may pass the placenta, causing the baby to grow overly big. Overweight newborns are more likely to have difficulties getting through the birth canal, suffer birth injuries, or need a C-section. Preterm labor and respiratory distress syndrome are potentially possible side effects.

Because the baby is excessively huge in certain situations, the doctor may advise an early birth. Hypoglycemia (hypoglycaemia). Because their own insulin production is high, babies born to moms with gestational diabetes are at risk of hypoglycemia shortly after delivery. Severe hypoglycemia may result in a newborn having seizures.

Mientras más crezca el bebé, peor

Gestational diabetes affects the mother in late pregnancy, after the baby’s body has been formed, but while the baby is busy growing. Because of this, gestational diabetes does not cause the kinds of birth defects sometimes seen in babies whose mothers had diabetes before pregnancy.

However, untreated or poorly controlled gestational diabetes can hurt your baby. When you have gestational diabetes, your pancreas works overtime to produce insulin, but the insulin does not lower your blood glucose levels. Although insulin does not cross the placenta, glucose and other nutrients do. So extra blood glucose goes through the placenta, giving the baby high blood glucose levels. This causes the baby’s pancreas to make extra insulin to get rid of the blood glucose. Since the baby is getting more energy than it needs to grow and develop, the extra energy is stored as fat.

Macrosomía

This can lead to macrosomia, or a “fat” baby. Babies with macrosomia face health problems of their own, including damage to their shoulders during birth. Because of the extra insulin made by the baby’s pancreas, newborns may have very low blood glucose levels at birth and are also at higher risk for breathing problems.

Babies born with excess insulin become children who are at risk for obesity and adults who are at risk for type 2 diabetes. That is why you have heard a lot that obese people are generally the ones who may have a greater chance of suffering from this disease. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Recomendations

Maintain a healthy diet as well as regular exercise. The caloric composition of the diet should be distributed such that 40-50 percent of the calories come from carbs, 30-40 percent from fat, and 20% from protein. It’s also a good idea to eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables to obtain enough vegetable fiber.

Moderate exercise for at least 30 minutes each day, such as brisk walking, is advised for physical activity. If physical constraints exist near the end of pregnancy, at least 10 minutes of sitting exercises (while sitting) should be performed after each of the three meals.

Conclusion

Gestational diabetes is a disorder that, if not treated appropriately, may lead to major difficulties for the baby (also the mother). Maintaining good lifestyle behaviors before to, during, and after pregnancy is crucial.

This will assist to keep blood sugar levels in control while also lowering the risk of diabetes in the future. We hope you found this post helpful and learnt all there is to know about “Risks to baby with gestational diabetes”.