If diabetes (whether type 1 or type 2) and planning for pregnancy, then consult the doctor and start caring prior to pregnancy. Which helps to have a healthy pregnancy and baby?
Diabetes before Pregnancy Management
Diabetic women who are planning for pregnancy are strongly advised to be strict in their blood-glucose control before conception. Otherwise, it can increase the risk of a miscarriage or any birth defects in the baby.
You can manage your diabetes by simple meal’s plan, physically active and insulin treatment:
- Diabetes women who desire to get pregnancy must consult their doctor and need to take some pre-pregnancy diabetes care.
- During consultation with the doctor, doctor will teach how important the blood-glucose level in blood is prior to pregnancy, during pregnancy and after pregnancy.
- All diabetes women who are planning a pregnancy must have to go for a thorough evaluation for retinopathy, nephropathy, hypertension, kidney disease, or cardiovascular disease.
- Doctor suggests you to stop oral medication (for non-insulin-dependent diabetes) and advise to control the blood-glucose level by lifestyle changes and insulin treatment.
- You should maintain the blood-glucose values at 60 to 90mg. Fasting blood-glucose test of 100 to 200mg. Two-hour postprandial test and all times blood-glucose levels should be within 60 to 120mg.
- Should maintain HbA1c less than or equal to 7.0%
- If there is any difficulty to control within this target range, then it is advisable to postpone pregnancy until these target values are achieved.
To achieve the target blood-glucose range, follow certain guidelines helps to achieve this target. Some guiding tips are:
- Meals - limit sweets, eat three small meals and 1 to 3 snacks per day, maintain your meal’s time, and include fiber in your meals in the form of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grains.
- Physical activity - walking and swimming, can help you reach your blood-glucose targets.
- Some need extra insulin than normal to reach their blood-glucose targets. Insulin is not harmful for your baby, but controlled blood-glucose is beneficial to your baby.
- Monitor blood-glucose level, you may be asked to check it more often than usual.
- Your blood-glucose level should be not above 95 (on awakening), not above 140 (one hour after a meal), not above 120 (two hours after a meal).
- Each time you check your blood-glucose, record the results properly, and take it with you when you visit your health care team. If your results are often out of range, they will suggest ways to reach the targets.