Gestational Baby

Gestational diabetes affects the mother only after the baby's body has been formed. So no birth defects, but babies may develop low blood glucose and breathing difficulty.

Gestational diabetes affects the mother in late pregnancy, only after the baby's body has been formed. Because of this, gestational diabetes does not cause the birth defects sometimes seen in babies whose mothers had diabetes before getting pregnancy.

Untreated or poorly controlled gestational diabetes can harm your baby. When you have gestational diabetes, your pancreas works over to produce insulin, but the insulin does not able to lower your blood glucose levels. Although insulin does not enter the placenta, but glucose and other nutrients enter into placenta and reaches your child. This extra blood glucose gives 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 what is actually needed, these extra energy is stored as fat.

This can lead to a fatty baby. These babies face health problems of their own, including damage to their shoulders during birth. Because baby in mothers fits to high glucose level and high insulin secretion, but newborns may have very low blood glucose levels at birth and are also at higher risk for breathing problems. Babies with excess insulin become children who are at risk for obesity and adults who are at risk for type 2 diabetes.

Your child’s risk for type 2 diabetes may be lower if you breastfeed your baby and if your child maintains a healthy weight.

Next: Prevent diabetes type 2