What is Gestational Diabetes?

Expecting mothers are often faced with many health concerns when carrying a child. One of the most common health concerns is gestational diabetes. The National Institute of Health said approximately 5-9% of pregnant women in the U.S. develop high blood sugar levels even though they didn’t have diabetes before pregnancy. This usually temporary condition is known as gestational diabetes and is generally diagnosed from the fourth month of pregnancy.

Complications Caused by Gestational Diabetes

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blood sugar that is not well controlled in a woman with gestational diabetes can lead to problems for the pregnant woman and the baby, such as:

  • An extra-large baby
  • A baby with high blood sugar
  • Higher likelihood of delivery via cesarean section
  • Preeclampsia (high blood pressure)
  • Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)

If an expecting mother has been diagnosed with gestational diabetes during her pregnancy, it is recommended that the mother eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, monitor their blood sugar often, take insulin if needed, and get tested for diabetes after pregnancy.

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.

Benefits of Breastfeeding

There is good news for women who are faced with gestational diabetes during their pregnancy and breastfeed their baby. Breastfeeding provides important health benefits to both women and their offspring. The American Diabetes Association shared that the health benefits of lactation for women include:

  • Lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer
  • Possible protection against type 2 diabetes

For the offspring, breastfeeding confers protection against both under-nutrition and over-nutrition during early childhood. It may also lower the risk of developing:

  • Obesity
  • Hypertension
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Diabetes as an adult

A research team led by Dr. Erica P. Gunderson at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research set out to address whether breastfeeding may help prevent type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes. Their work was funded by NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and others.

Research has found that breastfeeding increases insulin sensitivity and improves glucose metabolism in the mother. The results suggest that breastfeeding after gestational diabetes may have lasting effects that reduce a woman’s chance of developing type 2 diabetes.

Learn more about breastfeeding at https://www.thewellnesscoalition.org/breastfeeding/.