Treatment

Treatment for gestational diabetes includes:

• Lifestyle changes
• Blood sugar monitoring
• Medication, if necessary

Managing your blood sugar levels helps keep you and your baby healthy. Close management can also help you avoid complications during pregnancy and delivery.

Lifestyle changes

Your lifestyle — how you eat and move — is an important part of keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range. Doctors don't advise losing weight during pregnancy — your body is working hard to support your growing baby. But your doctor can help you set weight gain goals based on your weight before pregnancy.

Healthy diet

A healthy diet focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein — foods that are high in nutrition and fiber and low in fat and calories — and limits highly refined carbohydrates, including sweets. A registered dietitian or a diabetes educator can help you create a meal plan based on your current weight, pregnancy weight gain goals, blood sugar level, exercise habits, food preferences and budget.

Stay active

Regular physical activity plays a key role in every woman's wellness plan before, during and after pregnancy. Exercise lowers your blood sugar, and as an added bonus, regular exercise can help relieve some common discomforts of pregnancy, including back pain, muscle cramps, swelling, constipation and trouble sleeping.

With your doctor's OK, aim for 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most days of the week. If you haven't been active for a while, start slowly and build up gradually. Walking, cycling and swimming are good choices during pregnancy. Everyday activities such as housework and gardening also count.

Monitor your blood sugar

While you're pregnant, your health care team may ask you to check your blood sugar four or more times a day — first thing in the morning and after meals — to make sure your level stays within a healthy range.

Medication

If diet and exercise aren't enough, you may need insulin injections to lower your blood sugar. Between 10% and 20% of women with gestational diabetes need insulin to reach their blood sugar goals. Some doctors prescribe an oral medication to control blood sugar, while others believe more research is needed to confirm that oral drugs are as safe and as effective as injectable insulin to control gestational diabetes.

Close monitoring of your baby

An important part of your treatment plan is close observation of your baby. Your doctor may check your baby's growth and development with repeated ultrasounds or other tests. If you don't go into labor by your due date — or sometimes earlier — your doctor may induce labor. Delivering after your due date may increase the risk of complications for you and your baby.

Follow-up after delivery

Your doctor will check your blood sugar after delivery and again in six to 12 weeks to make sure that your level has returned to normal. If your tests are normal — and most are — you'll need to have your diabetes risk assessed at least every three years.

If future tests indicate type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, talk with your doctor about increasing your prevention efforts or starting a diabetes management plan.